As the mother of the groom four years ago, Ellen had a great experience. Her son and daughter-in-law helped to keep her involved in all aspects of the wedding planning, and she thoroughly enjoyed the experience. As the mother of the bride, she is using her organizational skills to help her daughter plan the wedding of her dreams. Now that both she and her daughter have found their dresses, and all of the vendors have been booked, she patiently awaits the day when both of her children will be married to the loves of their lives……and taken care of. Whew!!
Finding the perfect dress for your daughter’s (or son’s) wedding can sometimes be quite challenging. In my case, I was able to find the dress for my son’s wedding with relative ease. I’m not quite sure if it was because I was four years younger or perhaps fifteen pounds lighter.
Either way, I went to one bridal shop, saw exactly what I was looking for, ordered it in my size, and three months later, discovered that it fit me perfectly on the first fitting. Job done; spectacular wedding over!
On my son's wedding day, I wore this turquoise Alfred Angelo 2-piece gown.
As Mother of the Groom, with the happy couple (the bride is The Wedding Yenta!) and my daughter who's now the bride-to-be!
This time around, my daughter is getting married, and it has not been so easy. I spent hours scouring the internet by Googling MOB dresses, and what came up consistently disappointed me. The floor length dresses I looked at were either: 1) way too frumpy, looking like dresses for the grandmother of the bride instead of the mother, or 2) far too youthful-looking. Now I pride myself on having a pretty youthful outlook on life in general, but I certainly don’t want to be one of those moms whose attempts to be fashionable have her looking like her daughter’s best friend instead of her mother.
My daughter and I have a great time together, and we’re very close, but the fact is, I’m her mother not her friend… and I’m 62, not 26! Where were the dresses that looked age-appropriate, yet fashionable and in good taste?
My daughter and I always have a fun time together and wedding planning is no different!
I started hitting some of the retail department stores like Nordstrom or Neiman Marcus, and I actually found a couple of dresses that fit the bill only to discover that they would have maybe one dress in that style or color in all of my area, and it was three sizes too big. The store’s seamstress assured me that taking in that much material would destroy the integrity of the dress. Back to the drawing board — or the shopping board in my case.
Finally, I realized what I needed to do. I gathered information from my extensive search and discovered a common thread. Most of the dresses that I was drawn to were from the same bridal company. And, coincidentally (or maybe not), it was the same company that had made the dress that I’d worn to my son’s wedding. BINGO! I realized that they had a company store about 45 minutes from where I live. I was able to make an appointment online (I love the Internet!), and when I walked in, there were several dresses for me to choose from. Some were too frumpy, and some were, in fact, too youthful. But there were also some very lovely dresses that were appropriate for me. I got to choose my color (the beauty of bridal salons as opposed to department stores or boutiques), and bam! I’d found the dress.
It will be ready in eight weeks, and with any luck, it’ll be right after the first fitting. Or maybe not. There are those extra fifteen pounds. I’d better get busy losing them… only six months to go!
