mother of the bride dresses.. YUCK!

This was so tough for my mom too- what does she have in mind? have you tried Nordstroms, Saks, Barneys, or Niemans? My mom ended up getting her dress made because she had such a hard time- Actually the website insideweddings.com really helped because they show real weddings and give you a link to where the stuff is from and a lot of them show the mother of the brides dress and if your mom likes it you can see where they got it from.

Good Luck!

OMG, I completely agree! Just for fun, I look over the MOB dresses on theknot.com, and I come up with something either big and flowy (ew) or tight and strapless. What's up with that?

Here are a couple cute ideas that might work for your mom:

Ann Taylor Suit

Ann Taylor Dress and Bolero

Chadwicks Wrap-Jacket Dress

My mom is actually walking me down the aisle also and we can''t really find anything for her either. She''ll be 40 (maybe 41?) then and everything we''ve seen looks like its either for grandma or a 20 year old. I like that last one EBree posted though, I''ll have to show it to her.

ebree- that ann taylor suit is my fav. i''ve been eyeing that one for a while.

Date: 4/24/2006 5:21:12 PM
Author: jcrow
ebree- that ann taylor suit is my fav. i've been eyeing that one for a while.

Isn't it cute? It's a little too young for my mom, though (she's 60...I was a "later in life" baby ). The last one I posted is what I'm eyeing for mine.

Date: 4/24/2006 4:42:09 PM
Author:laurel_aurelia
so, my father passed away and thus my mom will be walking me down the aisle.

everything we see as far as mother of the bride dresses are either FAR TOO MATRONLY (she''s 46) or FAR TOO SLUTTY.

any advice???

OMG, the SLUTTY comment totally reminded me of my friend''s wedding. OK, I have been known to exaggerate but I sh*t you not, her mom wore a dress that started at her NIPPLES!!!! I am not kidding and it was PURPLE with TEAL. Oh, and the worst part, she couldn''t even blame it on the 80''s, this wedding was last year.

Sorry, I''m no help.

My mom had the SAME problem. She got her dress from David''s Bridal. This one but hers will be in chocolate brown. It is very flattering.

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that dress is really pretty tacori!

My mom has had this very same struggle finding a dress - exactly as you said, everything is incredibly matronly (and my mom is 56, which to both of us, still seems much too young to be wearing the awful crap they say is MOB) or way too slutty and revealing (again, she''s 56, this isn''t the Gilmore Girls and we don''t wear each others clothes)...

Then my poor little granny called and she''s been having a hell of a time too - she''s 78 and feels like she''s much "hipper" than all these little old lady dresses...  Plus she''s about 5''5", weighs about 98lbs, and is so tiny yet she isn''t a "petite" because her waist is long...

Then FI''s mom called me and asked if she could wear a pantsuit because she''s having the same problem as my mom - the dresses are either way too old or way too young...

My mom tried Ann Taylor... and usually she finds stuff there that she likes... but this time everything seemed kinda... blah? if that makes sense?

ACK!!!

So, my granny finally found a dress shop - a locally owned specialty type place where she found a dress that fits her perfectly, is a color that complements her, and needs no alterations.  It is however $300 - for most people''s granny''s that is probably a lot...  and the ladies at the dress shop told her she could wear it to church (her church is way casual) but they didn''t think she should wear it to any of her other grandkids weddings - I told her to screw that!!  Finding a dress was hard enough & expensive enough - she should get at least 2 more weddings out of it!!

Anyhow, my mom went with my granny back to the same dress shop and ended up finding something there that she loved as well so I think all the women have finally found something to wear - but seriously, I think it took them longer to find their dresses than it did me to find mine.

I was also 46 when My daughter married almost 11 years ago.  I bought my two piece suit at the shop where she bought her dress.  It was beautiful.  I was determined to find something in TEAL my favorite color and I did.  Has your mom looked in the bridal shops.  Maybe they have changed, since I was looking.


Linda

I saw a "What Not To Wear" within the past three days in which they dressed the groom, man of honor, mother of the bride, and mother of the groom for the wedding. I cannot, for the life of me, find pictures online, but the results were wonderful. They dressed the mother of the bride and of the groom in dresses that in some ways are similar to the one that Tacori E-ring posted, but in the wedding colors. They were not too revealing, but were still stylish and fitted. They then wore pashminas as wraps over them, with little broaches holding them on.

I also like the idea of a nice two-piece suit. There are so many other places that your mother could wear it after the wedding, too.

Date: 4/24/2006 6:26:31 PM
Author: ivanadiamond
that dress is really pretty tacori!

Thanks. She looks great in it. She is a size 12 and it is very sliming also she can wear a regular bra with it which was a must for my mom (I am not sure she ever has worn a strapless). My FMIL got her dress from Cache (below). She is a size 4 so she looks good in everything.

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I hated all the ''MOB'' outfits the bridal designers put out.

My mom got her outfit at St. John. It was gorgeous.... baby blue sequined jacket top and knit skirt to match.

see, FI''s mom is WAY more matronly than my mom. (and 63, while my mom is 46.) my mom is ALWAYS going, "brian''s mom would like this, but it''s wayy too old for me."

i DO borrow my mom''s clothes.

But, she is getting the saggy-ish-boob syndrome and thus feels like she CANT CANT CANT wear a strapless. must wear a bra.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE IDEAS! I like the davids bridal one, but i know we''ve looked at their dresses (i LOVE that dress, so i''m sure i suggested it) but she didn''t buy it so i''m sure shehad  some stupid qualm with it.

her coworker keeps sending her links of like, $900 vera wang dresses. yeah, right. out of the budget. my dress was only $1300 and i feel like THATS overdoing it.

i LOVE the ann taylor suit. i know she doesn''t want ot wear a suit -- but i sent her that link anyway saying "MOM I LOVE THIS."

we''ll see if she bites.

more more more advice! :)

My mom is having the same problem- she''s in her sixties but that''s no reason to dress like an old lady, as she says!!  She''s also my MOH so we''re looking at more bridesmaid-ish dresses for her.  The problem is that she''s very petite as well so everything is sized too big for her.  We''re going to some bridal outlets a week from Saturday and I''m really hoping we find something she likes!

Date: 4/24/2006 5:02:52 PM
Author: EBree
OMG, I completely agree! Just for fun, I look over the MOB dresses on theknot.com, and I come up with something either big and flowy (ew) or tight and strapless. What''s up with that?

Here are a couple cute ideas that might work for your mom:

Ann Taylor Suit

Ann Taylor Dress and Bolero

Chadwicks Wrap-Jacket Dress

Wow that Ann Taylor one is one I have been looking at for myself. I love suits I think they are fantastic.

I would also suggest Tahari for MOTB clothing they have wonderfully cut suits in very nice fabrics.

Maybe Tadashi, Cache for eveningwear.

thanks everyone SO MUCH. i sent my mom a bunch of stuff from this thread. SKylah, i also copied/pasted your comment to her because i thought it was HILARIOUS!

Cool, Laurel! Hopefully it gave her a laugh as well.

Laurel:  my mom is wearing a suit very similar to the ann taylor post for the church ceremony and then she got a dress from jcrew to change into for the reception!  while the dress isn''t too revealing, she wanted to be a little more covered up for the church.

what a great idea, lulu!

only thing wiht us is -- we''re getting married outdoors in a botanical garden and having our reception in their visitors center -- no changing time.

i really like that suit. i haven''t heard back from her on it, but i forwarded it to her. :)

Date: 4/24/2006 6:14:25 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
My mom had the SAME problem. She got her dress from David's Bridal. This one but hers will be in chocolate brown. It is very flattering.

I tried this dress on.. its awesome. I'd shorten the length if it were mine. I had considered them for my BM dresses. It fits beautifully and is flattering. LOVE IT.

(btw.. I'll be 40 in June.. so.. I guess I'm among the *ack* "Mom" ages for you girls.. lol.) Oh gosh... you guys could be my daughters.. how cute is that? LOL

then you have some very very cute, diamond crazy daughters! ;)

I appreciate this thread very much. My son is getting married on May 29th which is coming up pretty fast. Shopping for a dress as the mother of the groom was challenging, to say the least. You are all so right on about the choices...either too matronly, which I am not at 46 years old, or too revealing and va-va voom, which is not only not me, but this is not the place for showing that much skin.

I must have went to over a dozen places...before I found a dress. The colors of the wedding are a deep, rich chocolate brown, black, vintage taupe and spun gold, bronze and copper, so this made things a tad difficult in finding a dress. I did go to the Brea Mall and found a dress at a store upstairs by Nordstroms that had a dress that I tried on. I was already set to not have it fit, but it did...and like a glove. I am very short waisted and about 20 lbs away from my goal weight so when this Sue Wong dress fit, I could not believe it. The price was a bit more than I wanted to spend, but at $400, I later found out this was a good price for her line.

The dress is v-neck but then it comes together in the center in the back with three spaghetti-like straps flaring out from the center. It is really cool. The overall color is a black/brown, with an art deco design with gems of bronze, copper, gold and chocolate brown metallic threading. I tried to look for a pic to show you, but no luck. It is full length with cutaway pieces of fabric that move with me when I walk. I LOVE it!

I thought if I was going to invest that much, I would get the most out of this dress and wore it on my recent trip to the Caribbean. I do have a more conservative dress being made for the open house we are hosting at my home after the wedding, but for the actual event, I am wearing this Sue Wong marvel!

I have to say, that a dear and close GF of mine will probably be shocked by this dress...not for any other reason, but because she wants me to only wear highly modest dresses and this would be considered way too revealing, which it is NOT. I may lose a friend over this dress...

ooh deanna can you post a picture?!?!

my mom is in the EXACT same boat as you.

we''re also having a fall wedding; burgundy, gold, cream. i told her she could wear black even, if she wanted, since she''s walking me down the aisle and the guys are obviously wearing black, but she was like "no, what would people say? don''t even put that idea into my mind" (she loves wearing black, in general.)

she''s STRUGGLING.

Date: 4/25/2006 1:20:29 PM
Author: DeannaBana

I have to say, that a dear and close GF of mine will probably be shocked by this dress...not for any other reason, but because she wants me to only wear highly modest dresses and this would be considered way too revealing, which it is NOT. I may lose a friend over this dress...

Deanne... if your friend was a true friend, she wouldn''t judge you like that.. you go girl.. you''re not dressing for HER anyway.. I for one, would love to see it!! You''ll be fabulous.. sounds like a tad bit of the green monster to me..!!

Date: 4/24/2006 6:14:25 PM
Author: Tacori E-ring
My mom had the SAME problem. She got her dress from David''s Bridal. This one but hers will be in chocolate brown. It is very flattering.

My mother tried on the same dress, and it looked great on her.  The only problem was that the neckline was a bit too low on her.

Laurel--my mom''s walking me down the aisle too!

We spent days shopping for a dress for her.  We ended up with a floor-length, black, sleeveless, v-neck dress with beading along the v-neck and a little matching "jacket" with 3/4 length sleeves and beading on the cuffs and center.  She''s 56 and didn''t want anything matronly either.  I wouldn''t say it''s ''hip'', but it''s not too matronly either.  I will post pics after the wedding in a couple weeks if you haven''t found anything by then.  (Wish I knew the designer--we got it at Robinson''s May last September.)

Is anyone sensing a business opportunity here???  Some designer reading this post needs to design something for MOB that is not too matronly and not too slutty!

Laurel--I looked on the Robinson''s May website and couldn''t find the dress my mom got.  I found this one though, it''s not too bad:
 


For me, I really wanted my mom to have SLEEVES since she was walking me down the aisle and I just wanted her more covered.

Tacori--I love that dress!  That was my second BM dress choice (which we found after the other one was already decided).  Is it really flattering?  It looked like it would work well on all body types.

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Too matronly?  I liked the shape but not the color.  I wanted something dark for my mom, with sleeves, and either a floor length skirt or long flowy pants.

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