Works for Me Wednesday – mother of the groom dress

See the link up over at Giving up on Perfect for some great tips and ideas!

One of the most challenging parts of getting ready for my son’s wedding was finding an appropriate dress as the mother-of-the-groom.  I am not a showy person.  I have spent the last 26 years at home, taking care of kids, and working out of my home office. I have a ton of casual clothes, some church clothes and that’s about it. But I needed to have something much more formal for this special event.

In my late teens and 20s I used to have LOTS of formal clothes, because I needed them for homecomings, proms and later weddings as a bridesmaid or as a guest.  I don’t remember shopping for formal ware being so difficult then. But as I wrote last month, things have changed.  I’ve changed.

I knew I needed –

•  a special formal dress because I was one of the leading ladies at this event   – true I was third or fourth on that list, but I was representing the groom’s side so it was still important. 
• It also had to be comfortable because it was going to be a very long and emotional day. 
• It also had to be affordable. There was no way I was going to pay hundreds of dollars on this dress.  In fact, the thought of spending even $100 on a dress made me cringe. But I was willing to put some bucks out there if it meant meeting my other two criteria. 

I did actually go into a few stores to try some things on – which only reiterated to me how much I hate doing that!  I also purchased a dress I loved on line, but as I wrote here – it didn’t fit me very well and I wasn’t very satisfied with the customer service either.

The dress I finally found was in the most unlikely of places, J.C. Penney!  When I got real about finding a dress, I took my actual measurements (not the ones in my imagination but the real deal!) and finally found a dress in my correct size that was appropriate, affordable – and only $79!  And because it was a neutral color, I’m sure I’ll be able to wear it for other occasions if needed. (It’s also hand washable – so no dry cleaning needed!)

Works for Me!