How to Help Your Mom Find the Perfect Outfit for Your Wedding

 

Image Credit: Freepik

{This is a collaborative post}

Helping your mom find the right outfit for your wedding can feel like a big step in planning your special day. It’s about more than just picking a pretty dress—it’s about making sure she feels comfortable and confident as she stands by your side. The best way to help your mom is to share details about your wedding, like the theme, colors, and style, so she can choose something that matches the event and still lets her personality shine.

Letting your mom know what the bridal party will wear helps her find a look that fits in without blending in too much. Think about the colors, and suggest she picks a shade that stands out from the bridesmaids, but still coordinates with the wedding. Small personal touches and a focus on comfort will help your mom feel like herself while celebrating your big moment.

Your mom’s outfit should also suit the season, venue, and how formal your wedding is. With a little guidance and open communication, you can make shopping together a fun part of your wedding planning experience.

Tips for Choosing the Perfect Mother-of-the-Bride Outfit

Helping your mom choose what to wear on your wedding day takes thought, early planning, and good communication. The right dress makes her feel comfortable, matches the wedding style, and blends nicely in photos.

Dress Shopping Strategies Together

Shopping for a mother-of-the-bride outfit goes more smoothly when you help from the start. Set a shopping day a few months before the wedding to allow time for ordering and any tailoring. Bring along fabric swatches or photos of your dress and the bridesmaid dresses. That way, you both know which colors and materials work best and avoid anything too similar or clashing.

It is helpful to discuss the formality and theme of your wedding before browsing outfits. Is it a formal evening, an outdoor garden party, or a casual beach gathering? Dress choices should match the event. Many stores offer mother of the bride dresses in a variety of colors and sizes, which means your mom can find something flattering no matter her style or body shape.

Ask your mom what styles make her feel confident. Respect her preferences but give feedback on color or fit when needed. A supportive attitude makes the process special for both of you.

Best Dress Styles for Mothers

Your mom doesn't need to look like a bridesmaid or dress in the same color. She can choose a dress that shows her personality while still respecting the overall theme. Floor-length gowns, knee-length dresses, and tailored suits are all popular choices for mothers. The key is picking something that fits her body comfortably and enhances her confidence.

Sleeve length and necklines offer flexibility based on the season and her comfort level. For traditional weddings, long sleeves and classic cuts work well. For summer events, short sleeves or light fabrics are good. If the event is less formal, a tasteful cocktail dress is also appropriate.

When deciding on style, avoid anything too flashy or too casual. Aim for a polished look that doesn’t outshine the bride but still feels special. Simple details like lace, beading, or a flattering belt can add elegance.

Accessory and Color Guidance

Accessories help complete the whole look but should not overwhelm the outfit. A simple clutch, low-heeled shoes, and subtle jewelry are enough for most weddings. Avoid large or noisy accessories that might be distracting.

Color choice matters for the photos and the event’s color scheme. Jewel tones, navy, or pastels often work well. It’s best if your mom’s dress color complements your dress and the wedding party. Avoid pure white, ivory, or loud, neon colors unless you say it’s okay. Metallics like silver or gold add class without stealing attention.

Ask your mom to coordinate with any other family members to make sure outfits don't match too closely or clash. If in doubt, stick to timeless colors and choose accessories that match the mood of the celebration.

Understanding Your Mom’s Role and Preference

Finding the right outfit for your mom starts with knowing her taste, considering her comfort, and making sure her dress fits in with your wedding style. A thoughtful approach helps your mom feel confident and included on your special day.

Recognizing Her Style

Your mom likely has a distinct sense of style that reflects her personality and history. Pay attention to the colors, fabrics, and shapes she usually wears to formal events. Some mothers prefer classic silhouettes, like A-line or sheath dresses, while others enjoy a more modern or bohemian look.

When shopping together, ask her direct questions, such as what she likes most about her favorite outfits. You could also look at pictures from previous family celebrations to get ideas. Look for patterns in her wardrobe choices, such as a love for lace, bold prints, or understated elegance.

List of common mother of the bride attire styles:

• A-line gowns for a classic touch
• Tea-length dresses for a casual look
• Elegant pant suits for those who prefer pants
• Embellished jackets or shawls for added flair

Respecting her style will help her feel herself on your wedding day.

Respecting Personal Comfort and Needs

Comfort matters just as much as style. Age, body type, and personal preferences all play a role in what will feel good to wear for hours. Some mothers may prefer sleeves or higher necklines, while others like softer fabrics that move easily.

If your mom values comfort, look for dresses with stretchy materials or adjustable details. Consider practicality as well, like ease of movement and suitable footwear. You can also help her think about the weather and length of the ceremony or reception, as these factors affect comfort.

Make a list together of “must-haves,” such as:

• Fabric that doesn’t itch or bind
• Heel height that feels natural
• Coverage for arms or legs if she prefers
• Ability to sit, stand, and dance easily

Prioritizing these factors makes the day more enjoyable for her.

Coordinating With Wedding Themes

The color and formality of the wedding should guide the final outfit decision. Share your wedding palette and style—such as rustic, formal, or beachy—with your mom early on so she can imagine how her look will fit in.

Suggest specific shades that complement your bridesmaids’ dresses but don't match them exactly. Neutral colors like silver, navy, champagne, or blush often work well for mother of the bride attire. If your wedding features bold or unique colors, help your mom pick a dress that harmonizes without overpowering the scene.

Make sure to discuss details like length and embellishment. If your event is casual, a simple tea-length dress may be best. For formal settings, she might choose a floor-length gown with tasteful beading. Sharing details about the day’s theme and colors will help your mom feel confident and part of the celebration. 

 

5 Wedding Planning Tips No One Ever Tells You

Image Credit: Pexels

{This is a collaborative post}

You can spend your whole life planning a perfect wedding and still forget something. Getting married is one of life's biggest milestones; there is so much to prepare and organize that it is easy to let things slip through the net. Here are five wedding planning tips you need to know but no one ever tells you.

Start Off On The Right Foot

Like when you finally begin to walk down the aisle, you need to put your best foot forward and set a steady pace from the start when you begin planning your wedding. It is understandable that the happy couple is eager to get the ball rolling, but you need to pace yourselves. Move too fast and you'll make mistakes, some of which cannot be undone.

One of your first tasks will be an announcement and invitation. It would help if you got your save-the-date wording right so all your invitees know exactly where to be, when, and what they can expect. Take some extra care to get the wording for a save the date and wedding invitations correct and clear.

Greenvelope lets you send invites and track RSVPs online, and add extra important details to your invites. If there is a dress code your guests will need to know, and a rough timetable of events. You can easily add these to an invite through online tools.

Locations, Locations, Locations

Choosing a geographical location for your wedding may be pretty easy. The bride’s hometown is the traditional choice, but you may have a destination in mind already that is special to both of you. Picking the various venues you will need is where things can start to get complicated. Many couples look for a one-stop wedding venue that can provide a suitable space for the service, the wedding breakfast, and photoshoot spots in between.

The more places you have to be at a certain time, the more complex and stressful the day will be. If you are using multiple venues make sure you have reliable transportation organized for the wedding party.

Set a schedule with your photographer and discuss locations for photos along the route. Try to keep the wedding day itinerary as simple as possible. Don't be too optimistic about travel times either. It only takes one delay on the roads to through your whole schedule out of sync.

Make Some Me Time

Whenever you are scheduling big events in your preparation, such as choosing wedding dresses and suits or menu tasting, plan a little relaxation treat for yourselves too. Massages, spa days, weekends away, do some little things along the way to help take the stress out of planning your wedding. Little treats like these will also help you to build up some wonderful memories of your last days as an unmarried couple.

Make plans for some post-wedding relaxation and recuperation too, you will have earned it. If you have a honeymoon planned try to fold in some self-care and self-indulgence into the holiday. Even if it is just a weekend away, plan some spa time or a couples massage.

Let Food Be Your Love Language

The menu of your wedding breakfast, the first meal for newlyweds, is a very important component of the big day. It can be tempting to go for something extravagant and expensive, but this is often a mistake. Choose a menu that is based around the two of you and your shared tastes. Don't show off with decadent dishes and serve the food you love at your wedding. That's what it is all about, after all.

This should go for any evening food or buffet for the night-do. Take the opportunity to serve all of your favourite snacks and nibbles. Giving your late-night treat a theme is a fun idea. Fish and chips if they are your sort of thing, or go for carnival cuisines like doughnuts, candy floss, and ice cream cones.

Remember To Enjoy The Day

On your wedding day this is job number one; enjoy yourselves. If you are too busy coordinating and not celebrating the occasion you will regret it in the years to come. Delegate tasks and responsibilities ahead of time, this is what bridesmaids, groomsmen, and ushers are for. Set the wheels in motion and let everyone do their jobs while you enjoy every moment of your special day.

It is important to remember that if something does go wrong, or timings go awry, or mistakes are made that it is not the end of the world and doesn't ruin your wedding day. The important thing is that the happy couple are together, no matter what happens. Any small hiccups along the way will one day be a funny memory you talk about at your anniversary parties. Don't sweat the small things, and just have fun.

Remember these fabulous five tips when you are planning and preparing for your wedding day and it should be special no matter what happens. The most important thing is to enjoy yourselves and just let the day happen. Stick together and you'll be fine!

How to chose a Successful Wedding Venue in Covid Times

Photo by Jeremy Wong Weddings on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

We all know this year has been one of the trickiest in recent decades, never before have we had our civil liberties curtailed in quite the same way, without there being widespread war. We're not out the woods yet though, the complete lockdown might be over, but we're seeing local lockdowns across the country and the World Health Organisation are warning us that there will be many differences, such as distancing and wearing face coverings for some time to come yet, maybe even a couple of years.

Having said all that, life can still go on for most of us and we're having to adapt to our new normal. People still wish to get married, celebrate their birthday or hold a wake for a lost loved one and we can do these things, we just have to make sure we are meeting the current Government guidance. 

This week we saw the introduction of the 'Rule of 6' in England and this means that right now social gatherings that you are organising as an individual can only be for 6 people, whether they are indoors or out. The good news is that when you move a wedding celebration or funeral wake to a COVID-secure venue provider, you can increase the number to 30 and there is hope within the event industry that this number will increase in October when new announcements are made by the Government. 

It's important that we still have things to look forward to and as such, I believe you should go ahead and still plan and book your celebrations for 2021, so here are my top tips for doing so -

1.  Think about what You really Want

You might have always imagined you'd have a winter wedding in a stately home with 200 guests but now is the time to really think that through. Could it be that an intimate outside tea party in spring with just 30 guests would suit you just as well and take away most of the stress of planning something so fancy? The great thing about our current situation is it frees you to think about what would really make you happy and to drop any expectations that family or others might have.  If you want your mum to hold the speeches and ceremony, it can be good to invest in Lecterns by Luminati to make the event more special and aesthetic. Whatever it is that you desire, you can still bring it to life through decoration and emotion.

Once you have decided what you want your event to look like, you need to agree your budget, choose the season/ date, set the attendance number and decide on the location. Basically, draw up a blueprint for the event and decide how hands-on you want to be. Do you need a dedicated event planner? Would the venue event organised be enough, or would you prefer to do everything yourself? The choice is yours!

Weddings And Technology: A Match Made In Heaven

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

{This is a collaborative post}

Technology has an uncanny ability to transform our lives in ways that we never expected. Who would have thought that we'd all be glued to small, handheld computer screens checking status updates twenty years ago?

But the world of tech isn't just affecting our work and social lives; it's also having an outsized impact on weddings too. The modern wedding just wouldn't be complete without the use of tech.
Technologies make the whole process so much easier. Here's why weddings and tech are a match made in heaven.

Say Goodbye To Paper Cuts

Preparing wedding invitations used to be an unbelievably drawn out process. You had not only to find somebody to print out all the cards, but you also had to deliver them by hand to the post office, and pay a small fortune for the privilege.

Now, though, there's an app for that. All of a sudden the vast machinery of the postal service is redundant: with a simple click of a button, you can import your contact list, filter the people invited to your wedding and click "send." Then all that's left to do is wait for the RSVP - no more dealing with lost replies in the post.

Stop Searching For Wedding Entertainment

Finding a great entertainer was a challenge in the past. Most couples relied on local ads or the recommendations of their friends. But today, it's easier than ever. This awesome website, for instance, categorises entertainment options by type, including for weddings. These platforms let you browse your options, read reviews, and then pay for the band you want online. It's about as easy as using Airbnb.

Renewing your wedding vows, would you?

I've often wondered why people renew their wedding vows after a number of years being married. I just asked my husband what he thinks about it and he gave me a nervous look and said he thought it was a bit weird. I wouldn't say that's my thoughts but I think it does need thinking through before you rush into it. 

We've now been married for fourteen years but have been together for twenty-two. I Suppose because we waited quite some time, we were able to have the wedding we wanted rather than one we felt we ought to have. Our actual marriage ceremony was just perfect and if I'm honest I can't imagine recreating that as it was so incredible and surely a once in a lifetime event?

We were new Christians and truly felt the the power of the words that our vicar said about us now being in an eternal relationship together with each other and with Jesus supporting us. We are like a three legged stool and our marriage won't work if the third leg (Jesus) isn't part of it. That ceremony and the car journey afterwards to the venue were for us probably the best parts of the day, the times when it just felt like the two of us I suppose.

Happy Anniversary Babe

My anniversary card - not what you might expect but just perfect as we embark on our new country life together

Today is my 11th wedding anniversary and instead of spending it with dh I am spending it with our kids. He will be working hard and then spending the night alone in our new house and I'll be on holiday with my parents and the kids. It would be easy to get down about the fact that we won't be together but that would achieve nothing and in just nine days our family will be back together and we will all be in our new house and commencing our new country life together. This is a new season for us and involves lots of change for everyone. Change is good but it is also scary...... but we'll be fine, God is with us.

Over the last six years it has been all too easy to push our anniversary to the side and not to think much about it. Our girls were born two days before our anniversary and as such the weekend around our anniversary is now taken up with birthday festivities for them and that is OK, they are only little and dh and I both agree that the kids are what make us happiest. However, it is really good to remember that a strong marriage needs time invested in it too and that does not mean a once a year special day, it means working at it every day and I know I need to do more of that. One of my summer promises to myself was that I would tell dh every day that I love him and I will. Something so little but I just know it will really help my attitude and approach towards our marriage. We will get back to some date nights and we hope to have a weekend away just the two of us later in the year.

Eleven years ago today I had no idea how happy I would be now. I was marrying a man that I loved and we had already been through eight turbulent years together but I had no idea how fulfilling life could get. Today I have so much love and joy in my life that I can hardy put it into words. We don't have a ton of money, we don't have flashy cars and we don't go abroad on holiday but we have so much and I'm so grateful to God for finding me my perfect husband.

Adam, I love you so much. You are my rock, my other half and my love of my life. Here is to the next 11 years, well actually I hope the next 50 years.

Even though I'm not with you right now, I look at these rings each day and know we are still together.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

If you like what you have read and want to stay up-to-date then subscribe by email for free and receive blog posts directly to your in-box - just click the link Subscribe to Mummy From The Heart... by Email or perhaps you like to keep all your blog reading in one place, if that is the case you can follow me on BlogLovin too!

The Gallery: Nice Day For A White Wedding!

This weeks theme at Tara's Gallery is White.  A theme inspired by the amount of snow and frost that has been spread across our lovely country these last few weeks.  Whilst I can really appreciate how aesthetically pleasing it is to look at, you all know by now that I am no photographer and I really could not do a snow picture justice.

So my take on White is a gratuitous show of how happy dh and I were on our white wedding day. 

White car. 

White dress. 

White confetti.

White gold rings.

White flowers.

White wedding cake.

White table cloths.

You get the idea???

The Gallery: My Beautiful Mummy

This weeks prompt has been my hardest yet. How can you do this to us Tara? Do you like to torture us? When you know that you have about 60-100 people that link up with you each week who all love photography and/ or photos as memorabilia and then you say 'oh just choose one and tell me why that is your favourite'.

Really, is that fair? Now if you said, choose 100 and share them with me we might be in business!

So I spent ages going through my albums and the 1000's of images on my external drive and I was just not getting anywhere. 'Ohh I love that one', 'ahh remember that dh?', 'look at my babies'. You get the picture. This was H.A.R.D.

So in the end I went for a walk around my house, which totally in contrast to Ann Maurice's (The House Doctors) advice is completely covered in personal photos and I decided that they must be my favourites as they were the ones I choose to display all the time and I do change some, so it was not as if they were just still there due to laziness (not in this house! lol).

This is the one I went for. It is not the best quality in the world and that is because this is a photo of a photo. It is not a photo I took, it was part of the professional ones taken for my wedding (yes I did buy the rights to reproduce them).

Meet my Mummy. This was taken on my wedding day in July 2002.

Have you seen me blog before about what a great family I have and how lucky I am, well this lady is at the heart of that. She is the one who devoted most of her life to bringing up my brother and I. I remember that I always had a wonderful relationship with my Mum, when I was young we played together, as I got older we shopped together, when my heart was broken I cried to her and here we are a few hours before my wonderful wedding sharing some fun together. She had stayed at my house that night before with my best friend and we had a chilled girlie night. She may now just have entered her sixties but her attitude is often more youthful than mine!

When I do not see my Mum for a couple of weeks I get withdrawal symptoms and she is the same. Who is my kids favourite person in the world? If we are lucky they might say dh or I but generally especially from JJ, Nanny H will be right up there at the top of the list.

What is it that makes this lady so special? Such a wonderful Mummy? Such an ace Nanny?

I do not know, I can not put my finger on it. She just has that special ingredient that makes you want to love her and spend time with her.

Favourite Photo Meme

I love photos and have millions of them, I am forever taking them and I am not particularly good or arty but I just adore the memories that they hold. I needed some cheering up after my crappy walk home so have been looking back and here is the favourite pic I came up with (well for today anyway!).

On my wedding day (I am the bride!) with my three best friends from Uni, one of which has now deserted me and gone away to NZ and I miss her loads and loads xxx)

Sticky Fingers is creating a gallery of loads of bloggers favourite photos, so I have been brave and will add mine in too. All this sharing of my blog is giving me heart palpitations!

I just want to say thanks to New Mummy Tips who showed me how to do this clever linking and Mad Mummy who pointed me there for help.