I’ve been preoccupied for the past couple of months. Every spare moment – on the loo, waiting for the kettle to boil, the moments before sleep at night – has been spent searching. It’s been a long and arduous hunt but, finally, it’s reached an end: I’ve found an outfit to wear to a wedding later this summer, when I will be around eight months pregnant.

Wedding outfits stress me out generally anyway – there’s a certain irony in the fact I found getting an outfit for my wedding the easiest of all. As a guest I always worry that I’ll be a) over-dressed b) under-dressed or c) wearing something someone else is wearing. Wear the right outfit and you can feel pretty good. Wear the wrong outfit and you can feel pretty bad. For me, it’s that simple. 

The wedding we’re going to at the end of the summer is going to be a brilliant one. There’ll be a few old friends there who we haven’t seen in a while. The couple getting married are good friends from long before Frog existed. It’s a special wedding and, while I don’t mind having this big old belly, I don’t want to look like a trussed up hippo.

And that’s why I need to give a big thank you to my pal at The Motherhood, Fashion Editor and style blogger extraordinaire Erica Davies, who also blogs at Modern Mum Must-Have. After admitting my search for the perfect maternity summer wedding outfit was proving fruitless, Erica suggested Keungzai, a womenswear, nursing wear and designer maternity wear brand.

Erica sent me a picture of this dress. It was *the* dress. On screen, it looked like I might have finally found something to wear to the wedding. It was the right length, not too long and not too short. It was the right colour, a delicate grey. It was the right material, a soft and luxurious jersey fabric.

And now, it’s mine…

I was really tempted to buy a maxi dress for the wedding, mainly to hide my swollen feet and ankles, but maxis have a habit of making me look shorter than I am and – at the moment – even rounder. The length of this dress is perfect, because it covers the upper thigh area I hate at the moment and skims just above the knee.

(I was trying to work out a way to do a post about the dress without having to include a photo of me in it, mainly because the NLM takes awful photos and sharing lots of photos of myself makes me feel a bit cringey. But I couldn’t, so… sorry.)

I’ve teamed it with a pair of bright pink pointy ballet flats from Next. I went up half a size to accommodate the puffy pregnant feet. Because these don’t have any straps across the front of my foot, they’re actually comfier than any of my flat sandals. The pointy toe also helps elongate my foot and (I hope) distract from the cankles.

I’ve also bought a yellow draped longline cardigan from River Island, which helps keep me warm AND act as a cover up for my ever-increasing backside.

The drape on the Keungzai dress is hugely flattering. It falls delicately across the bump and scoops in at the bust, creating a lovely shape. The tops of the arms are skimmed by the clever cut of the sleeves – again, hugely flattering.

And the best thing about it? It doesn’t have to be worn as a maternity dress. There are no extra panels, ruching or pleats, giving it a life far longer than just a few months. When you’re spending more than £100 on a dress that’s a big plus.

The bright necklace adds another pop of colour to the outfit. It’s from Accessorize and features the pink and bright yellow of the cardigan and shoes.

I know, for some, the idea of spending lots of money on maternity clothes is a bit of a waste. And I can see where they’re coming from – spending hundreds of pounds on dresses and trousers you’ll only wear for a limited time does seem a bit indulgent. But if you can wear the clothes long past pregnancy AND they make you feel good at a time when your confidence might not be at its peak then, well, I reckon it’s an investment worth making.

Keungzai also sent me a beautiful wrap front nursing dress which I’m sure will get lots of wear as the weather turns cooler right at the end of this pregnancy, and then when I have tiny baby to feed too. I’ll post about that another time, once the NLM has recovered from being roped into helping take the photos.

Have you got any pieces in your wardrobe which have helped you feel amazing during pregnancy?

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Thank you to Keungzai for sending me this beautiful dress and allowing me to feature it here.