Dressing the Kids for a Wedding | M&S

This month, my kids got to treat themselves at M&S using a gifted voucher with the remit being something a little bit smarter. I don't know what your kids are like but as soon as there's a family meal out, a birthday or wedding in this house, mine have nothing nice to wear. The girls and I were also going to Lucy's wedding so I was trying to get them sorted in a not too expensive way. Managed to tick all the boxes on this one.

I don't feature the kids on here so I should probably tell you a little about them. I've a 14 year old son who is the same height as me and a slim build so menswear is mostly too big for him still but kids stuff can be quite childish looking and frustratingly, often modelled by kids at the younger end of the age range...very off-putting for older kids. 

Additionally, and other mums of teenagers will appreciate, this is a difficult age to dress because he's slim but tall. So an age 14-15 will often be OK height wise, but will tend to be way too wide. I guess kids are bigger now and retailers are factoring that in?

My twins are 9 and tall for their age and although they're definitely both mine - they couldn't be more different shape-wise. They're both slim but one of them is just a bigger frame - broader shoulders and hips. One of them has a long body like her mum, the other has legs that go on for miles! So I don't encourage them to dress the same and that helps address any questions about why they're wearing different sizes in the same item. I'm so conscious of never mentioning size or shape to them, neither mine nor theirs. I just focus on the fact that they are lucky to be different in lots of ways so there's no chance of them ever getting mixed up.

So back to the choices and here's what my son chose....in a bout 5 minutes flat. The shirt is fantastic on him because it's a slim fit though he had to size down in the shorts - they're definitely on the big side.

Pure Cotton Textured Shirt - £14-20

Pure Cotton Shorts with Belt - £16-22

The younger of the twins wanted a dress for Lucy's wedding but she's a girl after my own heart because she picked her shoes first and the dress had to fit around it! It all worked out really well in the end. They matched perfectly and the sandals are going to be lovely all summer long now as they've got so many gorgeous colours in them. The dress was an age 10-11 and fitted her perfectly. It's a gorgeous sateen cotton with some beautiful pleated detail on the waist and although it needed an iron when it arrived, it didn't crease on her when she wore it. It looked so beautiful on her all day and was very wedding appropriate but she can also throw a denim jacket over it and wear casually too, which is a bonus.

Pure Cotton Dress - Autograph

Kids' Sparkling Glitter Sandals - £18-20

Last but not least, my other daughter already had a dress suitable for the wedding and refused to entertain buying another one (IS SHE EVEN MY DAUGHTER??!) so instead, she picked up some sandals to wear with it and then this two piece which when worn together looks like a playsuit. Long body girl goals...she, like me, struggles with onesies thanks to our longer than average torsos.

2 Piece Top & Shorts Outfit - £18-24

Leather Gladiator Sandals - £20-22

Quality on both the sandals and the 2-piece is excellent and she wore the sandals all day for the wedding with no problems.

There was enough credit left for the twins to buy this top also - though so far, the sharing of it isn't going so well. It's in the sale though so I may very well end up buying another one to keep the peace.

Pure Cotton Embroidered Top - £8-12 in the sale

I've just one photo that I can share from the wedding (my kids with Anna's gorgeous girls from Blossoming Birds) and I want to say thank you to M&S for understanding that I don't share my children on the blog and for being completely ok with that. I have had brands who've refused to work with me because I won't show the kids' faces...and it's fair to say that the kids miss out on a few opportunities for days out etc that come my way because of my approach but it's ok because there are plenty of lovely companies who are so good about it.

So grateful to M&S for gifting my kids with a voucher to spend. We were not paid to write this post. My links are affiliate links which means that M&S know you came to their website from here and they may pay me a tiny commission if you buy and keep something I've featured. This doesn't change the price of the item for you and the modest income I make from links helps to cover some of the costs of running this blog....so thank YOU if you do click through!

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