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Mother of the Bride Tips & Advice Videos
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Are you confused with what to wear to the wedding? Is your daughter not giving you any directions on the color, style, etc.? Here are a few short videos posted by the owner of "Celebrations Bridals" to help you in your selection of the perfect mother of the bride (or groom) dress. CLICK on the videos to play. Enjoy!!
Wedding Dresses for the Bride's Mother -- powered by eHow.com
The Mother-of-the-Bride's Dress Weight -- powered by eHow.com
Long Mother-of-the-Bride's Dresses -- powered by eHow.com
Colors for the Mother-of-the-Bride's Dress -- powered by eHow.com
Formal Mother-of-the-Bride's Dresses -- powered by eHow.com
Sizes for a Mother-of-the-Bride's Dress -- powered by eHow.com
The Waist of a Mother-of-the-Bride's Dress -- powered by eHow.com
Variety in Mother-of-the-Bride's Dresses -- powered by eHow.com
Sleeves for a Mother-of-the-Bride's Dress -- powered by eHow.com
Slim Mother-of-the-Bride's Dresses -- powered by eHow.com
By KEVIN COWAN, Scripps Howard News Service (Courtesy of The Florida Times):
The wedding day is about the dress.
For the bride, it is that dream gown that transforms her into a glorious vision in white. The bridesmaid sometimes dons a frock only a bride could love.
Then there are the mothers of the bride and groom. The selection of the dresses for these matriarchs is serious business.
“This is a big process,” said Jabette Carlson, a buyer for Clothes by Mertie, a Knoxville, Tenn., boutique that specializes in dresses for wedding-day moms. “It’s not like you’re getting a another dress for your wardrobe. It can be very emotional. They work really hard to find something that everyone will like, especially the daughters.”
In their search, mothers will find a variety of styles that will put smiles on their and the brides-to-be’s faces.
“Most of the time, people are looking for a formal dress with a jacket,” Carlson said, “and it’s usually floor-length.”
Other common options include tea-length dresses, cocktail suits and long gowns with more of a nontraditional feel for youthful moms who don’t want to look like typical mothers of the bride. If it’s a garden or a beach wedding, looks can be as relaxed as a flowy chiffon sundress.
Straight column dresses and A-line shapes are prevalent. Jackets, sometimes with three-quarter-length sleeves, and wraps cover spaghetti straps and bare shoulders exposed by strapless numbers and sheath styles.
“They usually want the arms covered for the church weddings,” said Kelly Clayton at Pam Kelly.
Whatever the dress, the mother of the bride sets the tone. According to The Knot.com, “It is customary for the MOB to purchase her dress first. Her choice of color, cut and length are meant to subtly dictate what the mother of the groom will wear.”
“They have to coordinate their looks,” Carlson said. “They should complement each other and the color scheme of the wedding, especially when it comes to photographs.”
A “mother wearing an orange dress next to your bridesmaids’ light-green ensembles is bound to make wedding pictures look tacky,” said the experts at USABRIDE.com.
The key word here is complement, not match.
“They don’t want to wear the same color or style,” said Clayton. “They would take away from each other.”
The color of the dress is a big deal. Traditionalists frown upon white, ivory and champagne. If the mother of the groom wears these shades, it is interpreted she views the bride as a rival.
Soft shades of pink, blue, green, yellow and lavender make for a peaceful affair, particularly at day weddings. Black, once considered too mournful for the big day, is popping up more at evening weddings, often combined with white. Jewel tones, such as purple and burgundy, are popular hues for fall weddings.
Prints are viewed as distracting. However, a print dress at a garden or beach wedding isn’t out of the question.
In details, designers and stores have shied away from elaborate beading, once a staple on mothers’ fashions.
“We’ve gotten away from the beaded, sequined things,” Carlson said. “It’s more about fabric, textures and embroidered details.”
Look for tiers of ruffles, pleating, ribbon trims, rhinestone buttons and a sprinkling of beads.
Scripps Howard News Service
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