All eyes are on the bride—but it’s a big day for the moms of the hour (her mother and her groom’s) too. With that in mind, reader Amanda writes: “I need some guidance on whether or not this dress color is appropriate for my son’s wedding. The bridesmaid dresses are black, and the bride is OK with me wearing black. It’s a evening formal wedding.”
Here’s the dress she picked:
We generally say no white (or cream or white-adjacent) for anyone but the bride; even white-topped dresses can look all-white if you’re sitting down. But this dress seems totally fine. Because the cream portion ends right below the bust line, no one’s going to think you’re wearing a white gown. That said, you should still check with the bride. There are so many options out there, and you might as well make her happy on this count. If she complains that this dress is “too white,” yes, she’s being petty. But if you give in here, it’ll give you a little leeway the next time you have a difference of opinion.
Need another option? For one-stop mom shopping, we’ll take the lazy bride’s way out and hit up BHLDN. Pretty dresses that are always appropriate, usually reasonably priced, and can be shopped online. (Most of these come in a bunch of colors, so you don’t have to choose the pale, potentially bridal shades.)
In general, for the moms, avoid anything super shiny or super stiff. Bridal salons might push them toward options with weird bolero toppers, long sleeves, high collars, or lots of ruffles and ruching (very old-school MOB/MOG), but if your moms are more style-savvy, there’s no need for them to play by the old rules.
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