Despite the fact that we aren’t especially religious it always seemed important to me that we would honour the traditionalism of an official ceremony to recognise Rosie’s godparents.

I like the idea of a community coming together to welcome this new child to the world and that I leave her safe in the knowledge that should she ever want it that community will be there for her.

We decided it was easiest to hold the ceremony close to us and there is a beautiful church nearby so it seemed ideal.

The Godparents were chosen quite early on, we decided to choose aunts/uncles as there is always a danger that if you choose friends you may not still be friends with them in 20/30 years but you will still have your family. We also stuck with the traditional 2 Godmothers/1 Godfather as she is female, although for it to work nicely with the remaining aunts/uncles we need our next baby to be a boy!

We worked on the invites ourselves, Leigh putting his creative skills to the test and had them printed by Optimalprint, it worked out much cheaper than buying pre made ones. I am so pleased with how they turned out, they are really beautiful, and I had them printed in matte to make them extra special.

After much deliberation we decided that we were just going to have immediate family to the ceremony. One; to keep costs down and Two; because it could have become a very big event, very quickly as neither of us are from small families (we had 160 guests at our wedding!). I worried about offending people but you can’t please everyone all the time so I knew people would understand if they asked.

I looked at a few dresses but decided in the end that the only person I really wanted to make her Christening dress was my mum. We looked at a few different fabrics before deciding on a embroidered floral overlay on a longer dress with full length sleeves. Originally we had discussed the sleeves being sheer but after looking at it my mum decided it looked better with fabric underneath and I agree. I am so pleased with how it turned out, it’s just beautiful and she looked perfect in it.

For my outfit I wanted something that was going to compliment hers so I bought a green maxi wrap dress, so I was warmer and could feed her too! It was from Amazon and I was really happy with it.

 I decided that I was going to make the cake myself, although I cheated slightly and used packet cake mix and buttercream. I wouldn’t normally as I love baking but I just wasn’t sure I’d get the time to make a 4 layer cake completely by scratch. I added caramel for the drip and arranged fresh flowers on top, with figs and physalis. It turned out really well and I although I knew it was from the packet the guests didn’t seem to mind and everyone had a slice!

On the day of the Christening Rosie slept in until 8.40am which meant she managed to make it through the 10.30am service in good spirits . I had originally worried about nap times but I needn’t have!

All our family gathered at our house first whilst I got Rosie changed into her dress at the very last moment. I’d also got her a snow queen fluffy faux fur jacket so she looked like a princess on the walk to the church.

Once there we were greeted and shown to our pews at the front of the church and the service got underway. Thick layers of incense filled the air and the choir sang  their voices filling the church. You can say what you like about religion but there’s always something awe-inspiring about the atmospheres in churches.

Rosie got several mentions and calls for prayers, the visiting Archdeacon mentioned where she would be in 5, 10, 20 years and that made me emotional.

 When it was our time we stood at the front of the church to give the declaration and Rosie was anointed  . She was more interested in the candle and his robes though, reaching out to grab his sleeves.

We all walked to the back of the church where he took Rosie and it was her big moment! I’m happy to say that she didn’t cry when he held her and she stayed calm and happy through the important water on the head moment.

After we’d accepted the congregations well wishes we finished the rest of the ceremony, Rosalind was a bit overstimulated and fell asleep in my arms and then on the way to the pub too.

 We walked over to one of our local pubs for some drinks, a roast dinner, catch ups and cake. It was all a bit hectic though, I don’t really feel like I spoke to anyone and instead just ran around trying to make space for everyone and make sure Rosie was ok being passed from person to person (she was!).

We had a very tasty Sunday roast which of course Rosie joined us for, eating her greens like the good girl she is and dropping the majority on the floor much to everyone’s amusement.

 When we got home we opened all the lovely gifts she has received from family, a couple of beautiful necklaces for when she is older, a perfect edition of Beatrice Potter, a collection of Dr Suess books, a gorgeous Noah’s Ark for her to play with, a money collection to be released in 2036 when she’s 18 and sponsorship of endangered Gorillas. They were all such thoughtful gifts, she is so lucky.

 It was such a lovely day, although it was over so quickly. Everyone commented on how good Rosie was which always makes me feel so proud and it’s true she was despite having minimal naps and feeding as we were so busy. I’m so glad we seem to be raising such a confident, happy little girl.

Cara x

Written by Cara Goulding for her blog, Oh My Goulding.

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