Mother of bride/groom attire

What don’t you like about the dresses she’s showing you? I had no idea what any of our parents were wearing until they showed up to the wedding. I didn’t care as long as they matched the formality. And they won’t look crazy next to your bridesmaids and groomsmen because they won’t be standing next to them or in pictures with them.

Lots of mothers opt for deeper colors like navy, dark green, or plum. I've also seen plenty of MOB/MOG dresses in beige or gray. Ultimately, I would let them choose their own color (as long as it isn't white). Parents don't have to match the wedding party

I wouldn’t worry about it clashing with bridesmaid/groomsmen attire, UNLESS you have siblings in your bridal party. My mom wasn’t in a single photo with anyone from our bridal party.


I literally told her to get whatever she wants lol. I recommended a lighter pastel color to go better with our theme, but also didn’t care much. She ended up in an ivory dress with soft pink flowers which actually literally MATCHED my bouquet hahaha, and it ended up looking lovely together but that was totally not deliberate lol. My grandma wore navy blue and they were in a lot of the same photos and clearly didn’t “match” but I think that’s fine. I honestly think it looks a little silly for anyone (other than the bridal party) to match 🤷🏻‍♀️ Just like, maybe no bright red or bright orange or something? Lol. Otherwise I wouldn’t care.

View Quoted Comment A lot of the ones she’s showing me are super flashy and and have trains on them. Which is not the style I wanted at our wedding.

I’ve seen a lot of MOG at wedding show up with really flashy dresses and just remember so many people talking bad about them all and that’s what I remember from a few of the weddings I went to. Not the brides dress but that the mothers showed up in like red or some crazy color.

View Quoted Comment They will be in a lot of pictures with them so to family dynamics.


That’s how I feel. I made my recommendation of colors I don’t want them to match at all but more coordinate. So like I don’t want moms in navy because all the groomsmen and dads will be in navy.

I don't think mothers have to match your colors or anything. I'm planning on letting my mom wear whatever she likes as well as my future MIL. It's very likely I may not even know what my MIL will wear until that day and that doesn't bother me. I'd just ask yours that they fit the formality of the event and maybe a complimentary color, not necessarily matching. For my brother and SIL's wedding my mom wore an elegant light blue color and his mom wore champagne. They complimented my brother and SIL's blue and burgandy theme.

I went shopping with both moms. My mother-in-law doesn't normally dress up so she asked my husband and I to go with her. My mom was supposed to come as well, but she had some personal things going on that she couldn't come with us so I went shopping with her later on. I let them pick whatever color they wanted to wear. The dress my mother-in-law picked out with me she ended up wearing to my brother-in-law's wedding instead of ours. She was going to wear the same dress to both weddings, but her sister convinced her that she shouldn't since the weddings were a month apart. I was glad because I didn't want her in the same dress for both. All of the siblings, but my husband's older brother were in our wedding so there are photos of the parents with people in our bridal party, but I didn't tell them to wear a certain color or anything. I wanted them to like the dress they were in. I think it looked totally fine that they weren't in the same color or color family as our bridal party.

My FMIL has a ton of beautiful gowns in her closet already. She's been the MOG twice already, as well as attending a number of semi-formal functions. The only thing she asked me was if I was going to insist that she buy a new dress for our wedding. No way!! If she has stuff in her closet that is dressy enough for the wedding, why spend money on a new dress? I looked in her closet. Everything she has is gorgeous!! She's a really classy lady, who always dresses very nice. And most of those gowns have only been worn once! So, I told her, go ahead and go shopping in your closet!

I wasn’t planning on assisting with their outfits but it just kind of happened that way. Both moms are wearing long sleeveless dresses with illusion tops.


My mom and I were out shopping and literally stumbled across her dress in Macy’s. Our colors are dusty rose and navy, and my moms dress is navy, but I don’t care. She really likes it, it looks great on her, and it was on sale!

FMIL waited to see what my mom got then after much trial and error found a purple sheath dress with an illusion neckline. They actually coordinate really well!

View Quoted Comment I really like that dress! My mother is a dressy person, so I sent her a few samples from department stores and she does like a lot of them. My mom is kinda go with the flow, I’ve always helped her shop for events. My mom loves sales and clearance so I keep checking sale dresses for her


Where as my FMIL is like planning to spend a lot of money on dress, and wants my opinion on color she should wear. And keeps asking what my moms gonna wear 😬. We are still over a year away from my wedding. We don’t have a design style yet for the theme or anything

View Quoted Comment Lol it was the same way for me. It’s good that she’s so excited for your wedding though!


My FMIL was very excited to dress shop so I took her shopping for her dress at a few nice boutiques in the city and she had a really nice time. She ended up ordering her dress online from Nordstrom (I think?) anyway but it was still a nice “pampering & bonding” time for us.

My fmil has no daughters so she wants to take me shopping with her. I have told her many times she can wear what she wants. I'm not telling grown women what to wear. Plus our wedding is will have like 40 guest. All family. My mom has been so calm but his mom keeps going on and on about what dress to wear. I am being really patient but she has already schedule in a weekend. I kinda don't want to go with her. She's a sweet person but if my fh isn't there, we really have nothing to talk about. I know she's excited for a "girls" day but to fair i don't even spend time with my own mother. I also can't bring this up to my fh cause he will get all hurt,