Since Mother’s Day is this weekend in the U.K, we thought what nicer gift to give your mother than a stress-free shopping day. With that in mind, we’ve put together a few of our top tips to get your mother’s outfit for the big day without a hitch!
Before you go
Before you even step foot out of the door, sit down with your mum, make her a cup of tea and ask her a list of important questions. You may feel like you’re bombarding her with questions now, but she’ll thank you for it when you’re not making her try on a leopard print dress that you think she’ll look oh so fabulous in... (okay, that’s an extreme example but you get the point).
What you need to ask
- What colour would you like to wear? (This usually matches or compliments the wedding colour scheme.)
- What are your favourite dress styles? Do you like a straight dress? Shift? Tight fitting? Loose fitting? Flared? Skater?
- What necklines do you like? Round? Square? Bardot? Boat? V? High? Low?
- What length of dress will you be most comfortable in? Floor length? Midi? Below the knee? Above the knee? A daring mini?
- What materials do you like? Chiffon? Tulle? Silk? Linen?
- What dress brands do you love? (Your mum may feel comfortable shopping in her favourite department store or a favourite shop)
- What’s the very top of your budget, including accessories and shoes?
- Do you want to wear a jacket?
- If so, what style and length of jacket would you like?
- Do you want to wear a fascinator, hat or neither?
- How high do you want your shoes to be, or do you want to wear flats?
- What style of shoe do you like? Court? Peep toe? Sling back?
Undergarments
It may not cross your mind, but what underwear you wear can make all the difference in how an outfit looks and how confident you feel in it. Ask your mum to wear the underwear that she is likely to wear on the day. A good pair of Spanx can transform your shape!
Pack your handbag
Whatever you do, make sure you pack some snacks, water and painkillers into your handbag. Shopping can be hard work, and you’ll want to avoid fainting!
In the store
When you’re looking around, remember everything that your mum told you at home. When you see a dress, ask yourself if it’s the style, shape, colour, length etc that your mum is looking for. That way, your mum won’t get angry that you're picking out everything to your taste and style and you won’t get upset that your mum won’t try on anything that you like.
In the dressing room
Once you’ve found all of the outfits that you and your mum like, take them into the dressing room and hang them in order of preference. Try them on one by one, and talk about what you like and what you don’t like. If it doesn’t fit correctly, ask for a different size - it’s just a number after all! Narrow the dresses down to the one’s that your mum really loves and feels comfortable in. If your mum doesn’t feel like she could wear any of the outfits that you both picked out, then simply start again in the next shop!
Shoes and accessories
If you’ve finally found the one, ask an assistant if there are any shoes or accessories to match. Very often in occasion wear shops, there are shoes, jewellery and hair accessories as part of a collection that will complete the outfit. If not, decide on a colour that your mum wants to accessorize with, and start the hunting process again. A good tip is to colour check to the outfit, so if you’re shopping for shoes and accessories on a separate day, make sure you take the outfit in a separate carrier bag to refer back to. Sometimes photographs aren’t true to colour!
Remember…
Hopefully, you’ll only get one experience of taking your mum out to find her mother of the bride outfit so have fun and make memories! Don’t get caught up in the stress of it. Sometimes something will just catch your mum’s eye, and this can be in the most unlikely place! Definitely, don’t discount a store before you’ve even stepped foot in the door.And most importantly… make sure you stop for food and drinks!
Get yourself into a cafe or restaurant and use the time to catch up with your mum and reminisce! And most importantly… make sure you stop for food and drinks! Get yourself into a cafe or restaurant and use the time to catch up with your mum and reminisce! We hope that we’ve helped! If we have, let us know how on Facebook and Twitter! We’d love to see photos of the final outfit too.