My future-mother-in-law had the same limitations as my own mother when it came to shopping for her dress, with the major limiting factor being that there are essentially zero places to shop for dresses in our hometown. While Mama Mascara chose the internet shopping route (with me by her virtual side), FMIL took a more hands-on approach. She came down to visit and we went shopping for her dress together, in person, at the mall.
On her first trip down, after an unsuccessful stop at Macy's, we decided to try Ann Taylor. She tried on one dress (which is actually very similar to the one my own mother purchased in the end) that I thought looked really good on her. She liked it enough, but didn't think it was anything spectacular, so we moved on.
Our next stop was Lord & Taylor, and after trying on several dresses without finding "the one", we were on our way out the door when she came upon a beautiful Anne Klein dress. It was gray and shimmery, with a cap-sleeve and some gathering at the waist. While somewhat casual, it could easily be dressed up with a pretty brooch. The only problem? Of course, it wasn't available in her size. We brought it up to the counter to ask if any other stores had it in stock, and as our luck would have it, they did not. This ended our first dress shopping excursion, as the mall was closing! After searching online when we got home (without the style number... a lost cause for sure), all we could come up with was a sold out listing on Overstock, and we gave up on finding the lovely Anne Klein.
A month or so later, FMIL came back down to visit again. After round two of not finding anything at Macy's or Ann Taylor, we went back to Lord & Taylor. Again, there was no Anne Klein, but she did find a pretty purple Adrianna Papell. She tried it on and we both decided it had serious potential. She was concerned about the dress being a tad to small, and decided she didn't want to risk it. Dress trip number two had failed!
A week or so after she got back to Michigan, she called to tell me she was having second thoughts about the Adrianna Papell dress. Since the one she had tried on was the last dress in all of Illinois (and on clearance!) I did not have high hopes of it still being at the store, but I told her I would check. I went back to the store a few days later and sure enough, the dress was still on the rack! I bought it and took it to Michigan with me the last time we went home.
She tried it on again and still worried it was a bit too tight, but said she was going to keep it anyway. Not one to give up easily, she called another Lord & Taylor store just to make sure they didn't have the dress in her size, and as luck would have it, they did! They shipped the dress in her size to her last week, and it fit perfectly! I'll be returning the other one soon.While it was somewhat of a difficult process to find her dress, it was all worth it in the end! She loves the dress (and I do too) and she'll be looking beautiful as her only son gets married this September!
Did you help your FMIL pick out her dress for your wedding day?
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