@soozievt, congratulations to you too! Two weddings being planned at the same time must be very interesting but a lot of fun. Particularly where you can just turn it over to the “kids”, as you have done, and just sit back a bit and enjoy. Very far removed from the old MT program college application days of yore, lol.
Her dress was one area my D did not spend much time (or money) on - saw a dress on the J Crew website she liked, they didn’t have it in her size, so she found it (new) on Ebay for $200. It is very simple and suits her well. Can’t find a link that will post, but if anyone cares, it is a J Crew Bettina gown.
I’m with Consolation in that I will NOT be looking for a traditional MOB dress, just a nice dress, not long, for a warm summer day.
I’m so thrilled with my MOB dress, also not traditional. I will throw it on and be ready to go in it all day - and night!
I am waiting for spring dresses to come out. It’s a 3 pm wedding, so I certainly don’t want dark colors, or sequins, or anything down to the ground.
I’m hoping to find a MOB pantsuit I can wear … I hate wearing dresses. So I’m keeping my eyes out for a very dressy, but lightweight, pantsuit ensemble. David’s Bridal had one in their catalog that my D said was acceptable. But that particular outfit wouldn’t work for me – so it just gives me a concept of what might please my D. I do have a tea-length dress that I wore to my son’s wedding and haven’t worn since – my D also says that’s fine.
If I see a dress that I really like I might go ahead with it… but I’m just not a dress person. (Never have been, and it’s been 20+ years since I was in position where I needed to don a skirt for work).
@mcat2 - in my daughter’s case, there will only be one wedding and it will be here.
The K-1 visa restrictions make it much simpler to do it this way. And really, the couple is fine with this. And his parents understand this. They will have met her 4 times over the course of a year (she stayed in their home during each visit, so we are not talking about short, cursory visits) so they will have a good idea who their son is marrying. It is my understanding that they approve of the match, although they are sad that their son will be living in another coutry.
Ok, let’s try this again: jcrew.com/womensfeature/NewArrivals2/Bridesmaid/PRDOVR~C5543/C5543.jsp?intcmp=catheadw_weddingsandparties
If the link doesn’t work, it is on the jcrew.com website under weddings and parties. The dress is called Anabel, long, light weight chiffon, choice of pale pastels as well as navy, graphite and black.
@soozievt I’d encourage your daughter to make an app’t somewhere else sooner than 6 weeks for a Sept wedding. My daughter stalked the BHLDN line for two months before she could get in, and found that the fabrics were not as beautiful as the pictures on the website. The lace is much heavier, sort of more like crochet. Many of the dresses use lots and lots of tulle, which is actually an inexpensive fabric. The thing about BHLDN is that if you select a dress from there, you can get the dress within two weeks. However, if your daughter decides that she would rather go with a dress from a bridal store, the dresses take 4-6 months to order - unless you buy a sample, or from David’s Bridal. My daughter went into BHLDN with a list of 8 dresses, she came out of the dressing room in 6 of them, and we were done is 35 minutes, so it can be done. The “Cate” was beautiful, but it ended up not being “wedding” enough for my daughter, even though she thought she was going for a non-traditional feel. I agree that looking for a dress with straps or sleeves cuts down on most of the inventory, making decisions easier 
I am not knocking BHLDN! Just relaying our experience - and if she doesn’t love a dress there, the timeline is going to be squeezed.
I copied and pasted your link EC and it came up fine.
You know, when I looked at it - and I am TOTALLY not the best person to judge cause I don’t care for long dresses and traditional MOB dresses or fancy dresses - but when I looked at it , it reminded me of many of the bridesmaid dresses we saw about a month ago when shopping for bridesmaid dresses - the neckline, fabric the solid, simple design. Then I noticed the link - it IS advertised as a bridesmaid dress!
I would just be certain that the bridesmaids AREN’T going to wear anything similar.
What does your dress look like, @abasket ? Care to post a link? We’d love to see it!
I have no interest in a chiffon dress as I also think most look like bridesmaid dresses; at least the ones that don’t look like something my MIL would wear! Hopefully I can find something long and lightweight that doesn’t look like a formal gown or a beach dress. I hate my legs and want to look nice for my daughter and future son in law’s wedding, so long it will be. MOG is also interested in long, but is waiting to see what I do before she selects a dress.
Good luck to those dress shopping for wedding gowns. I was worried about going with my daughter and we can butt heads when it comes to personal things, but we had a nice time. We didn’t get that teary eyed look when she decided on a dress, yet we all agreed it was the one. I guess I watch too many of the Say Yes to the Dress episodes and thought we were all suppose to cry when she walked out. All I wanted was my daughter to love a dress we could afford; she has become very frugile, so that was easy!
No link to my dress! I bought it off the sale rack at Nordstrom Rack for a song and I love it! It’s a black and white patterned shift dress, sleeveless. Light and airy. Just above the knee. Pretty jeweled neck. The back “opens up” (not sure how to describe it) and there is a layer of solid black in the back. It’s a dress that floats and moves nicely when you walk. Just a little shine to make it special, but not overly dressy - which I am not.
I’m totally happy with it.
I went to the florist with Fiance and her mom yesterday. If the quote comes in at “not outrageous”, I’ll be pretty much done except for the traditional MOG stuff. Fiance and her mother will not do things as I would have done, but things will be pretty.
What kind of flowers, arrangements are part of the plan Missypie? I’m being nosy.
I hear that florist prices can be outrageous!
My daughter wedding is at a venue that includes the floral and food. When we met with the planner, he asked what type of flowers my daughter was interested in; her response was anything cheap!
One thing he told us about was reusing the bridesmaid bouquets. According to my daughter, as the girls have been in numerous wedding, they don’t really care about the flowers to keep. Our table centerpieces will be the same as the girls flowers. After pictures are done during the cocktail hour, the girl’s flowers will be collected and dropped into the centerpiece setting of 8 tables. This will save us on 8 centerpieces. The venue will also have plenty of replacement flowers in the event a bouquet is damaged.
@snowball, that is a smart idea and is one that is fairly common now. S & DIL did it and I have seen it done at other weddings. D is planning on that strategy for her June wedding.
Yes, we are doing that, too. Of course, there are only 4 girls instead of 8, but that still saves us some money.
what an interesting idea - to use the bridesmaids’ bouquets as table decorations. I may have to ponder this a bit.
The big news for me is that today I found the dress I will wear to my daughter’s wedding! I heard that the little chi-chi dress shop in town was having a huge sale and low and behold - they had a gorgeous little dress waiting for me. And at $500 off the original price! I would never have afforded it otherwise. So, I’m super excited.
bookreader, that’s great. I don’t even know what the chi-chi dress shops are in my city.
And on the subject of using the bridesmaid’s bouquets as decorations, even if you want all the centerpieces to look the same, you could still use them elsewhere…in vases by a guest book, head table, rest rooms, etc.
My daughter did not want so many bridesmaids, but the college group comes all or none, and then she has her two best friends from elementary/high school.
I had never heard of reusing the girl’s flowers, but happy to do so!!