Mother of the Bridegroom Outfits

It’s only a matter of weeks before our son gets married, so the hunt has been on for mother of the bridegroom outfits.

His lovely fiance is from a Greek family (I wrote about the proposal here), so you know what that means – it’s our very own Big Fat Greek Wedding!

I realised early on that expectations were high. Last summer I sent the kids a photo of a dress that I thought would be suitable, only to be told that it wasn’t “special” enough. Hmmm … back to the drawing board!

When it came to shopping for a mother of the bride outfit only a couple of years ago, I ended up buying the first dress I’d chosen – how lucky! (You can read more about my adventures in finding a mother of the bride outfit here).

Alas, it was not so simple this time around.

That might have had something to do with being a size 18, and carrying a fair bit of weight around my waist.

Mr 28 had expressed a desire for me to wear a long dress; I was hoping for something with a bit of a sleeve.

I also wanted to avoid black (too severe), navy (the mother of the bride’s choice) and the colour the bridesmaids are wearing (not sure if I’m allowed to reveal that!); yet ideally something from my Autumn palette.

As it’s a summer wedding, I wanted something that would cope with the heat and humidity. Definitely not a clingy fabric or one that would show the sweat!

The Search Begins

Miss Almost-26 and I went shopping to look at mother of the bridegroom outfits back in August, and were extremely discouraged.

I only tried on three dresses in a formal wear store; the big department stores like Myer and David Jones had absolutely nothing that was suitable. Maybe it was just the wrong time of year, and too early for the summer formal wear stock to have arrived?

The first dress I tried on felt a bit dowdy, and I didn’t like the colour at all.

Next up was this layered number in green. The fabric was lovely and soft, but the style didn’t do anything for me and I thought that being a December wedding, I would look like a Christmas tree!

And the third dress was just hideous!

All in all, a very disappointing day (though it was lovely to hang out with my gorgeous daughter).

The next shopping trip was a little more promising. My sister and I were in the city and found quite a few possibilities.

Gorgeous Anthea Crawford dress (I think?), but it was navy blue … which is what the mother of the bride is most likely wearing.

This one had the price tag you’d expect for mother of the groom outfits, but definitely wasn’t formal enough. It was by David Lawrence from memory.

Not bad …

But not good either!!!! Look at that tummy …

The only long dress I tried on. I wasn’t sure about the colour; and the style wasn’t flattering at all.

I had high hopes for this dress when I saw it on the hanger. But I just didn’t like it on me …

It was nearing the end of September and I was starting to panic! I mentioned to the husbear that I was seriously considering purchasing something online, as time was running out …

Buying online wasn’t my first choice by any means. I far prefer to actually try the dress on, and feel the fabric, but I knew we had a busy couple of months’ coming up.

The husbear insisted on taking me shopping for mother of the bridegroom outfits there and then, and he soon realised why I was starting to feel so desperate. It felt like slim pickings indeed!

Loved the colour of this one, but that was about it:

This one was inoffensive, but I felt it was definitely lacking the WOW factor …

I loved this one in green glittery fabric but again, it felt more like something to wear to a Christmas party, than to a formal wedding:

I couldn’t even work out how to put this one on, the shop assistant had to come to my rescue!

At City Chic I found this teal dress which I thought was quite cute, but the high neckline would have driven me berserk.

Choosing a Mother of the Groom Dress

There were quite a few things I was looking for in my ‘perfect’ dress.

I didn’t quite get everything on my list; it’s not a full length gown, for example (they were scarcer than hen’s teeth) – though it does have POCKETS!!!

Even better, the husbear’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when I sashayed out of the fitting room in THE dress …

You’ll just have to wait and see!!!!

What stores do you recommend for mother of the groom outfits?!

UPDATE 08.01.23: The Big Reveal … here’s my mother of the bridegroom outfit! It’s called the Jasmyn dress, and came from local designer Sacha Drake … I wore it with the same pewter clutch and shoes that I wore to our daughter’s wedding, eighteen months earlier.