MOB dress suggestions

Austen2010

My wedding is still a little ways away but my mom is starting to search for dresses. She is really discouraged becuase most of the dresses are really matronly and while she does not want to dress like a 20 year old bridesmaid, she also does not want an overly matron dress. I really want her to feel pretty and special.Does anyone have any places for dress recs. for an MOB?

mbcdefg

My mom got her outfit off-the-rack at Macy's. Has your mom been shopping in department stores and regular clothes stores, or exclusively in bridal salons? If it's the latter, maybe she'll have better luck if she looks for a nice evening gown/suit instead of a "mother of the bride dress." Look on the Nordstrom website for some pretty stuff. If she wants to keep looking in salons, maybe she could look at age-appropriate bridesmaid's dresses and order one in her desired color. She could add a jacket or a shrug for some added sophistication if the dress is otherwise too "young" for her (you can order those from a lot of BM dress designers). For example, I think that something like this paired with a shrug or a cropped jacket would look really nice: http://www.alfredangelo.com/Collections/ProductDisplay.aspx?productID=542b8bd1-31e0-4b6b-936f-0777d2250432&categoryID=772f03c9-de43-4942-bfa0-da77e21ebd65&pg=0And a shrug like this: http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49997451&currentIdx=1&subCategory=-49998498%7c-49997994&catentryId=6096847&sort=Or a little jacket: http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49997451&currentIdx=4&subCategory=-49998498%7c-49997994&catentryId=6097366&sort=http://www.davidsbridal.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplayView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10051&categoryId=-49997451&currentIdx=2&subCategory=-49998498%7c-49997994&catentryId=6096927&sort=

bablingbrooke

My mom got hers off the rack at Ross for $17 and it looked amazing (my mom is great at finding deals). Perfectly matched the BM dresses, age-appropriate yet not matronly. MIL got hers off the rack at Macy's. She should just look at women's formalwear in general, not in bridal salons.

Austen2010

Thank you all so much! She has been looking in some department stores but I will tell her that we should probably focus there and not look back at the bridal salons.

TheFutureMrsM-LoungingBeachside

My mom tried to go off the rack but had a really difficult time finding anything. She ended up by a really beautiful dress by Jade (the mothe-of-the-bride line from Jasmine). It was expensive and she'll probably never wear it again but she was desperate (and about 2 weeks away from the wedding)- and it was incredibly flattering on her. So....my point is, that if your mom does prefer not to go off the rack, I would recommend at least checking out the Jade line.

nuremenosh

My mom got hers from Nordstrom. I forget who makes it but she also looked at a bunch of Tadashi dresses at Nordstrom and Bloomingdales.  I would defnitely rec the higher end department stores over a bridal shop. My mom thought those were all too matronly

Kristin789

You can also ask on the specialty board called MOTHERS OF THE BRIDE AND GROOM.  Loads of MOBs are on there and they talk about shopping for dresses often.

stina93446

You can look in my planning bio and see my mom's priscilla of boston dress. It was a "special occasions' dress because my mom also feels that many MOB dresses are matronly.

LarissaAnn

My mom's was a Junnie Leigh, that she found at a boutique dress shop. Have your mom check the site and call around for availability! http://www.junnieleigh.com/

stina93446

I might also add that my mom found the jade dresses matronly too, except for a few, and the ones she did like were over $600. Who spends that much on a MOB dress?!

LarissaAnn

Well, if they can wear it again... my mom's dress was black with hematite accents, so it can be worn for my cousin's wedding 11/1, New Years... whenever!

cherryT87

I agree with Babalingbrook My mom and future MIL both said they will most likely get their outfits a ROSS they have great clothes at great prices. I have even seen nice formal dresses theat my BMs could there.But if your mom wants to match the BP and its to hard to find the exact colors  anywhere else but the bridal shop. If she is good a sewing then she should be able to order the same exact color of fabric as the BM dresses from the bridal shop and make her own outfit if she feels up to it. Or you could go and look for something at Burlington coat factory or Marshalls.

bablingbrooke

I wouldn't count on Ross 100% (it DOES require a time commitment to find such things) but it is definitely worth a look. My mom had a dress from Macy's before she stumbled on the Ross one when she was there shopping for something else. It was also sentimental for us--we never bought clothes anywhere but Ross until I was in HS b/c we simply didn't have the money to shop elsewhere. So the fact that she found something so awesome there for the wedding made me smile