Afternoon tea outfit - 24 weeks pregnant

[Salacia]

My MIL wants to take me out for afternoon tea next month for my birthday and as a pre-baby treat (before getting into central London and going to a posh hotel gets a bit more logistically challenging!). Not sure exactly where we’re going yet but it’ll be one of the posh hotels - Ritz/Savoy/Dorchester/Goring etc.

I absolutely love dressing up (would always rather be over than under dressed) but I’m a bit stumped. I’m currently around 20 weeks and have a smallish bump (always had a slightly soft tummy though so I don’t think it’s that noticeable). I thought about getting one of the dresses from Seraphine (via Vinted) but I’m not sure if it’ll sit right if I still haven’t got an especially large bump by then. I suppose it really doesn’t matter if as I can always wear it later in pregnancy regardless but I’d like to feel confident on the day. My current dresses that I’d wear for this sort of occasion are currently very tight across my bust so I need to get something new but don’t know if I should be shopping in the maternity section or not…

I know it’s a difficult question as everyone’s bumps develop at different times but anybody got any recommendations/suggestions? I prefer to shop second hand so don’t want to leave it until the week before (when I’ll have a better idea about bump size). I might be massively overthinking it and I should just buy a maternity dress but after IVF/pregnancy losses etc I find it difficult to believe I’ll still be pregnant in 4 weeks let alone plan my wardrobe around it!

Congratulations on your pregnancy. My eldest son was born after 4years infertility and second after recurrent miscarriages- so I understand how you feel about not believing it!

I didn’t get anything maternity second time round apart from jeans, I just bought a size bigger in the styles I liked from Vinted. Maybe you could think about what you would wear there if you weren’t pregnant and have a look at similar styles on vinted?
if those styles wouldn’t work with your body now I’d try on some dresses (if you’re after a dress) and work out which style and shape looks good and then look for similar second hand.
If you like them, wrap dresses are good in pregnancy.
If it were me I would go wide legged trousers with a stretchy waistband and a shirt or nice top as I prefer trousers and especially as you have a small bump.
enjoy your trip it sounds lovely!

Seraphine dresses are lovely and are designed to sit lovely both in pregnancy and postpartum, I also have a friend that wears hers and she has stopped feeding. They are a great investment.

Have you looked at joining The Octopus Club, online buying and selling maternity and baby stuff.

Seraphim's dresses look great at every stage in pregnancy and post Partum

Thanks for the advice everyone! I’ve seen some good options from Seraphine on Vinted so I might take the risk - I suppose after enough cakes, scones and sandwiches the bump might be more prominent regardless...

Before this pregnancy I’d never got further than 8 weeks so it’s all a bit of a (nice) novelty to have a wardrobe dilemma. I’ll have a look at octopus club too, thanks for the tip.