Weddingbee Blog

When our two moms asked me what they should wear, I was a total bridezilla. No, not really. Actually I was the total opposite. My only criteria for them was that it had to be a shade of brown or tan (and that only came about because one of them said they were worried about wearing hot pink to match our colors). Other than that, I wanted them to find styles that were comfortable and that they felt just amazing in.

First, we started with Mama Meerkat. She wanted something flowy and feminine but that would cover her upper arms. I suggested Mama Meerkat look at the Alfred Angelo two-piece dresses. So we headed down to the closest bridal store that carried AA, which was Gretta’s Bridal in South Bend, Indiana.

Once we got there, we found they had a pretty good selection of the two-piece mom dresses. It didn’t take Mama Meerkat long to find a few dresses to try on. She started with what she thought would be her favorite—one with pants.

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Blech! Too Princess Jasmine from Aladdin. I think you can probably tell by her face that she really didn’t like the pants or the top either. We quickly moved on to the next outfit.

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I was taking the picture as she was shaking her head no at me. She didn’t like this one at all, and I couldn’t blame her. It just wasn’t her style. She is more of a fun, carefree spirit. This was just a bit too formal and…well, to be honest, old fashioned. But by dress number three Mama Meerkat had found a winner.

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This one she LOVED. She said it was comfortable, not old or frumpy, and it was very slimming. Needless to say, less than 15 minutes later we were ordering it. About two weeks later she was starting to second guess the purchase. Well, the dress arrived last week, and she went to get it hemmed. As soon as she put it on she loved it again. She looks absolutely beautiful in it.

Next up, it was Mama-In-Law Meerkat’s turn. When we first started looking she, like Mama Meerkat, hated the standard mother dresses because they looked so frumpy. So months ago when she had found a skirt she loved, she bought it with the intention of buying a formal top to pair with it.

But a few weeks ago she started to second guess herself. She decided she wanted a more formal dress. So we headed up to Bellisima Bridal in Albion, Michigan. Seamstress L had told us that the shop had a top floor with discontinued sample dresses that were $65 or less. We thought it couldn’t hurt to go look.

Of course, first, Mama-In-Law Meerkat had to scare me to death by telling me she was going to wear this beauty that came with detachable sleeves:

Yeah, we were cracking up at her modeling this for us, but then we got down to business. There were only a handful of dresses in browns and tans, but we got SUPER lucky and found one that made her look so beautiful. (Ignore the fact the back of the dress isn’t zipped up in the picture.)

Discontinued bridesmaids dress by Impressions Bridal

Guess how much she payed for it? Fifteen dollars!!! Why so cheap, you ask? Some of the designers, when they send sample gowns, stamp their names in small print across the back. For most people this would be a problem, but since Mama-In-Law Meerkat has a larger rib cage, Seamstress L was going to have to alter it anyway to put in a corset-style back, which would remove the portion of material with the stamp on it.

With two dresses in totally opposite styles, I was wondering if they would clash, but you know, they ended up looking pretty good together.

Now we have two happy moms who are going to look so very beautiful at our wedding.

Did any of your moms have trouble finding dresses because the typical selections were too frumpy or old fashioned?