Graduation Day & Tips

If you follow me on twitter, instagram or read my University Experience post you'll know that I graduated from the University of West England last week after studying Primary Education for three years.  The ceremony was in Bristol Cathedral which was such a nice place - the building itself is beautiful, the common next to it is lovely and there was plenty of trees to shade us from the sun (although it was lovely that the sun was shining, it was boiling in the robe!). 

I wore a purple Topshop skater dress (here), Dune T-Bar heels (similar here) and a colour block Miss Selfridge clutch bag (similar here), then covered it all up with my rented gown, hood and hat!  The graduation was a pretty expensive event, so I decided not to pay the additional £50 for professional photos and we took plenty ourselves using my camera which we're planning on printing out to keep.

We all had such a lovely day, a lot of people weren't sure whether to attend or not because it's a bit of a pricey day between travel, gown rental, guest tickets and optional professional photos, but I'm so glad we went and for us it was worth every penny!  I do have a couple of tips for any of you who are graduating in the future which helped my day go a bit smoother:

• Go for neutral make-up which is unlikely to date so you don't cringe looking back on the photos.  I went for a matte defined eye using the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette, natural cheeks and a my-lips-but-better lipstick in the form of MAC Giddy (review here).
• Graduation is a long old day, so long-lasting make-up is a must.  I  used Illamasqua Matte Veil and UD Primer Potion to prime my face and eyelids, sprayed the UD De-Slick setting spray over my make-up and popped the Soap and Glory One Heck Of A Blot powder in my clutch to keep shine away.
• It can get quite busy in the centre of Bristol on a normal day, so we were pretty sure we'd struggle to park near the cathedral on Graduation day, so I wore a pair of comfortable pumps to walk to and from the cathedral and changed into my heels when I got there - this was the best idea ever, while the other girls were hobbling around and complaining about blisters I was comfortable all day long.
• The hood and hat is a little bit of a pain to wear because they don't stay on! I fixed my hat to my hair at the back with a bobby pin or two, and I secured my hood to my dress with a safety pin to keep it from slipping backwards which definitely stopped my faffing with them all day long.
• The gown and hat is pretty warm to wear - maybe long sleeved outfits made from thick material would be a mistake? If I was you, I'd choose something cool and comfortable to wear.
• Lastly - enjoy it.  The chances are your degree was pretty difficult to get through, but this day signifies the end of all your hard work and proves it was all worthwhile so make the most of your day of celebrations!

I hope these tips help a couple of you, and you all enjoy your graduation as much as I enjoyed mine.  If you've done graduation-related posts I'd love to read them, so please leave your links in the comments!