Wedding Guest Blues
Is it just me or is wedding attire, and by that I mean wedding guest attire, getting fancier/more formal/more difficult to navigate?
In the good old days Sunday best just about covered your options. In 2024, we have categories like Cocktail, Black Tie, Destination, the various seasons, and Rehearsal Dinner. Fabrics include silks and satins, lace, and chiffon. Plunging necklines, body conscious outlines, cut-out dresses - it’s a minefield out there ladies!
My lovely niece is getting married this summer in a major U.S. city and I am delighted to be attending. However, finding the right dress, (can’t be white! insisted my daughter) not to mention shoes, even underwear, has been a bit of a challenge.
The problem is compounded by the fact that I’m the sort of person who in wardrobe selection likes to be comfortable above all else. I truly am happiest in jeans, a t-shirt and running shoes. A cotton dress and sandals feels as “dressed up” as I’d like to be. But that’s not going to cut it for today’s event weddings.
Jeans and a tshirt and Baby G
The major online dress retailers try to make it easy for you with powerful filters and customer reviews. But it is still a chore to scroll through the many options. Let’s take Rent the Runway for instance. You scroll and read the reviews and figure out the right size and finally find something you think might work and then you discover it is not available for your dates! Let’s not even get started on the size issue - how is it possible to be a 4 in one dress and a 12 in another?!
Cute and Comfy(don’t worry, I won’t be wearing dirty sneakers!)
I finally gave up on e-shopping and went to my local mall. I tried on one dress at Tory Burch, liked it but worried it was too casual. The search continued at Club Monaco where I found not one but two dresses that not only ticked all the boxes, but were reasonbly priced to boot. This was too easy! I grabbed them both and escaped from the mall in time to get a free subway ride home. (The Toronto Transit system lets you ride free for two hours after you scan your subway pass 👍)
Now all I need to do is get my plus one (daughter’s) approval!
