Mother of the Groom in 8 weeks!

[ihaveafavouritecat]

Please help me! My son is getting married in 8 weeks and I haven’t a clue what to wear. So far I’ve ordered three dresses online (Coast, Lavish Alice and Florere) and have sent them all back. Earlier this week I had a personal stylist appointment at John Lewis, bought 3 items (Hobbs dress, Reiss dress and Phase Eight jumpsuit), but not sure any of them are right. Also ordered a jumpsuit from Me+Em, not yet received. I don’t know if that will be right either, I know it will need shortening about 6 inches!
I’m 5’3, 9st 6, have lost 7 stone over last 3 years. Blue eyes, brown hair/blond highlights. i think the colours that suit me best are greens/golds/sandy but not at all rigid except that pastel colours make me look washed out.
There’s a register office wedding service and then the bigger wedding ‘do’ 3 days later, so I need two outfits! Budget about £400ish for both. I just feel so much of what I’m seeing is so ‘bland’ and ordinary, I want to feel a bit more cool and funky but still smart of course.
Would really appreciate some help or suggestions of makers/brands I’m not aware of… thanks in advance.

I don't think the OP especially likes black, but feels a bit thrown by what to pair with the teal dress? (If I've interpreted that correctly.)

Whereas I think that if she does go down the brown fake fur with both outfits, then bronze heels & bag (in different materials) would also work well with both outfits.

I'm not sure, though, that her gold & teal jewellery will work with the brown/bronze/teal combination - as they are very much pale gold, & quite a lot of it? (But it's a matter of trying things on & seeing how things look together in the flesh.)

I like black shoes, bags, whatever - as I love black! But not just as an afterthought that's not worked through an outfit. If she wore black shoes & bag with the jumpsuit, then I think a black fur, or a black & olive jacket etc, would be needed. Black shoes & bag with brown fur & green velvet would look odd, IMO.

@Ruthietuthie - to try & persuade you (& other sceptics!) further of the sublime loveliness of (olive/khaki/jade/emerald) greens, & (teal/aqua/turquoise/indigo) blues together, I remembered a picture of a house in France that I saved years ago, as it is utterly perfect to me.

The kitchen uses Emery et Cie tiles, so I found it again on their website - along with other examples. I just love the watery submerged feeling of it!

Hi @ihaveafavouritecat , please do start a new thread soon as this one is filling up.
We are all invested and want to see your final outfits!

Oh yes, don't think you are getting away without us seeing how this ends OP!

Yes, @EleanorMc67 I had the same realisation about the jewellery being pale gold late last night. That's why I started to suggest the black shoes again as a safe fallback. HOWEVER, I do think the metallic ones you posted today might work. They are sufficiently "quiet" that I think they won't shout in contrast.

The thing with metallic is they kind of reflect the light a bit (even if dull metallic) so the matching becomes less of an issue. They also make your feet look more delicate! I learned that when I did a bit of modelling. They would always put us in metallic shoes if they didn't want the shoe to detract attention from the outfit or if a model had large feet! Some people find that counterintuitive, thinking metallic is shiny so obvious, but actually they have a subtlety.

@Ruthietuthie it was me who wasn't keen on the cream fur with the teal. I just think it throws the whole colour palette in a different direction. It gives me slight Disney Frozen/Elsa vibes with the teal!

You guys… your stamina! I don’t think I realised when we started this that I was entering a marathon. I am full of admiration and appreciation. You are different creatures from me though. I am running out of steam and not sure I can make it across the finish line. The shoe search is killing me! Is this what the last few miles of a marathon is like? Think my inner rebel may just kick in very soon and who knows what will happen then 🤣

As requested!
New thread… new thread

We are down to just shoes and bag OP, as I think the cosiness of the jacket is probably going to appeal to you when you get it on! And I think it will be useful more widely. You have only bought really sound pieces that will get lots of use beyond this event. Let all the returns drop from your mind now, and be fatigued by those decisions no longer!

Is it the done thing to see this thread out before we move on over? I cannot believe between us we have almost 1000 posts, it’s mad!

I think I’m just going to have to suck it up, stop my protesting, and find some ‘quietly’ gold shoes to pick the beautiful quiet gold in this cuff aren’t I? (I know I know, it’s what you’ve been telling me for some time now). It is really beautiful after all, and it will help me to make sense of why I find myself wearing gold shoes for the first time in my life 🙃

What about these shoes then? They’re quite quiet. Not exactly exciting but do they ‘speak’ to the cuff?!

Yes, they are saying, “I’m not sure we’ve got wide feet anymore after the amazing weight loss” 😂

Are you wide-fit in shoes though, OP?

As an aside, OP, my Vinted algorithm is now well & truly screwed! It's full of fur jackets (in a size 8) & gold slingbacks (in a size 39) ... I'm a size 16 in clothes & a 41 in shoes!

I did smile when these popped up though ... The inner magpie in me wants to say, buy them for Christmas!!!

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/10483760359-uterque-sequin-boots-size-396

https://www.vinted.co.uk/items/10476689602-kitten-heels

some combination of this lot?! (Sorry, don’t know how to do those lovely ensembles that @EleanorMc67 shares). Give me some encouragement here!

Hahaha that’ll teach you to get so involved in my quest! Clearly you can’t buy them because those are the boots and shoes I need for the wedding! 🤣

Or these shoes? quiet gold shoes?

Wide fit shoes? I don’t know really, I think I just assume that dainty heels are going to be uncomfortable and wide fit might help them feel less so? I never really buy shoes like these 🤷🏼‍♀️

I saw these the other day on the next site when googling gold shoes

@ihaveafavouritecat, I imagine you don't have wide feet, then. Look instead for the placement of the heel. Even a thinner heel is going to be comfortable (within reason - you wouldn't want to run a marathon in them) if the heel itself is placed underneath the heel bone, rather than at the very back of the shoe.
Why not order the Paradox London ones that @EleanorMc67 suggested? Or is there something about them you don't like?

Your feet would be the talk of the wedding in those boots ...!!

Agree that, if you've never had to specifically buy wide-fit shoes before, then you don't need them & your feet will be slipping about in them.

Bag and shoes too pale for the gold jewellery? Or am I getting there?

Getting there! Though I think you might be able to do a bit better re real leather etc. Just going out to a nursery to buy some trees, but will be back in a bit & post some more links.

Is Vinted/eBay still an option ...?? I would, quite happily (with suitable prodding of sellers for full specifications!!), but I know others have said NO!!!!

You don't have to match your shoes to your bag to your jewelry. It looks too "matchy matchy" and dated.
Scrap the shoes - too bright, too wide, too frumpy (I know S&B hates that word, but I can't think of another).

I have been trialling "dowdy", & haven't been lambasted - yet!

I think that keeping similar colours/tones, but mixing materials, is the best way to coordinate while also avoiding your bedroom furniture analogy (which was spot on btw!).

(For instance, a vintage gold metal mesh bag with gold leather shoes. Or bronze leather & chocolate velvet shoes with brown satin slingbacks. Etc etc.)