World of Wedding

• Shop Sales Racks:

This is a no-brainer. Retail stores will discount up to 70% of the original price of the mother of the bride dress, depending on how desperately they want to clear the racks of the current season's clothing to make way for the new season.



Spring/summer lines start showing up on the racks from January through April, while fall/winter dresses are introduced between June and September. Therefore, you will get bargains around these times as well for the last season's mother of the bride apparel.

• Shop Early:

The mother of the bride should start shopping for her mother of the bride outfit as soon as she knows the colors of the wedding. All too often she takes care of all the details that go into the wedding, while forgetting her own needs.

She should spend this time with the bride going over styles, fabrics, accents, accessories, etc. Late shopping only brings on more stress and possibly more money spent on things that were purchased in haste and then returned with "buyer's remorse".

Quite a few bridal shops do not take back returns or offer refunds once the mother of the bride walks out of the store with her dress.

• Shop Online Stores:

There are tons of reputable and traditional bridal boutiques out there that have an online store on the immense "world wide web" nowadays. The costs of running and up keeping a brick-and-mortar store are escalating and definitely cut into profits.

Any savvy shop owner knows full well that they will have to own a "web store" to fully maximize their sales and therefore, profits. Check their Better Business Bureau record or see if the site has a BBB online reliability logo, if you are still not comfortable shopping online. Once you start using your fingers to do the shopping, you will never stop!

• Shop Bridesmaid Dresses:

The "youthful" mother of the bride can opt for a bridesmaid dress which are normally priced less expensively than a mother of the bride gown. Seek the tailoring expertise of a bridal dress seamstress to add on beads, sequins, and other exotic trimmings to create a uniquely appealing look.

• Search for ' Discount' Dresses Online:

The mother of bride can open up more options for herself if she is computer literate and able to do a search using the keywords "discount" or "cheap". Example, search for discount mother of the bride dresses.

These words can conjure up an image of herself in a cheesy, polyester dress but you will be surprised what will show up online that are not quite cheesy despite being made of polyester. By the way, there are 40 blends of polyester and almost all synthetic fabrics for special occasion wear are made of some type of polyester.

• Shop Regular Evening Wear:

Add on a shawl or jacket or buy fabric to make a unique, one-of-a-kind jacket to cover the shoulders and arms for modesty or for providing warmth.

• Wear a Teal Length or Cocktail Dress:

These are priced less than the floor-length gowns and are more versatile, as you can surely wear them again at another special occasion.

Your daughter’s wedding is announced. She has butterflies in her stomach and one thousand and one things to do. Her "butterflies" becomes yours and your thoughts are racing just like hers.

You, as her mother, will help her plan her dream wedding, just like your mother planned yours. At the back of your mind……"What am I going to wear? Will I look just as beautiful as my daughter on her wedding day? So many people are going to be looking at me as well…."

Fret no more. Here are the RULES but like all rules, they may be broken or should I say improvised and revised to suit you. I say….whatever makes you and/or your daughter happy!

1. Confer with your daughter. She will come up with a color scheme for her wedding.

2. Ask her whether she wants the color of your dress to complement her wedding color/colors or almost match it. Examples of complementary colors to a red color theme is burgundy, wine, claret red, dark pink, and purple. As for a "match", it would certainly be difficult to have an exact match of the colors, as your dress will be of a different manufacturer, style, fabric, and dye. So, do not stress over this.

3. You, as the mother of the bride, will decide on a color or colors, after consulting your daughter. Suggest to her to be flexible on the choice of colors—perhaps two or three choices would be great. Mother of the bride dresses are not made like bridesmaid dresses, the latter being preordered and tailored months ahead of time for the occasion. Shopping for a mother of the bride dress can be a headache and nightmare rolled into one, especially for the plus size woman or if you live in a rural city.

4. Do not forget to involve the mother of the groom. After you have an idea of what color you would or should be wearing, inform her. She will definitely appreciate that as she will be in a panic mode as well, going through the same motions as you will soon be, looking for that perfect "mother’s" dress.

5. Shop as soon as you can. Finding YOUR dress is important too. Understand that you are shopping for a specific style that you like and look great in, a specific color, and then a specific size.

Then, you will need to allow sufficient time for professional tailoring of the dress, to get it to fit just right! Also, what about the accessories like shoes and jewelry.

6. Shop bridal or department stores first. You can get a first hand look at the styles out there and the type and quality of fabrics. Do not ignore online formal wear stores. Visiting an online store is easy and stress free as they are sources of good ideas of what you would like to wear on that special day.

7. Take care of yourself in these nerve-wrecking times of preparation. Remember, you need to look good as well, although it is your daughter’s wedding.

8. Now, sit back and relax. You have found your most perfect mother of the bride dress and have a few more weeks to spare. Give yourself a big pat on the back!

There is no doubt that your wedding dress will be one of the most expensive items in your wedding. In fact, you can save a fortune if you are going to rent the wedding gown. Renting a gown is also considered environmental friendly.

However, renting a wedding gown is not the same as buying a new one because you have to return it after your wedding. In order to prevent unnecessary arguments with the or the wedding dress shop, you should bear the following points in mind.


Place your order as early as possible

Since it will certainly take some time for the alterations of the gown in order to make it fit your body, you should place your order to rent it at least half year before your big day. You may need to place the order even earlier if you are going to do that in the peak seasons.

Check the gown carefully when you pick it

You have to check the wedding dress with the greatest care when you pick it. You need to check if there are dirt and damages on the gown. You will then drop down everything about the dirt and damages on the contract before signing it.

This is very important if money saving is the main reason for you to rent the gown. You will certainly rent an older gown with a lower price. However, there will usually be more dirt and damages on such a gown (since it is an older one). If you do not check all the problems of it carefully and drop notes about that, it can be sure that you will just be arguing with the people from the bridal shop when you return the gown.

Pick the wedding dress yourself

You should not ask others to pick the gown for you. This is because they cannot try the wedding dress for you when they pick it. You should spend the time to pick it yourself. If you find that the gown does not fit when you are trying it, you can ask for alterations right the way. You may not have enough time to bring the gown to the shop again for alternations if you are having others to pick it for you.

Pick the gown a few days before your wedding

You should pick your wedding dress at least a few days before your wedding. If you really find that the wedding dress does not fit, you can still allow the shop a few days to alter the dress for you. Of course you should not pick it too early either since you may become fatter or slimmer (it should be slimmer, I bet) after you pick the gown.

Ask about the penalties if the gown is damaged

You will also need to ask about the penalties if you damage the gown. The penalties will certainly be different for different shops. Dropping down all the penalties may be involved if the gown is damaged will be a crucial step. Otherwise it will just render unnecessary arguments.