What to wear for smart hotel weekend? Help!

[Pointeless]

For the first time in several hundred years (children!) me and DH have a hotel weekend away booked this summer. It is a notably smart place, country posh rather than London chic. We have a £££ dinner reservation, will have breakfast and lunch, and have a guided excursion booked.

Help, what do I wear!?!? Particularly to dinner, but all advice very welcome!

I feel like in a few short years I've not really bought myself anything other than comfy frumpy essentials, and I've completely lost sight of what people my age actually wear to look nice and what is appropriate for nice places.

I'm late 30s. 5'3 on a tall day, pushing 10st pear shape, approx size 12, 10 for tops if not too clingy. I'm smaller of boob, ample of arse, have never really liked getting my legs out and I'm still not coming to terms with the mum-tum. My 'style' is pretty understated but I'm not afraid of colour if something grabs me. Budget can be flexible, within sensible bounds!

I bought this this river island dress on a whim before we even booked, but I'm wondering if it's ok to take? I've only worn it once with old sandals, which could do with binning really... Shoes in general - flats are the standard everywhere now, right..? 🤞

Any tips would be really very much appreciated!

The dress will be totally fine. Dress it up with some sandals and jewellery and a clutch bag and you’re good to go.

Dress is good.

How about some new sandals like these:

https://www.johnlewis.com/dune-linnie-leather-cross-strap-sandals-gold/p109823264?s_share=jlappdroid

Have fun!

DD worked in a Michelin starred country house hotel one summer. She said that the clientele ranged from Uber fashionable (stood out and not always for the right reasons) to normal clothes. She also said that the nicest people to serve were the polite, cheerful ones and she didn’t care what they wore as long as they were pleasant people and paid the bill.

I’ve been to Le Manoir. Please don’t overdress! You’ll look try too hard. The black dress is perfect for the evening. Take clean newish (ie not stained etc) clothes in natural fabrics for the day.

That dress is perfect (and I've just bought it, thanks for the link!)

I've been to a fair few hotels like the one you're describing and I really wouldn't worry about. I don't take anything special for the day times, just usually jeans and a top of some sort and then a dress like yours for the evening. You'll get a huge mix of styles at places like that, from outdoorsy to very smart and everything in between!

Thanks all, that's really reassuring 😊

I'll concentrate on making sure I've got a couple of tidy enough "normal" outfits and finding a new pair of sandals (which is a long overdue task anyway). I like those Chewbecca, and they look relatively comfortable too which is a bonus (I don't know why, but sandals invariably try to kill me, don't even get me started on Birkenstocks!), I'll have a browse and might order those and a few others to try.

The black dress is perfect for dinner.

I’d wear wide leg trousers during the day with a shirt - Anthropologie have fab wide legs - called Collette in a range of colours and are fab - you might need to size down or order two sizes as I find they are a generous fit.

Wear with a linen or cotton shirt - Arket have a range - with their loose linen ones, you might need to go a size or two down.

My tip for dinner - make sure you have either a necklace or earrings on that you love and that bring good memories to mind.

How to dress is just so infinitely variable in different places and cultures. The people who stand out are the people who know how to be present, how to enjoy themselves while considering others and how to manage a sense of being a bit different. So find something that helps you feel like you, wear it and enjoy yourself :) And when you see the "perfectly dressed" woman come into the dining room, remember that there might be all sorts of reasons for her dressing perfectly.

If you're looking for sandals I bought these from m&s they're so comfortable and look great on and at £25 they weren't a bad price .

No advice but I love that dress 😍

I've not been to a hotel with DP for a long arse time, so I suggest... sexy nightwear. Let me live vicariously through you!
😂
I say that, in a comfy big hotel bed and belly of decent food, I'd want my biggest nightie and sleep!

Also that RI dress is gorgeous! I do love a good mooch on the RI site, hope you and DH have a lovely time x

..."I've not been to a hotel with DP for a long arse time, so I suggest... sexy nightwear. Let me live vicariously through you!"

Hahaha, I've long grown out of anything I have which could resemble 'sexy nightwear', but it's also been so damn long since we had a child free night I'm not waste time buying replacements... 😆 Actually, there's probably an evens chance it will be a belly full of food and crash to sleep, but either way..!

I'm secretly well pleased you all like a dress I bought, I didn't see "MN S&B" approval coming this week 😄
Thanks all for being lovely x

Love the dress.

For daytime go with your usual style just a smart version - wear a shirt and wide legged trousers if that's you, but if you prefer t-shirts to shirts or dresses to trousers wear that.

Moshulu ginger ale sandals in tan are the most comfy I've found for flat/ walk everywhere type of daytime leather sandals, or teva type sportier sandals, but neither style are really suitable for dinner!

Have a look at esska for sandals for dinner - the ‘Charlie’ style in particular as so comfy I could buy every colour

I love the dress too! I have one in a similar shape but not that neckline. Can't really justify another black dress though, I have quite a few. Like the gold sandals, my late teen has a similar pair. I think getting the daytime and evening footwear sorted is the key, and your feet won't grow, so you will get lots of use out of them in the future (that's what I tell myself anyway!)

The dress is perfect!

For the rest of your clothes, most people are rather casual in hotels so as long as you feel comfortable, don’t worry too much.

Have a fabulous time!

For casual evening, a silk shirt always does the job but that dress is lovely.

Enjoy your weekend !

Would you mind saying which hotel? A lot of them have different vibes. If it's Babington House or The Newt definitely don't get too dressed up as it'll show you up as not one of the crowd. The members tend to be very dressed down.

I bought this yesterday and I've got a cobalt cropped (to waist) jumper to go over it to dress it down. Yellow chunky heels to dress it up. I need to wear a strapless top with it but if you can go bra free so much the better. I have wide hips and a massive but flat arse and this looks good for bigger bottom halves when I tried it on

I've been away to a couple of really nice country house style hotels recently. People were pretty casually dressed. It's definitely smart casual, not very dressed up, men not wearing ties. I wore shorts, t-shirt and sandals to breakfast as we were going for a walk after. For dinner I had a shower, got changed and put some make-up and a necklace/earrings on, and wore anything from smart wide leg jeans and a nice top to a smart day dress, and wore pumps or smarter sandals on my feet.