Wedding Etiquette Forum

Family members purchasing their outfits before the bride?

My future mother-in-law, sister-in-law & grandmother-in-law purchased their dresses one month after my fiancé and I were engaged... that was 11 months before the wedding!

When they did this, I had no idea what my color scheme was going to be. Now that I've narrowed it down, it ends up that my bridal party as well as my future female in-laws will all be in plum! I'm nervous about how the photos will turn out, because I want my bridesmaids to stand out from the family members. 

Do I ask my future in-laws to return their dresses? (I know it's too late to return the dresses that were rather pricey.) Or do I just live with it? I know the world isn't going to end if my bridal party and in-laws wear the same color. I wouldn't use the word "bitter", but I am definitely a little frustrated that they made their dress decisions before I chose the wedding colors, let alone before I even chose my own wedding dress! Thoughts on how to settle this issue with as few feelings hurt as possible?
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Re: Family members purchasing their outfits before the bride?

  • If you are that worried and borderline bitter ~ pick a new color for your wedding scheme. I'm sure they wouldn't go out and buy new dressesj, as I'm sure they just pick what they like and looks good on them. There's a bizzilion colors besides plum, if it matters that much that your bms stand out, continue to "narrow it down" to a new color...easy peasy.
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • Typically the bridal party won't be in many, if any, pictures with the parents and/or grandparents unless someone in the bridal party is family and you are doing a family shot. In the event of a family shot, just thing of how nice it is going to look having them all in the same color pallete.

     

  • Calm down. In the grand scheme of things this won't matter.
  • It's NBD at all. In fact, I thought it was nice they were all excited about it that they went out and got what they would be wearing already! They don't have to wear a certain color or anything so I'd just let it go if I were you.

  • Lol, for some reason my MIL and FIL thought it was tradition for the FOG and MOG to wear clothing to match the wedding colors, so they both wore blue outfits.  

    I just told them they looked great.  And all was fine.  Seriously--you're NOT going to care what anyone is wearing, and your pictures will look fine!

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  • monkeysip said:
    Lol, for some reason my MIL and FIL thought it was tradition for the FOG and MOG to wear clothing to match the wedding colors, so they both wore blue outfits.  

    I just told them they looked great.  And all was fine.  Seriously--you're NOT going to care what anyone is wearing, and your pictures will look fine!
    My grandmother thought the same thing, to the point where she changed what she had planned on wearing to something that matched our wedding colors. She looked really nice, the color worked well on her. 

    Moral is, it won't matter at all. Since you chose a color that's really popular and really flattering on a variety of skin tones, you'll probably have other people show up in it too. We used plum as well, and trust me, my bridesmaids (and grandma) were not the only ones in that color. They might be in a handful of pictures with other people, but it will be obvious who's in the bridal party and who's not. 
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  • Jen4948Jen4948 member
    Knottie Warrior 10000 Comments 500 Love Its 25 Answers
    edited January 2014
    It's not up to you to decide what clothes your family members and guests wear.  They are not required to seek your input or your permission to choose whatever they want to wear.

    As long as the clothes are of appropriate formality for your venue and the time of day, and are in good condition, they are suitable for your wedding.
  • After reading this and your other post about your wedding dress code, I believe you have some control issues.

    You're in charge of what you and your bms wear. All other adults get to choose their own clothing. 

    I second the poster who recommends that you have a few Margaritas. 
    What she said.
  • Honestly your pics may look better for it. At my uncles wedding his in laws, daughters, my parents, grandma, and cousins all were coincidentally in the wedding colors. I wore an amazing turquoise dress and totally clash in the family pics.
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  • saacjw said:


    monkeysip said:

    Lol, for some reason my MIL and FIL thought it was tradition for the FOG and MOG to wear clothing to match the wedding colors, so they both wore blue outfits.  

    I just told them they looked great.  And all was fine.  Seriously--you're NOT going to care what anyone is wearing, and your pictures will look fine!

    My grandmother thought the same thing, to the point where she changed what she had planned on wearing to something that matched our wedding colors. She looked really nice, the color worked well on her. 

    Moral is, it won't matter at all. Since you chose a color that's really popular and really flattering on a variety of skin tones, you'll probably have other people show up in it too. We used plum as well, and trust me, my bridesmaids (and grandma) were not the only ones in that color. They might be in a handful of pictures with other people, but it will be obvious who's in the bridal party and who's not. 


    My mom thinks the same thing. I've told her she can wear whatever but she wants to cooridinate.
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  • While I don't want to totally dictate dress code, I do think there is wisdom in the parents of the bride and groom at least somewhat coordinating. I don't want my mom to show up in some bold pattern and his mom to show up in a clashing, bold pattern. What I did (and ONLY because I was actually asked what I thought they should wear) was steer them toward a color family and ask that they keep away from patterns. It is what my sister did as well, and the family pictures look better because of it.

    That said, if they found something that went against that, I wouldn't say anything. I would just let them wear it.
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  • You sound like you're micro-organizing your wedding to the point that you're stressing yourself out over things that really shouldn't concern you. If somebody wears plum-colored jeans to your wedding, it will not make an iota of difference in your day. I second the suggestion for margaritas and raise you a glass of Chardonnay for those nerves. Stop being such a control-freak and start letting some of this shit go.
  • Did OP do a screen name change?  This was started by nicolesands and now the OP is SBride67.
  • @kmmssg Yep
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    now with ~* INCREASED SASSINESS *~
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  • edited January 2014
    SBbride67 said:
    My future mother-in-law, sister-in-law & grandmother-in-law purchased their dresses one month after my fiancé and I were engaged... that was 11 months before the wedding!

    When they did this, I had no idea what my color scheme was going to be. Now that I've narrowed it down, it ends up that my bridal party as well as my future female in-laws will all be in plum! I'm nervous about how the photos will turn out, because I want my bridesmaids to stand out from the family members.   Why?  Everyone will know who the BMs are because they just walked down the aisle carrying bouquets!  Plus don't you want all your BM's to dress like a different Disney Princess, anyways?  So they won't be in plum, will they?

    Do I ask my future in-laws to return their dresses? (I know it's too late to return the dresses that were rather pricey.) Or do I just live with it? I know the world isn't going to end if my bridal party and in-laws wear the same color. I wouldn't use the word "bitter", but I am definitely a little frustrated that they made their dress decisions before I chose the wedding colors, let alone before I even chose my own wedding dress! Thoughts on how to settle this issue with as few feelings hurt as possible?  You build a bridge and you GTFOver it.  Seriously, don't even worry about what they are wearing, it won't affect you at all.  If everyone coordinates it will make your wedding photos look even nicer, imo. 
    1st, I've been a part of or attending about 30 weddings and no one ever worried about what the Bride's colors were when they chose what outfits they were going to wear as a guest.  It doesn't matter.  No one needs to coordinate with you at all.  And no one needs to wait for you to pick your attire before they go shopping, sheesh!

    What your guests are wearing won't detract from your wedding photos. . .unless someone is buck ass naked or in a clown suit or something ridiculous.

    Which brings me to point 2- either you are young and Santa just brought you an engagement ring or you are trolling us all, because your posts are not adding up.  here you say your BM's will be in plum, but on Attire and Accessories you claim that your wedding party is dressing as different Disney Princesses.

    I sincerely hope the A&A post is trolling and that your BM's will be wearing plum.


    ETA: Whoops!  I'm getting posts mixed up today, sorry!

    "Love is the one thing we're capable of perceiving that transcends time and space."


  • Family members wearing the same color as the bridal party is a non-issue.  If you feel otherwise, you are able to change the color of the bridesmaids' dresses, but you cannot ask your future in-laws to return their dresses.
  • @PrettyGirlLost PLEASE direct me to the Disney Princess thread!  Sounds too good (aka bad) to be true!

    And BTW, my MIL wore champagne.  My dress was "light gold" aka a gold toned ivory...aka close to champagne.  Didn't affect a thing.  She looks beautiful.  She didn't choose it to be spiteful (she simply found a dress she felt lovely in).  The pictures look fine ; )
  • It would never even occur to me to be concerned about what color people wear. It is already really stressful to plan a wedding, why make it more stressful?
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