Please help me find a dress for a wedding (not mine!)

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I am no good at shopping and, having set aside a day to get an outfit for me and DD, gave up after hers took 5 hours and neither of us had the will to carry on.

The favourite dresses I currently own are Adrianna Papell and Phase Eight, but I haven't seen anything from them I really like right now. They have huge collections though so I might have missed some nice stuff.

I'm a size 10, medium height. Mediterranean colouring. My best feature is my waist so I like something fitted to show it off. Absolutely not empire line, which does nothing for me at all. I have to wear a bra (am quite large chested and cannot comfortably go without/wear strapless) so nothing off the shoulder/with see-through shoulders. I don't want anything above the knee. It has to be suitable for church.

I like bright colours, but I have no idea what colours suit me! I don't like any animal prints but I like flowers, stripes, dots.

Please, does anyone have any ideas? I have spent this evening trawling though websites and there's just too much stuff, I can't narrow it down. Plus I don't usually buy clothes online so I'm worried about how they'll actually turn out.

Not sure that it's relevant to the dress, but the wedding venue don't allow 'stilletos' and most guests are interpreting that relatively broadly to mean standard heels (not wedges or similar). So it has to be something that would look ok with another style of shoe.

I know it's not anyone else's job to find me a dress, but if you enjoy fashion and have an idea, please let me know!

I am not fashion focussed at all but I love 50s style dresses and get a lot from collectif.com

Guess it really depends on the style you like but I love a swishy skirt or fitted pencil.

Never heard of them, I'll have a look, thanks. I do have a lot of 50s style dresses, all from Vivian of Holloway, so I definitely like the look. I do love a swishy skirt!

I agree with above poster. I'm not overly fashion conscious, I wear what suits me, and don't tend to follow trends.

I also agree that it sounds like a 50s style dress may suit you. Most of them are knee length and cover shoulders.

Vivienne of Holloway do some lovely 50s styles if you fancy a look, similar to collectif, but I find slightly more fitted personally

Ah cross-post. I see you've already discovered vivienne lol.
At least I was in correct ballpark

Nancy Mac has some gorgeous dresses and jumpsuits.
www.nancymac.co.uk/
The Seamstress of Bloomsbury is more 40s than 50s, but has some lovely dresses.
theseamstressofbloomsbury.co.uk/products/ruffle-collar-peggy-dress

Not sure if this would be suitable but I keep seeing this and thinking how gorgeous it is but that I don't have the waist for it!

www2.next.co.uk/style/ls250308/q19499#q19499

Or this?

www.debenhams.com/product/oasis-premium-lace-puff-sleeve-midi-dress_baa00937?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=paidsocial&utm_term=ROIHUNTER&utm_campaign=uk_paid_fbig_traffic_adset_allproducts_womenswear_roih&utm_content=uk_paid_fbig_traffic_standard_ad_carousel_allproducts_roih&utm_id=at1!27214138&fbclid=PAAaalVpkpsGVD2cUY5lRzbclnENYhgQZ1xyyRfYXlyyi3SnHAGI1H__BFwrw

The Outnet is great, I bought an Erdem dress for a recent wedding (not one of these but they are nice) www.theoutnet.com/en-us/shop/clothing/dresses

Is it worth trying to determine which colours suit you best? That will help you narrow down. Tbf you sound like you're slim with lovely colouring so probably most dresses will look nice...

30somethingurbangirl.com/free-quiz-what-is-your-seasonal-color/

Thanks all. Some lovely suggestions. I'll take a more detailled look tomorrow because I'm off for a long shift at work now then out this evening. I'll have a proper go through all the links.

@Defiantlynot41 what's their shipping time like, from your experience? Before I fall in love with any of those dresses, I'd want to know that they could get to the UK in time.

@Plump82 Those are both really nice, I love the colour, but I'm looking for something more formal/dressy. They're quite a relaxed couple, I think there'll be a variety of styles there (I know my SIL is wearing something relatively dressed down), but I like the excuse to dress up. Depending on how much I spend on the main outfit, I might treat myself to the first one you linked as a spare general outfit, you're right it does have a nice waistline.

@SSDDagain Ha ha, just shows you were spot on! And it's very useful to have the comparison between collectif and Vivien.

Thanks all. You're amazing!

@Defiantlynot41 Sorry, I've just seen that I can set it to the UK. I hadn't seen that before and thought it was a US only site.

Ah sorry. UK resident but currently in the US on holiday. The dress came beautifully packaged within a few days and I found the sizing advice widget to be spot on (ended up buying a size smaller than I normally do but the fit was perfect)

Have you had a look at reiss?

Thanks all. Yes @Rubyroseyposey , I looked at Reiss (for the first time, never shopped there before). They had one dress which was very nice, but not quite right. I've actually seen a lovely dress in Hobbs called Carly, I'm just trying to choose which colour to get as there's four I like.