Mother of the Bride Attire

pharmd2323 · February 2012

I'm having a daytime (11:00am) outdoor (hopefully... wish me good weather!) ceremony, followed by a seated lunch (so somewhat formal, cocktail attire-ish) reception. The bridesmaids are in short, A-line, leaf-green dresses but my main colors are all pale pink and white - the table linens are pink with pink embroidered swirls, white napkins, the centerpieces pink and white roses in a topiary style with white hydrangea, a few leaves showing through, moss stem, a box of the same flowers at the base. The cermony has all pink petals on the aisle, pink roses hanging from the trees, pink tipped rose bouqets for the girls and bout. for guys, then me and FI have white roses, so mostly everything is pink and white, with only a few touches of greens. What should my mom (mother of the bride) wear?! Short, long? She doesn't look so good in pink, but probably shouldn't match the bridesmaids... any suggestions? Thanks!!

jagore08 · February 2012

You should tell her to wear whatever she feels comfortable in. The mothers don't need to match your color scheme just the formality of the wedding.

Epiphany1031 · February 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_attire-accessories_mother-of-the-bride-attire?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding BoardsForum:15Discussion:5e15ae24-6c35-46c6-a835-69ca3b2079b7Post:416c1aa6-8368-45d6-a9d7-196df65b5ccf">Re: Mother of the Bride Attire</a>:
[QUOTE]You should tell her to wear whatever she feels comfortable in. The mothers don't need to match your color scheme just the formality of the wedding.
Posted by jagore08[/QUOTE]

Agreed!

pharmd2323 · February 2012

Thanks, I didn't even think of that part... formality is the most important factor so she doesn't look out of place. She at least wants to match, not in the sense of actually matching, but you know, look cohesive (like not wearing polka dots when the rest of the people in the group pictures will be wearing something less whimsical, or not wearing red if everyone else is in pink... I don't know, something like that, you get the idea). So as for matching formality I think she's pretty good at gauging that, but she doesn't know what color to look for mostly. Any thoughts on color(s)?

ElisabethJoanne · February 2012

Here's the standard schpeal for moms who ask what to wear, "As you know, the wedding's on X date, at X time, and is X formal. Wear whatever will make you feel most beautiful and comfortable. If you are really worried about clashing, the colors are Y and Y, so you can avoid those."

But my mom didn't buy that. It would have been rude (or dishonoring) not to give her more direction. Also, it would have been weird, because she's been asking me what to wear to social events since I was 4. It's just part of our relationship.

Is it possible she already owns something appropriate? My mom already owned a dress I really like in a color complementary to wedding color. She insisted she needed a new dress. I insisted she didn't. I won.

If that won't work, a metallic will go with anything. I'm looking at online color wheels, and green is opposite red (=pink), so basic fashion color theory would say she wants something half-way between red and green, on either side. That's orange and purple, but blue and yellow would work almost as well.

jagore08 · February 2012

Just tell her to wear whatever color she thnks she looks good in.

pgcp · February 2012

Your mother's comfort is much more important than pictures. I don't think I will ever understand the perception that people need to dress a certain way so that the pictures look "right". If someone wears a color you truly find offensive, print the picture with them in black and white!

pharmd2323 · February 2012

Haha so true! I personally didn't even know what to tell her, I just said be comfortable and you'll look great. My mom's really sensitive about looking cohesive so I posted this to help get her some ideas. She's more into everything looking perfect than I am! Thanks for the ideas everyone, and any other suggestions are welcome too!

jagore08 · February 2012

If your mother's really worried about the look then just let her know what all the colors are and let her decide on a color that would go best.

Cortney1982 · February 2012

Let her pick out whatever she wants to wear. I found my mom a really pretty dress on Macy's. It does match my wedding colors but that color just happens to look great on her. I called her first to make sure she liked it. Now she is excited to go shoe shopping!

doeie04 · February 2012

Our moms asked us what they should wear. I told them they could wear black if they wanted to. It is easy to find, everyone looks good in it and it will match the tuxes. Super simple.

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