Mother of the Groom Fashion Show

One of the really fun things about having three sons get married within the space of a mere eleven months...

Whoa, Nelly, what happened?  Did I faint or something?  Where was I?

Oh, yes: one of the really fun things about having three sons get married within the space of a mere eleven months is that you have to get three new "mother of the groom" dresses, all in the same year.  And what woman doesn't love a good excuse (or three) to get herself a fancy new dress?  Am I right?

I mean, for this upcoming wedding of son #2 in November, I could recycle one of the dresses I've bought and worn recently.  Such as this one, an ankle-length teal beauty that I wore for son #3's December 2013 wedding.

Or this deep purple tea-length stunner, which I sported for the wedding of son #4 in February of this year.

I loved both of these comfy and attractive dresses (although I wish my frame was such that they'd hung on me like they do in these pictures, in a runway-worthy manner).  They seemed to fit the types of weddings they were chosen for, and the mothers of the brides in both cases were wearing floor-length gowns, so I would not have wanted to go any shorter.

This time, the bride's mother will be wearing a beautiful knee-length dress and jacket, and originally, I was going to wear a pale green embroidered jacquard suit (comprised of a fitted 3/4-sleeve jacket and matching tea-length slim pencil skirt).

However, when I tried it on again recently, I realized it would make me very nervous if I had to wear it to walk down a church aisle with too many eyes upon me.  Although the suit fits, the skirt is relatively form-fitting (especially for a gal who can't stand to have any piece of clothing even close to hugging her skin); and with the light color, panty lines were showing and I was stressing over how I was going to make them go away.  My husband saw that I was distressed, and although it would have been in his best interest to encourage me to wear the green suit (which I'd purchased years ago, marked down from $90 to $17.99), he told me I should get something new.  Not only that, but he said he wanted to tag along with me on a shopping trip to David's Bridal--what a guy!  So off we went to spend about six times what I spent on that green suit.  (Oh well, maybe someday I'll find the perfect occasion to wear it!)

Here's the new dress my husband helped me to choose.

That's not me modeling it, by the way.  In fact, truth be told it doesn't fit me like it fits this poor underfed model.  And it's longer on me than it is on her, hitting just below the knee--thank goodness!  I won't be wearing strappy stiletto sandals, either, with smooth, bare, tanned legs on display; I'll be wearing sensibly low-heeled black patent leather pumps and gray opaque panty hose that camouflage my varicose veins.  But despite all of that, I feel comfortable and pretty in this dress.  And its tiers hide a multitude of sins (as well as those aforementioned pesky panty lines!).  I love the cropped jacket, don't you?

I had a special pearl and Miraculous Medal necklace made (by an Etsy artisan) to match that green suit, but it doesn't look right with my new get-up.  Which is a bummer, because for me, it's important to wear my favorite Catholic devotional at all times.  But as luck would have it, my oldest son and his wife gave me some gorgeous dangly earrings this past Mother's Day.

And as you can see, these beauties (another great Etsy find!) incorporate both of my dress-up jewelry must-haves--pearls and the Miraculous Medal--and I think they'll make the perfect accessory for my new outfit.

So, have you had enough of mother of the groom fashions yet?  Not to worry.  We'll only have one single son left after this next wedding, and he's not even finished with college yet--so I don't believe there will be another wedding in the Pearl house any time soon...Although just a couple of years ago, if you had told me how quickly our lives would change, I never would have believed you!  So stay tuned...