♥ Put five smart, talented, interesting women in one beautiful venue. Drizzle with snazzy outfits.

♥ Stir in a dash of book chat (soak first in a healthy dose of what-the-fuck-is-this-woman-on-about) and a shot of wedding banter. Mix in equal measures of intelligent conversation and general hilarity. 

♥ Pour over five pints of beer, two glasses of wine, four Cash Jars and a Purple Rose of Tokyo. Top up with Diet Coke (she was driving, not preggers. Not that I asked). 

♥ Shake for three-and-a-half hours and serve in jam jars. Finish with a slice of APW magic.

Seriously, ladies, it was a pleasure to meet you. Sorry for being fifteen minutes late (so unlike me!) - I hope it won't put you off meeting up again? And next time I'll know not to buy a book second-hand that has questionnaires in it (hey, at least I now know more about its previous owner's relationship than I do about my own!).

The lovely Lauren McGlynn was on hand to document the occasion, although it turns out that clambering onto the back of a booth for the best shot is generally discouraged by the bar staff. The pictures will no doubt be on A Practical Wedding in the near future, but to keep you going until then the APW flickr stream is full of fabulous photographs from meet-ups that were taking place in coffee shops and living rooms all over the world (ok, Britain and America, but whatever) while we were merrily drinking cocktails in Edinburgh. Pretty cool, eh?

Oh, and for those of you who were kind enough to ask: I wore my new yellow skirt. I'm in love.