Ok folks.  Since I am a musician and I play a number of weddings at my church yearly, I have been privy to quite a number of bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses and mother’s dresses.  Let’s get straight to it.  Here’s my assessment.  Ahem.  IF you must wear a strapless gown, please, please make sure you have the body for it.  There are a number of dress styles for all types of figures.  The challenge is to find the one that fits YOU and makes YOU look fabulous.  It may not be the desired look (strapless, form-fitting, etc.) but that doesn’t matter on your wedding day.  What matters is that YOU look terrific!  I have seen so much lately…literally!

If you have more body than can be comfortably crammed into a strapless dress, please pick another style.  This goes for brides, bridesmaids and mothers.  All three of you!  Don’t forget that while you are busy getting married at the altar, we are looking at your back.  What and how much would you like us to see?  Think about that!  Long and hard!  And don’t forget those “tan lines.”  Nothing looks worse than a strapless dress with”phanton” straps due to a bathing suit while tanning.  Fill them in with self-tanner or something…fix that!  Remember, your photographer is hanging around as well taking those permanent pictures.

I have also begun to see the trend of street-length bridesmaid dresses.  Ok…that works too!  Well, how short though?  Here we go again.  If you have great legs, 20 inches above your knee might work.  If you don’t have great legs or they are a bit substantial, knee-length is as short as you dare…remember that photograher and that wedding album.  It’s permanent!

Mothers can be offenders as well although not as often.  Perhaps wedding-dress-wisdom comes with age?  Except one wedding I played, where the mother of the groom was quite substantial and decided to wear an off-the-shoulder beautiful Grecian style gown.  Well, when it takes forever for the dress to make it from the “off-the-shoulder” to the other side of the body…not good.  Way too much viewing going on.  I’m sorry to keep on about that photographer and how permanent this all is but…

Then there was the tall, willowy bride who wore a slim, willowy gown…and had absolutely no upper body fat!  And, she wore a strapless gown, which not only made her look sunken and emaciated but bent over as well.  This I blame on the sales associate in the bridal store.  Someone needed to tell this bride that she needed a different kind of style with more “shoulders” etc. to offset her slim-ness and to make her look more balanced and less emaciated…more built up.

This is your wedding day girls!  Think about it!  This particular day won’t happen again!  You can’t shop for a dress thinking “anything goes.”  Look at Kate Middleton (Prince William’s bride).  She was a bit constricted by protocol but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.  Her dress turned out extraordinary, and of course it fit her to a T.  Now you don’t have to be the Duchess of Cambridge to get a good-fitting, flattering dress for yourself…one that can make you LOOK like a duchess.  You need “body smarts.”  And those sales associates need the cojones to tell the brides what doesn’t look good. 

I just assisted at a recent wedding (the “froo-froo” lady) and saw some fine dressing indeed!  The bride’s mom wore a simple, understated and elegant dress in a pale green, a color that suited her blonde hair just perfectly.  The groom’s mom was a bit challenging as she was a bit substantial.  She pulled it off…a flowing, summery jacket-dress in sea green and sea blue, with a sea blue wide-rimmed straw hat.  What a babe!  I couldn’t get over how fabulous she looked.  The bride was equally well-dressed…a spaghetti strap dress with a bodice of sequins and jewels, and a beautiful flowing bottom that had just enough train to follow her without getting caught around corners etc.  She fit into her dress perfectly and was just stunning!  Sooo, it CAN be done!

Whether you agree with me or not, I don’t care.  How do you like that?  ha!  I’ve seen enough in my life…literally!  This is your wedding day.  Brides, bridesmaids and mothers…please think long and hard about how you want to look on those oh-so-permanent pictures.  Don’t try to fit into a style that doesn’t work for you no matter how popular it is and don’t let a sales associate try to do it to you either.  You know how you look…and what looks good on you.  Use your low-gut-feeling and get the proper dress for your special day.  You’ll be happy you did especially when you reminisce years later looking at your pictures.  And if you did because you read my blog, then I’m happy to have helped!  😀