I had already been told three weeks previous to the big day that I would be graduating with a 2:1 (yay!), so I had plenty of time to get excited and organised ready for graduation. The first thing I had to think about -after making sure that my parents had tickets - was the outfit! I'd booked my robes pretty much as soon as I'd received my graduation pack, and I definitely recommend any future graduates do the same. It takes about ten minutes but it's an important job that you don't want to forget in the excitement of it all!
It was recommended that we should wear a blouse with a skirt or trousers, so that the hood can be attached to the buttons of the blouse. One thing they didn't mention is that the hoods are pretty heavy, and you will spend all day pulling your blouse down if you wear a sheer lightweight one like I did... I picked the blouse a few weeks before my results, and as much as I loved it, I couldn't quite justify spending £40 on something I'd probably only wear once. Lucky for me, after waiting a few weeks, it was half price in the sale.
My shoes were fairly easy to pick, as I knew I wanted a nude/natural colour to match the cuffs and collar on my otherwise white blouse. I also knew I wanted a low wedge, as I'm not too great at walking in heels, and I was having nightmares about having a 'Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars' moment. Plus, you do quite a bit of standing/walking throughout the day, so it's best to be comfy. For the skirt, I knew I didn't want black (same colour as the robes) or anything too plain like my blouse and shoes. So of course, I settled for bright pink.
I met up with the lovely Charlie so we could go into the ceremony together, as we were both pretty lost! Check you know where you definitely need to be before the ceremony, as there will be a lot of people wandering around just as lost as you are. Again, we were early, but it meant we could collect our seat numbers and have a catch up before taking our seats.
Now after some vague joking about it, I found out that my seat number was A1, meaning that I would be graduating first. Hundreds of students graduating and guess who would be walking across the stage first? Me. At this point I totally chickened out with my shoes, thinking that the added pressure of going first, I would be even more likely to trip over my own feet, so flats it was.
The ceremony itself went way quicker than I was expecting, and I didn't fall up or down the stairs, hurrah! After the ceremony, we went outside to listen to a speech by the town crier and throw our caps. It was great fun but I did manage to misplace my hat... Luckily I found one to return instead. By this point it was about 6pm, and there was just enough time to take some final photographs before returning my robes.
After my graduation, my parents and I headed over to Raj Pavilion for a celebratory meal with my family. It a lovely end to a perfect day, sharing delicious food with my fabulous family! To top it off, I got a ton of cards, some flowers, three bottles of wine, a bottle of champagne (thanks Raj Pavilion!), a Topshop gift card, an amazing cake made by my talented auntie, and recently, a photobook documenting the whole day!
<3
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