Weddings

Bridesmaid Etiquette: How To Pick Dresses They Will Love

Bridesmaid dressesPexels – CC0 Licence

It’s your big day, but you want everyone to enjoy your wedding. While you can’t please everybody, there are some people you can: your bridesmaids. Not to say you haven’t thought about them, yet they aren’t always consulted about their attire! Sometimes, a bridezilla chooses what she thinks is appropriate and makes the final decision. Sure, it is up to you; however, do you want uneasiness in the ranks? With a few simple rules, you can get all of your bridal party on board and find the perfect middle ground.

Here are the etiquette rules that will help you strike the right balance.

Ask For Their Opinion

Although this tip isn’t ground-breaking, it’s incredible how many brides don’t ask their bridesmaids for their opinion. Okay, it’s not as if you can consult all of them, especially if you have everyone from a chief bridesmaid to three or four foot soldiers. Still, a basic question will reveal all and help you to find more suitable dresses. If the shade is a problem, you can search bridesmaid dresses using color filter, or you might need to focus on the fit. Whatever it is, let them express their opinion without fear of a court marshall!

Take Them Along To A Fitting

Of course, gauging their opinion implies that they’ll offer it up in the first place. Lots of bridesmaids, trying to be a friend, will go along with anything you say not to rock the boat. From your point of view, this is counterproductive and doesn’t help in the slightest! Thankfully, taking them along to view dresses or try them on is a fantastic way to see how they feel. Their body language will speak volumes, allowing you to ask them what they think without coming across as aggressive or moody. Choose a date that suits everybody and make a girly day of it to add to the experience.

Let Them Shine

It’s your big day. You have put it together, you have spent the money, and you want the attention. There’s nothing wrong with thinking this way; it’s natural. But, that doesn’t mean your squad can’t shine too. Attempting to make them appear a little drab and understated might not go down well. Instead, let them shine by picking dresses that show off their assets in a subtle and classy way. You can even mix dresses if you don’t want them to be the same size, colour, or style. Sequins are great at catching the eye without being too flashy.

Use Pinterest

Providing multiple options and then analysing the results isn’t a job that brides enjoy. It only adds hassle to the process because you’re bound to annoy someone. The trick is to give them a chance to have their say and show them that they are involved. Then, they won’t be as disappointed if they get outvoted. To do this, you can use technology to your advantage. A WhatsApp group is always handy, but Pinterest is the winner when it comes to bridesmaid dresses.

Start a board and whittle the options down to a handful based on the majority of votes.

Fashion and Style

How to Make Any Dress Work in Winter

I don’t know about you, but I hate the fact that when the weather changes, half of my wardrobe gets consigned to the archives. I’ve got items of clothing that I love and am super comfortable in, so I love to find ways to make them work all year round. I’ve recently been looking at the Esprit website, given the fact that my favourite maternity jeans of all time were made by the brand. I love the fact that the company makes clothes which aren’t seen everywhere, and are both comfortable and stylish.

Anyway, after spending time lusting after a whole bunch of stylish winter dresses from Esprit I thought I’d share with you some tips on how to style dresses so that they last all year.

Shirt Dress

Esprit makes some stunning shirt dresses which are perfect in the summer as they’re made from a lovely crepe material. However, if you want to make them a part of your all-season wardrobe, pairing them with thick tights (exrta points if you opt for bottle green or mustard, which are SO in style this winter!), leather ankles boots and a buttery-soft leather biker jacket will look amazing and keep you warm, too.

Maxi Dresses

Maxi dresses are actually perfect for wearing the the colder weather because you can hide a whole bunch of stuff underneath them! Wear over leggings and a long sleeved t-shirt and then top with a poncho and your boho-chic look goes from summer to winter solstice!

Sequin Dresses

I mean, come on, this one isn’t even difficult. Winter equals Christmas and what’s more festive than sequins?! Sequin dresses are perfect for Christmas parties, and all you need to do is wear flesh coloured tights and a gorgeous pair of platforms to keep your legs warm in the chilly air.

Bodycon

Not gonna lie, I’ve never worn a bodycon dress in my life. Plenty of plus sized women do, and ROCK THEM might I add, but I don’t have the body confidence to do it. I have, however, seen other women wearing bodycon dresses but wearing a different skirt over the top, utilising just the top part. Floaty, metallic pleated skirts are all the rage this season and would look fab over a bodycon dress, also helping to keep you a little warmer!

Evening Dresses

When it comes to formal evening wear, the best thing to do is to think about your layers. You’re not going to want to wear a thermal vest or long johns underneath a beautiful Esprit evening dress, but you can layer OVER one. Faux fur stoles, short jackets and wraps all add an air of luxury to any formal outfit and allow you to stay warm without sacrificing any element of your look.

Do you love wearing your items all year long? Have you got any great tips on making dresses last all year? Please leave me a comment below, I’d love to hear from you.

All About ME!

Summer Weddings: Finding the Perfect Dress

Husband and I have been invited to a wedding in August, and I am SO excited about it – not only do we get to dress up and have a fun evening with our best friends, we also get to STAY AT A HOTEL for the night, which is something we haven’t done in literally years! Of course, going to a wedding means finding the perfect outfit, so when Fashion World got in touch to ask if I’d like to take a look at their range of women’s dresses, I jumped at the chance!

I knew that I wanted something in either blue or grey, as they’re the colours which suit me best, and if it was blue, ideally it would be navy. I’ve had an obsession with peacock feathers for ages, and wanted to be able style whatever I wore with a peacock-feather fascinator, so it meant that I could narrow down my search on the site by not only size, but also colour and occasion. Here’s what I chose:

BEADED PROM DRESS

To be totally honest, the picture doesn’t do it justice – the beading on the front is not only very intricate, but the peacock-inspired colours really pop, shimmering with blues, turquoises and purples in the light. It’s going to be absolutely perfect with my dream head-wear and I can’t wait to see what the whole outfit looks like together.

My mission now is to find the perfect shoes and bag to go with the outfit. As we’re staying, the bag only needs to be big enough to fit my phone and bank card, so something clutch-sized. The shoes would ideally be a mid-sized heel (I don’t want flats but I walk like a baby giraffe in skyscraper heels!), and would compliment the colour of the dress. I saw an incredible pair or purple platforms in a Kurt Geiger sale, but I wasn’t brave enough to buy them and now they’re sold out! Any suggestions of accessories to complete the outfit would be much appreciated!

What do you think of my choice?

Uncategorized

Did the BBC Make a Boob of Itself?

So, according to various news outlets, 139 people were so offended by the sight of Holly Willoghby in a bit of a boobie dress that they complained to the BBC after watching Saturday’s episode of The Voice.

 Holly Willoughby

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE of our Great British brothers and sisters are so incensed by the space between a woman’s boobs, that they dragged their carcasses out of their armchairs, took to pen or keyboard or carrier pigeon and sent a complaint to Aunty.

Let’s just let the utter ridiculousness of that sink in before we go on.

Okay, so our Holly is a big girl for her Mum in the chesticles area. She’s got a lot of front. And yes, I will concede that the dress was revealing. But to actually complain about it? The sight of about 100cm2 of flesh concerned these people that much? The same society that barely raises an eyebrow when the captain of our national football team impregnates a teammates girlfriend (“That’s alright, John, we’ll still let you REPRESENT OUR COUNTRY”). The same society which watches halfwits in a state of constant foreplay on Big Brother, the dead horse which various channels have been flogging for 13-odd years. The same society which embraces shows like Eastenders (and lets their kids watch it, no less) which shows scenes of rape, people trafficking, infant death and more besides on Christmas Day. I’m not even going to plunge into the plethora of other places that your kid can see boobs if they want to…

GET A FUCKING GRIP, PEOPLE.

But do you know what’s worse? The BBC actually apologised to these people!

Willoghby’s cleavage is not going to corrupt your children. You should be more worried about your own overblown sense of moral outrage having a negative effect on them than a pair of tits.

On a serious note, this does bother me in other ways. Saying that her dress is a problem to you is a very short step away from the victim-blaming bullshit that we’re so used to.

“She was asking for it, in a dress like that”

“I couldn’t control myself because of what she was wearing”

If her dress, her cleavage, the human, nay WOMANLY form, bothers you to the extent that you need to moan to the BBC about it, I think you need to seriously assess what it is that you find so offensive about it. The human form is nothing to be ashamed of.

I’d love your opinion on this – am I being a bad parent for not shielding my daughter from the space between Holly Willoughby’s ta-tas?

Am I completely missing the point on this one?

BritMums Live · Fashion and Style

What I’m Wearing to BritMums Live!

It’s just a few days until BritMums Live and while I’m only attending on the Saturday, I’m RIDONKULOUSLY excited about the conference. I get to meet some seriously epic bloggers and hopefully learn a lot too (oh, and there’s the brand schmoozing bit too, which I love!). So, in the spirit of, well, getting in the spirit, I thought I’d show you what I’ll be wearing!

I was lucky enough to be sent a couple of bits by Fat Face,which will be making up the main part of my outfit:

(Click on images for links)

 

 

 

 

My dress arrived today and I am SO impressed with it. I’m a size 18 and often struggle to find clothes to fit, especially around the bust, but this dress has an elasticated panel in the back and accomodated my bosom perfectly! The material is lovely quality, the skirt part of the dress is fully lined, and it’s a really flattering shape. I wore the flip flops to pick Sausage up from school as I wanted to check that they weren’t going to cause blisters on Saturday and I have to say, they were super comfortable. The leather straps are soft and supple and the footbed is actually padded, making you feel like you’re walking on cushions!

I’m going to add a couple of things to the outfit to, in the words of our beloved Carrie Bradshaw, “merchandise it up” a bit. I’ve picked out some jewellery that I like from a different shop:

 

 

I’m also on the lookout for a cardigan and the lovely Anya at Older Single Mum, who is a genius at colour matching, has told me that I’m a Summer and should be wearing dusky colours, so I think I’ll be on the lookout for something pale grey or pink.

I’ll definitely be rocking my Cath Kidston messenger bag, it goes everywhere with me and it big enough to carry my whole life in it!

So, what will you be wearing? If you spot me, looking lost, come and say ‘Hi’ – I’m very friendly!