Mother of the Groom: Dresses

As a Mother of the Groom myself, this topic is of great interest to me! Our son’s wedding date is for the end of May, 2009, so I have plenty of time to make my final choice.

Here are three pieces of advice to follow for shopping for the Mother of the Groom’s dress:

1. Check with the Mother of the Bride and Bride for style and colors.
2. Ask the bride to go with you. She will have seen her mother’s dress and the shopping will give the two of you a chance to get closer.
3. Choose a color and style flattering to you but not clashing with the bridesmaids dresses because you have the right to look beautiful, too.

I’m excited to be part of this very meaningful occasion in our son’s life, but, you see…I need to lose about 20 pounds and many inches for the look I want for myself in those wedding photos which last over many lifetimes! I was thin in my wedding photos, and not too bad in our daughter’s wedding photos…I just don’t want to look worse in our son’s wedding photos…especially since I’m 10 years older than when we celebrated our daughter’s wedding. 

It’s not really vanity, it’s just feeling good about myself. Even when I lose just a few pounds, I start to feel better about me. Well, enough about that topic…for now…anyway…

My Mother of the Groom Dress wish list:

• The dress I choose must be soft looking and have a jacket to cover my upper arms. I guess it comes with age and not exercising like I should. Perhaps that could be the reason why so many Mother of the Groom and Bride dresses come with jackets? 
• The color needs to be in a shade of blue that won’t clash with Marine Blue.
• The dress should be tea length, keeping in the style of the bridesmaids dresses.
• It also has to be flattering to my stomach, hips, and derriere.

I had planned on searching every bridal department and shop within 25 miles from home. And, I thought it would take me until next April to find THE dress.

Well, I think I found it and I wasn’t even trying.  Here’s how it happened:

A couple of weeks ago, the bride-to-be and I were shopping in Boscov’s at a nearby mall. She was looking for a sundress to wear for their engagement/save-the-date pictures and I was just browsing through the evening wear, not expecting to find anything I liked. 

While the bride-to-be was trying her dresses on, I browsed through the evening wear department. Well, there it was, hanging on the rack calling to me…”Try me on, try me on.”  The color first caught my eye…sapphire blue! As usual for me, I looked at the price tag…hmm, not bad BUT not on sale. I try not to buy when it’s not on sale. I looked again, held it up in front of the mirror, then put it back.  I walked away…then I went back, took it off the rack, and headed to the dressing room. I figured I had nothing to lose.  (note: figure, lose)

Not only the color was perfect, which would go perfectly with the bridesmaids’ marine blue dresses, it was also tea length - same as their dresses. And, of course, the dress came with a jacket but when I tried it on, I didn’t feel like I was wearing the Mother of the Bride or Groom uniform with a tailored look. What won me over about this jacket dress was that the unlined chiffon sleeves, with an angled soft ruffle on the end and the soft inverted pleats at the skirt’s hem gave it a feminine feel.  The lined chiffon dress has some delicate beading on the jacket and just above the pleats which gives it a more formal look. It will be perfect for the end of May wedding!

The price was right, less than I had expected to spend. Remember I said earlier that I figured didn’t have anything to lose? Well I was wrong. The dress satisfied everything on my wish list, except it was too tight and not flattering to the above mentioned body parts in my wish list. 

So now I’m very much motivated to lose those pounds and inches. Even if my Mother of the Groom dress needs altering (if too big after all those pounds I’ll lose), I’d still be spending less than I had expected.  After I got home, I looked on Boscov’s website. My dress wasn’t shown but others were. If you don’t find what you see on a store’s website, make a visit to the store.

Now you might be thinking…What if it does’t fit this Mother of the Groom in May of 2009?  I was told by the salesperson that Boscov’s will allow me to return the dress as long as I have a receipt and the tags are still on - with no time limitation!  So, in the meantime, I’ll be exercising and watching what I eat. But it won’t be for the dress, it will be for me.

Oh, by the way, the bride-to-be approved!