to wonder if MOB would have worn gloves in the 1980s

[OhGingleBells]

Sorry - posted in AIBU for traffic!

Would the mother-of-the-bride have been likely to wear gloves to a wedding in the 1980s? I googled it but it mostly came up with information about bridal gloves. It's for a book - the character is in her early 50s and I want her in gloves as a plot point but only if wearing gloves would have been a fairly standard/normal thing to do!

Nobody wore gloves at my 1983 wedding.

My grandmother did, there is a picture of her holding them. White gloves with a pink outfit. 1987, she was MoB.
Middle class (ish), I would say lower MC for sure but she wouldn't agree!

My DM and my MIL both wore gloves at our wedding in 1985.

Both my grandmothers wore gloves and hats for my parents wedding in 1981, and I remember them wearing them for church too when I was a child in the 80s

I got married in 90s and only my aunt wore gloves to the wedding. She lives life as a 1950s housewife though even now!

I was 7 year old bridesmaid in the 80s and wore gloves. Can't remember what anyone else wore.

At all the family weddings I attended up to mid- late 80s all my female relatives and - so far as I can remember as a little girl - most female guests - wore gloves or at least carried them. I'm talking about formal large church affairs in Scotland upper middle class families. Hats were always worn and not removed until the MOB removed hers.

My mum wore leather gloves to my wedding in December 2022.

I got married in the late 80s. My mother would have probably thought I was insane if I'd asked her to wear gloves!

I got married in 1994 and my mum aged 53 wore gloves!

I do remember reading an etiquette book that said if you were carrying gloves, you should always hold them by the fingers, not the wrist.

MOB did when I was a bridesmaid in 1987! I remember being absolutely fascinated by them.

DM wore a neat skirt suit, hat and gloves to watch tennis at Wimbledon (centre court) in the late 60s. It was the done thing at the time.

images.app.goo.gl/nHrNQbNXY2fCfyWm8

Some 1980s wedding parties definitely did, this is just a photo I googled but a cousin had a very similar style with the big hats for bridesmaids and white gloves to the wrist.

My parents married in 1980.

Having seen the photos - no gloves were worn.

Just went and looked at our wedding photo from 1981. Church wedding and dinner reception. My DM and DMIL are both not wearing gloves but "carrying" them!

Just checked some photos from a family wedding in 1983.

My grandmother - who is a bit of a Hyacinth Bucket type and defo one to be more formally dressed than anyone else - is gloveless.

She was the mother of the groom.

That seals it, for me

Could your character wear gloves for gardening perhaps?

I'm sorting some old photos this evening. Several 80's weddings. I'll come back and let you know, but I think my mum probably did in the early 80's, then not in the late 80's

As others have said, it wasn't the norm in the 80's, unless high society/cathedral/royal wedding or a Madonna themed wedding!

I wore gloves to a wedding in 2013 (was not MOB!) but that was part of a deliberatly fifties style outfit.

My sister was married in 1981 and my mother (born in 1930) wore gloves.

No, they wouldn't. In the 80's everything was pretty much as it is now fashion and etiquette wise and in the 70's too. Obviously you might have someone rather old fashioned or perhaps at a super posh society wedding.

Definitely not just you.

By the 1970s my grandmothers had given up white dress gloves and donated them to my dressing up box. My mother held out a little longer, finally throwing out her 1960s black lace gloves about a month before Madonna made them all the rage again. I spent significant amounts of the early 1990s in elbow-length satin gloves, but wouldn't have worn them to a wedding unless I was a bridesmaid.

I was a flower girl in 1984 & I remember all the ladies wore gloves (I just searched out a photo to check I wasn’t misremembering). One of my grandmothers & an aunt (not elderly!) wore gloves to my wedding in 2000! So I don’t think it was unheard of in the 80s.