Mother won't wear a dress

Express is another good store for pants suit

My mother will be wearing pants and is a size 16/18 5ft tall woman. I think she's looking at a few bigger lady consignment stores and MOB stores.

Thanks for all the help! I found some great-looking options online at David's Bridal and Dillard's. I hope my mother agrees! (She'll procrastinate until it's too late and she's stressed unless I help now.)

I see that whether to include a dress code on an invitation is a contentious issue! As a guest, I always appreciate explicit information about the formality, because it's easy to misjudge. My 17th Edition Peggy Post Etiquette book says: "Dress notations are not included on a wedding invitation unless the ceremony and reception invitations are combined. If it's essential to indicate 'black tie' or 'white tie,' the notation is printed on the lower right corner of the reception invitation." Mine are combined, so I think I'm okay! There's such diversity among my guests that I wanted to provide the courtesy of a guideline.

I think that your mother has been dressing herself for years without you telling her what to do. Let her wear what she is comfortable in and feel beautiful in.

You put a dress code on an invite and we are wearing our good jeans. I'm an adult. I know going to a wedding is a dress up affair. Don't tell me what to wear

You'd be surprised...my mother asks me to tell her what to wear whenever there's a remotely formal event! We used to match when I was little. Nostalgia...

My mom tried on a few at David's Bridal and was strongly them over a dress.

If I was the type of person who frequently wore jeans to a wedding, I wouldn't take "semi-formal" to mean no jeans. The problem with dress codes like that is the subjectivity. I could see people in my family thinking nice jeans and polo shirts are acceptable "semi-formal" attire.

On my website, I've included a link to Emily Post's "Attire Guide," which is here: http://emilypost.com/advice/attire-guide-dress-codes-from-casual-to-white-tie/

The Knot has one, too. Both were very useful to me when my cousin put "dressy casual" on the invitation and I had no idea what that meant!

I hope this doesn't come across as me telling people how they have to dress, but more as me providing a guideline for my guests who are uncertain what to wear. My wedding website's "Attire" section is mostly a warning that the terrain is rocky and uneven, so we're strongly recommending comfortable shoes. Above all, I want my guests to be comfortable and to be able to walk safely!

My mom is also petite. We found her outfit on macys.com. In our search, we found that most of the department stores had a much bigger petite selection online than in their stores. Good luck.

I don't have any store suggestions but my MIL doesn't like dresses much so she wore a dressy jumpsuit and she looked lovely.