The first few months of having a new baby are all a bit of a blur aren’t they? They’re also a time where you spend most of your day wearing cozy and comfy clothes. I think I was actually glued to my leggings and dressing gown throughout the entire first six months of Oscar’s life. I also lived on chocolate bars because who the hell has the time to be making actual real food? Certainly not me.

So it was this lazy comfort and casual binge eating that left me feeling very apprehensive when we received an invite to a wedding back in September. How the hell was I supposed to dress for a wedding after having a baby? I’m still carrying a lot of baby/cake weight and I was really concerned about having to try and look like a human being. The wedding was also in Henley so pretty darn posh – definitely not my forte.

After weeks of trawling the internet and looking at the same dresses over and over again that all looked stunning on the models but I knew would show off all the bits I really didn’t want shown (AKA all of them) I headed out with my mum and took a wander into a shop that I never would have looked twice at a few years ago but has become a staple since becoming a mum – Fat Face. I literally cannot get enough of their navy stripes all over every item of clothing! It’s the most flattering thing EVER for someone a little self conscious. And it’s there that I ran in to THIS beauty.

A maxi dress? For a wedding? Pfff, why the hell not? I had actually NEVER worn a maxi dress in my life as I’m only 5″4 and could never find one flattering enough for shorties like myself but this one was amazing. The horizontal stripes slimmed me where I needed slimming and the length was perfect so I snapped it up.

One one problem… what would I wear with it? As I’ve blogged about before, I have the WORST style. Literally none at all. I wouldn’t have a clue what shoes to wear, let alone accessories. I knew I needed a helping hand and so I turned to the most logical place for a blogger to turn to in her hour of need – another blogger.  I ended up enlisting the help of the three wonderful bloggers from Fashion & Frappes – because who better to help me style an outfit than three fashion obsessed ladies?

This is what they came back with – which I’m sure you’ll agree is gorgeous!

I absolutely LOVED the silver and navy together and knew instantly that that’s the colour scheme I wanted to go for. The jewellry was amazing too (and actually I already owned a navy saphire ring so that was a definite bonus!) But I will be honest and say there was NO WAY I could walk in those shoes even though they are gorgeous. I am a total clutz and me + heels + alcohol would have been a sure fire way to end up spending my first baby-free night in A&E.

I ended up ordering a similar jacket from ASOS but it just didn’t look right with the dress and after countless hours or searching and trying on alternatives I realised that I would either get the colour I wanted OR the shape but not both together and so I mixed things up and opted for a classic pashmina in silver instead.

Here’s what I ended up with for my outfit or as close as I can get to it using Polyvore!)

In real life the shoes were actually wedges which looked really good in a solid navy and my ring was not as expensive as that but it’s all pretty spot on and as you can see I totally followed the Fashion & Frappes style of working the navy and silver together. I think the overall effect was pretty striking and very classic.

Dressing up a maxi dress really is an amazing way of feeling glam but hiding away all of those post-baby lumps and bumps that you may not be feeling great about. I’ve even gone back and bought a second version in elephant print for any Christmas parties – who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to dress myself without help next time…

… maybe not 😉

Here are my top 3 tips for how to dress for a wedding after having a baby:

1 – Wear what makes you comfortable

I think you can pretty much style anything for a wedding. I worried so much before going about whether I would look too casual in a maxi dress; bit too much like I was popping to the beach for the day, but I needn’t have worried. Some people were even wearing jeans – the trick is matching your accessories, shoes and jacket to glam it all up! Be comfortable with what you choose or you’ll end up feeling self conscious which will ruin it for you completely.

2 – Make use of what you have

I already had so much old jewellery lurking around the house that I managed to include in my outfit, despite spending ages browsing shops for the perfect pieces. I also had the bottle top clutch bag which was a bargain buy when the company first started out. When you’ve had a baby (and particularly if you’re still on maternity leave like I was) spending loads of money on items for a one day event is totally impractical. The things I did buy (navy wedges, pashmina and maxi dress) are all things I will get use out of over and over again!

3 – Embrace your new mum figure

Yes you have mum curves now (lumps and bumps in my case) but who the hell cares. You can still look great and by the time the welcome prosecco has been necked by you and the other guests nobody will give two hoots about how you look! Just enjoy a bit of down time and make the most of the free bar (if you’re lucky enough to be at a wedding that has one!)

Huge thanks to the Fashion & Frappes ladies for helping me sort my wedding style out – you gals rock!