Friday, January 25, 2013

MOTHER OF THE OCCASION DRESS

Its time to return to posting now that the holidays are over and my wonderful husband purchased a new computer for me that practically  writes the posts for me.  Our topic today is Mother of Occasion dress shopping.  Have you ever heard that term?  I had not until recently.  I think instead of using Mother of the Groom or Mother of the Bride or Stepmom of the.....you get the idea.  This one term pretty much covers all relationships and all occasions.

We will be very fortunate to have a wonderful young woman, Lauren, join our family in August when she and our son will be married.  Up until a few weeks ago I gave some thought to what I might want to wear but decided to wait and try to lose approximately 100 lbs before the wedding (maybe only a SLIGHT exaggeration hahaha) as well as hoping the new "miracle" eye cream does its job on some troublesome wrinkles.  Not sure either of those things will realistically happen so last week I started looking at dresses for the upcoming wedding.  First on my list was Nordstroms and second was Bloomingdales.  Most dresses were sleeveless (definitely a no-no for most women past 35 no matter how good of shape they are in) and black (I am not wearing black to this joyous occasion).  I felt like my options could go into one of three categories:

1.  Look what I just got for my high school prom (hope to look bit more sophisticated)

2.  Look what I just got for my 4th wedding (no explanation needed why this was not my look)

3.  Look what I just got celebrate my 80th birthday (I want to be age appropriate but not frumpy)

I will say that although it was a bit discouraging it really did help to actually try things on (thanks Anna for gently forcing me to do this).  I now have some idea of what I am and am not looking for.  As I said, it is an August wedding so deep colors of maroon, green and brown simply will not do.  The wedding is in the afternoon thus a knee length dress seems appropriate.  I hope to find a dress that has arm coverage from a light weight jacket/coat or perhaps lace or sheer sleeves.

My question for all of you is where have you been able to find a beautiful, classy and stylish Mother of Occasion dress?  My fingers are crossed that you will share some hidden gems in the retail world.  I promise to keep you updated on this search.  Rest assured that I will not give up until I find the perfect dress for this perfect occasion.

4 comments:

  1. Nancy, there is a place in LaPorte that has a good choice of occasion dresses--at least they did eight years ago. Advice from the friend that shopped with me--make sure the dress looks good from the back. That is how most people will see you at the ceremony!

    Unfortunately, both my dresses were worn once only.

    Mary

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  2. Thanks so much. I believe the store you are referring to is Judees. I am going to go there next Friday. I appreciate the tip on making sure back of dress looks nice, would not have thought of that but makes perfect sense.

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  3. Hey Nancy! I found my MOB dress at a wedding shop in Memphis called Ballew Bridal. It was actually in the bridesmaid section. My daughter didn't want me to look like a typical mom! Lol! I chose a one shoulder fuchsia long dress. You can view it (and the wedding) in my pics on facebook. I think a 3 quarter lacy/sheer sleeve would be perfect! As for color..I thought I'd wear black to 2nd daughters, after wearing silver to 1st daughters. However, her wedding was SO colorful (lime, turquoise, purple, teal, orange, yellow and fuchsia), I didn't think black fit in. I needed color, so I chose the fuchsia to match my oldest shoes. (Each bridesmaid and the matron/maid of honor wore shoes in one of the above colors). Do you know what the MOB is wearing yet? What colors is the couple using? Angela

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  4. Both of my kids were married a couple years ago and I had a terrible time finding dresses. I found a local dressmaker and provided her with photos of dresses that I liked (sleeves on this one, neck line on that etc.) and she created dresses for me. I was pleased by the price too! Certainly in line with what I was expecting to pay for ready to wear.

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