In just a few short months time, we will be setting sail on our first family cruise...and I'm super excited at the prospect of finally getting to dress up a bit for the formal evenings!
Formal evenings on a cruise are a bit like marmite in that you either love them or hate them. Some passengers avoid them like the plague and head off to the ships buffet restaurants to avoid taking part, but to me...they're one of the aspects of cruising I enjoy the most!
I've always been quite the stereotypical girly-girl and I just LOVE the chance to dress up in beautiful evening dresses and fancy shoes and accessories - so shopping for some formal wear is a treat to me!
It is quite challenging this time around though - it's going to be a bit different swanning about in evening wear with the kids in tow than it was last time I was on a cruise in my pre-parenthood days, so I need to make sure that my heels aren't so high that I'll find it a struggle to walk holding the kids...and I need to make sure that my dresses are sensible enough that they're not going to be easily pulled down or damaged by grasping little fingers!
The last time I cruised was before I'd had any children and was in a much happier place weight wise, back then I was a happy size 12/14 who would wear pretty much anything and feel quite comfortable but these days outfit choices come with many more stipulations for me...I hate to show my arms and shoulders, I won't show my legs at all and I like things that aren't too fitted or too high waisted as these are very unflattering for me.
So I've done some browsing and I've come up with the above outfit.
I just love the beautiful silver evening gown from Debenhams - the detailing on it is so pretty, it ticks all of my boxes and it's not going to break the bank too much either.
For footwear I've been reading about the SS16 trend of romantic inspired footwear which is just perfect to accompany a dress a like this....in particular these beautiful silver diamante detailed shoes from Brantano's collection are perfect.
And as a finishing touch, this silver blow clasp glitter clutch bag from Claire's Accessories finishes it all off nicely...I don't carry much around with me other than my phone as, lets face it, there'll be time for make up re-touches with the kids around and all of their things will be in the changing bag (Which Daddy can carry that night!) so a tiny little bag will...for once...suffice!
I'm so looking forward to the chance to have us all dressed up together enjoying a fancy evening...now who wants to bet on how long this outfit lasts before it's covered in chocolatey handprints or baby sick?!
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