With the change of seasons comes a change in requirements for mother of the bride dresses. We have found all the best advice to help you master mother of the bride fall outfits
What Should a Mother Of The Bride Wear To An Autumn Wedding?
Sep 3, 2019
The art of choosing your perfect mother of the bride dress can be a hard one to master, especially when considering the differences in seasonal dressing. The mother of the bride considering what to wear to an Autumn wedding will have many different things to think of than those whose daughter’s ceremony was in the warmer summer months.
We know that as the mother of the bride you want to ensure that your daughter has her perfect day, but that you too, deserve to look and feel your best. This is why we have found all the best advice, letting you know everything you need to consider when planning your outfit for your child’s Autumn wedding. Letting you know everything you need to consider to take the stress away and help you look and feel your best on this special day.
What colours are best for a mother of the bride dressing for a fall wedding?
We know all too well that the first, and often most overwhelming desition to make when deciding what to wear for your daughter's wedding, whatever the season, is what colour you should wear.
The first thing you should think of is what the bridal party is wearing. We take a similar view to personal stylist Katie Quinn says here in the belief that 'there really is a flattering shade for everyone, just remember it's nice to stand out - but don't stream'.
Although it seems that Quinn seems to be suggesting some unwritten rule about a type of colour that is off-limits to the modern mother of the bride, we really don't think that this is the case. Check out this article, where we looked in-depth about what types of colours a modern mother of the bride should be wearing.
The point really is, is that you should be wearing an outfit that compliments the wedding party while remaining firmly your own. You could opt to match them tonally, so you go for colour in the same colour family, for example, if the bridesmaids are dressing in a deep purple you could wear mauve. Or you could be a little more striking by choosing a colour at the opposite end of the colour wheel if they are in peach you wear emerald.
Our last suggestion of how to best compliment the wedding party with your colour choice is to dress seasonally. This means, that you would choose a dress in the same seasonal family as the wedding colour scheme. This last option is our favourite for Autumn, simply because of the number of beautiful tones on option for an Autumn colour palette. As made very clear in this quote 'the fall season for weddings allows for some of the prettiest colours for dresses, and Mother of the bride dresses are no exception!'.
For your daughter, choosing to hold her wedding in the Autumn months can be for many reasons. But, we are aware that many brides who opt for this season often do so because of the romance around the change of the seasons from summer to winter, when the days are becoming crisper and the leaves change from green to a myriad of shades from ochre to deep purple and carpet the ground.
We think that you should celebrate this beautiful season in your choice of dress colour, especially because it isn't hard to find a beautiful Autumnal shade that compliments your personal colouring and skin tone, so you can look beautiful while keeping to the wedding's theme wonderfully.
To help you find out what colours are best suited to your skin tone and colouring have a look at this article. We have found some beautiful options to help you find your wonderful mother of the bride dresses in an Autumn colour.
First, we will look at some wonderful fall mother of the bride dresses if your colouring would be described as 'summer'. If you are unsure of what your season, there are a few things to think about. First, your skin's undertone, for 'summer' you will have a cool undertone. To work out if you have a warm or cool undertoned skin, there a couple of things you could do. You could look at the veins in your wrist, if they look blue, opposed to green, then you have cool-toned skin. Alternatively, if you believe silver jewellery to suit you better than gold, this is an indication you are cool rather than warm-toned.
When working out if you are a 'summer' the other things to consider are much easier to work out are much easier then working out your undertone. You should look at your eyes and hair, if they are both on the lighter-side, eg. if you have blue eyes and blonde hair, then you are a summer.
Teresa Chambers, a lecturer at London’s Fashion Retail Academy advises, "Summer types look best in soft pastels with blue undertones. Think light blues, pinks, yellows. Grey and blue hues (from pastel blue to navy) will also look great. However, yellow-based colours such as orange, tan, mustard, coral and salmon pink are less flattering, and pure white may wash you out, so opt for soft off-white tones instead.
This can be the hardest colour to find an Autumn colour for, we think that you can find a cool pink that can work very well with the chosen colour scheme, such as this one below.
The other colouring that also has a cool-undertoned skin is referred too as a 'winter'. But, unlike a summer, a winter will have dark eyes and dark hair, think brown or black for hair and deep brown eyes.
Here is a great quote to help a winter find her colours “Vivid, icy, cool and clear primary colours are great. Vivid blues, reds and golden yellows will compliment your skin tone. Think scarlet red, fuchsia pink, royal blue, emerald green and deep purple. You can also get away with black, charcoal grey, pure white tones and deep purple.” Look as the beautiful mother of the bride dress in purple below.
For those with warm undertoned skin, there are also two different categories, Autumn and Spring. The Autumn coloured lady will have darker hair and eyes, but unlike a winter these will often have auburn or gold highlights within them.
For the best colours consider this advice “Rich autumnal colours flatter autumnal skin most, often with a warm/golden undertone, so think earthy reds, bronzes, rich browns, chocolate and burnished golds. Warm muted tones like olive and dark greens, terracotta red and burnt orange enhance autumnal complexions.” Such as this dress below.
As for a Spring colouring, you will have lighter hair and eyes than an Autumn.
As for what colours are best to wear Anthony McGrath said, “Warm and delicate with yellow undertones are good for spring types. Dusky pinks, soft greens, neutral light greys are great. Although these types can also wear burnished oranges and deep purples and look fabulous.” See the fabulous mother of the bride dress in burnt orange below.
What style of dress is best to wear to an Autumn wedding?
Just as picking the best colours for you in this transitional season can be a bit tricky, so can deciding on what style of dress would be best.
It is often much easier to dress for the more extreme seasons, whether they be warm or cold, one knows that a mother of the bride tea dress can be great for summer. While layering up a little more with a thicker fabric dress for winter can be a wonderfully chic look.
So, what does this leave for Autumn, actually you have many more options available to you then you would first imagine. Of course, it does depend on the type of event your daughter is planning, on if you opt for a mother of the bride pantsuit or a more feminine dress.
There are many articles online, such as this one, that offer a huge list of options for the guest of an Autumn wedding, that come in quite a wide variety of styles. But, as we know from choosing the colour of mother of the bride dresses. The desires you have to look your best while remaining appropriate as the mother of the bride is more than what is felt by a normal wedding guest.
We have searched so many of these articles on the internet to help you find the style of the perfect mother of the bride dress for an Autumn wedding. What we have found is that a stretch fabric pencil dress is really the best option. We will break down why a mother of the bride pencil dress is so great for fall, as well as explaining the benefits of quality stretch fabric, to help make your question of the best style easier.
First off, what is a stretch fabric? Stretch fabrics are composed of a blend of synthetic and natural fibres, that will either be unidirectional which means that they stretch in only one direction or bi-stretch which stretches in four directions. The benefit of this stretchability is as the famous fashion designer Donna Karen describes 'stretch clothes provide control to the body, smoothing out bumps the way girdles used to do.' Meaning a stretch fabric dress will help create a beautiful, flattering feminine silhouette.
The reason for the perfect mother of the bride dress to be a pencil dress in a stretch fabric can be understood some more when looking further into the pencil style. First created by Christian Dior in 1954 as part of his 'H-look'. This style of skirt was seen a move away from his 'New Look' of fuller skirts which had dominated the fashion scene for many previous years.
The pencil skirt was intended to refocus attention, no longer only focused upon the waist, but the pencil cut, calling attention to the hips as well. This creates a beautiful line from the drawn-in waist, the curve of the hips down to the narrowed knee. In being a little more aware of the history and benefits of the pencil cut, one can see how, when composed of quality stretch fabrics, it is the perfect item to create an elegant and iconic feminine silhouette for any mother of the bride.
Just look at how wonderfully flattering this dress is below.
Not only is a stretch fabric pencil dress perfect as it works to create a wonderful shape for a mother of the bride dress, avoiding any worries of seeming frumpy or matronly. But, it is a great option for the weather as well. A quality stretch fabric enables you to retain warm without becoming overheated when moving from inside to out. This is due to thickness providing a layer of insulation, while its breathability ensures you won't overheat.
Another advantage to the pencil dress for a mother of the bride dressing for an autumn wedding is that it isn't too difficult to find one that covers enough of the body to remain appropriate while having this beautifully feminine figure. Such as this wonderful dress below.
It is suggested that if you would prefer not to bring extra layers with you, then to go for a mother of the bride dress with long sleeves, such as this one below.
What accessories should you be taking to your daughter's Autumn wedding?
After you have decided on what dress is going to make you look and feel your best on your daughter's wedding day, you can then focus your mind on what accessories you need.
There are a few considerations the mother of the bride needs to think of when considering your accessories. How warm or cold is it expected to be, how comfortable do you want to feel, among others.
One of the first things you should think about when planning your outfit for your daughter's wedding is what the wear is going to be like. In the beginning planning stages, this doesn't matter quite as much if you are looking at the online forecast for the month ahead, or if you are thinking more generally.
You want to have an idea of the weather to help you decide if your dress alone will be enough to keep you warm, or if you need another layer. We have linked a few dresses below that are beautifully tailored to keep the feminine silhouette created by the stretch fabric pencil dress. We have given two options for mother of the bride jackets as the first is a slightly lighter layer, while the length of the second gives the advantage of covering a dress, so a colour match isn't a necessity.
When thinking about what shoes you will wear to your daughter's wedding we think this is very useful advise 'Wear shoes that feel as good as they look. It's going to be a long day, and no one wants a picture of their mom wincing on the dance floor!'. To help you find your perfect mother of the bride shoes check out this article.
As for jewellery, it can often be fun to wear some jewellery you wouldn't otherwise get the chance to. As personal stylist Quinn advises 'jewellery really finishes a look and elevates a great dress'. Some bold earrings, a statement necklace or even just a delicate bracelet can provide some beautiful finishing touches.
Although we do recommend that you think a little about what dress you are planning on wearing before going too much with the jewellery, as it isn't hard to look slightly over the top. A good piece of advice for this is to wear a statement dress or statement jewellery, not both. For more advice on how to best pick mother of the bride jewellery, have a look at this article.
