The Mother of the Bride outfit can be a huge source of stress for many proud mothers and can overshadow their enjoyment of supporting their daughter throughout the planning stages of their wedding.

Hiring a personal stylist can help you to ensure you make the right decision for your daughter’s wedding and select an outfit that both you and your daughter are happy with, whilst also sourcing an outfit that complements your shape, size, style and budget.

1. Speak to Your Daughter First
The first thing to do is talk to your daughter about the style of wedding and get her thoughts on the special day. Does she want guests to be informal or formal? What is her colour scheme? Is there a theme to the wedding? What are the bridesmaids wearing? This will give you ideas of what to look at in terms of the style and colour of your outfit.

2. Talk to the Mother of the Groom.
Consult with the Mother of the groom as to any ideas that she may have and try to coordinate between you to ensure your outfits complement each other, and the bridal party. And obviously to make sure you both don’t turn up with the same outfit on!

3. High Street Options
If you’re shopping on the high street there are loads of options at really reasonable prices but bear in mind that other guests will be shopping for their outfits there too, so beware of anyone buying the same outfit!! The key to shopping on the high street is to find a basic yet classic piece in one store and then shop around to create your own look by utilising other stores to accessorise and customise the outfit.

4. Copying Looks.
If you have seen an outfit in a magazine that you love but there are no stockist details or it’s too expensive, take the picture to a good tailor and ask them to recreate that outfit. This can be a cost effective way of achieving a unique, tailored and designer look!

5. Accessorising.
Accessories can make or break an outfit so make sure they aren’t left to the last minute. Also if you shop on the high street, don’t buy all your accessories from one collection or store, as it is more likely that another guest will be wearing the same accessories or may recognise where they are from and many Mother of the Brides want to look unique on their daughter’s special day!

Also accessories can shed or add pounds to your figure, especially on photographs which will last as a record of the day forever, so ensure you know how to select the right accessories for your body shape. A good personal stylist who works independently from any stores can help you with this by offering professional, expert styling advice. Their job is to make you look incredible without overshadowing your daughter so is a great investment. The last thing you want to do on the happiest day of your daughter’s life is be worrying about your outfit.

6. Prints
Avoid busy prints or busy accessories as they can date very quickly and look ageing on photographs. Better to go for something classic. This is especially true if you have a petite figure as the print may end up drowning you.  If you want to go for a print, spots and stripes are more classic prints that never really go out fashion. If you do go for bold prints, keep your accessories very simple.

7. When to shop for your outfit.
Remember to think of season that the wedding will take place in. You don’t want to be too hot or too cold! Bear in mind that shopping for a summer wedding six months before when the shops are all stocking their winter collections could be fruitless. However leaving it until a couple of months before the wedding or shopping a whole twelve months in advance may be a source of stress.

The ideal time to shop is at the beginning of the season when there is the most choice available but if you have a wedding in February or September this could be problematic as the months before these weddings are usually major sale and reduction times when there is far less choice and is a risky strategy!

A personal stylist and shopper can advise you on the best time to shop and is always in the shops and researching what’s available, so can often find you the perfect outfit without you even having to lift a finger! The whole objective of hiring a personal stylist to help you achieve the perfect mother of the bride look, isn’t just to make you look fabulous but also to ease the stress and time for you, so you can focus on supporting your daughter and son-in-law to be.

7. Finishing off the look.
If you opt for a dress, even if it’s for a summer wedding, ensure you finish off the look properly with a jacket or cover up or you are in danger of looking unfinished on the photographs.

© Nicola Cupples, 2009