I'm going to give a bit of history, so this may will be long; but I appreciate the help I can get.
I'm 34 years old and getting married for the 2nd time. My 1st wedding/marriage was rushed, and ended about year later. Although we rushed into it we wanted a "real" wedding/reception so I bought a gown, veil, etc. . .but only about 10 people I worked with showed up. I don't have any children.
When my sister got married about 2 years ago she had went with her MIL to find her dress. Asked my mom to go with her to "shop" but really just wanted my mom to "offer" to buy her veil/headpiece/accessories.
My relationship with my mother has been strained over the past 15 years. But with all that happened in the past I thought it would be a nice gesture to ask her to come gown shopping with me without any requests of her paying for anything, or having already picked out the gown with a friend/future MIL. At first she said yes, but then added that I had to be ready to handle what her comments and such might be, because as she put it; "It's your second wedding, just get a white dress, put something in your hair and carry a bouquet. . .people will know you're the bride."
While I don't have my heart set on a big princess ball gown that could rival the costumes for "Gone With The Wind," I do want something nice, and flattering for my shape. . .and if a ball gown is what will flatter me that is what I will get. So now I'm wondering if I should just tell my mom to scratch the idea of me travelling back home because I really want someone to be supportive while dress shopping and not bringing me down with comments like "You're not 22 anymore" or "This is a SECOND marriage."