Classy Mother of the bride outfits

My Mum and Mum-in-law looked incredible at my wedding. A big part of it was because they had classy mother of the bride outfits.

Fascinators.

Matching colours with the wedding colour palette.

Easy peasy to dance in.

Unless you haven’t gone to meet me yet, Beth and I dated for just over a year, were engaged for a little over four months, and then we got married!

There wasn’t heaps of time for us to find out bridal gown and groom suit, let alone for them to search for their dresses! However, this was a good thing: it helped them quickly decide what they would wear for our wedding.

So, Mother of the Bride…

You might have your daughter’s wedding booked months or years away, and you might have heaps of time to find your outfits (also, you can read a bit more about my philosophy and what couples tend to say about my work in this blog post about why people call me the best wedding photographer – might be worth suggesting me!)

Either way as a first-time mother of the bride, you could probably use a little bit of inspiration and guidance with what’s complimentary to wear, and what’s clashing.

Here are some ideas from mother of the brides over the last few weddings that I have captured:

On-theme colours

When you look through Hatty & Andy’s wedding photographs, you can see that with the bridesmaid’s dresses, bouquets and even groomsmen’s suits, there was a theme of pinks and blues. Good taste, these were our wedding colours too!

As you can see, Hatty’s mother is taking the VW Camper Van down to St Andrew The Great for the ceremony. If she were wearing the same colour as the bridesmaid’s it might be indistinguishable and as if she were a bridesmaid, not the mother of the bride. Cleverly, she chose a dress that was easy to move in and matched well with the bouquets. She was able to help with little things throughout the day without worrying about what the dress was doing.

Off-theme colours

On the flip side, if you look through Hollie & Kieran’s wedding photographs, Hollie’s mother went for an outfit that was beautiful and daringly different to the colour palette of the rest of the bridal party. Although, the thing that worked with this was the flower embellishment on Hollie’s mother’s dress remarkably mirrored that of her daughter’s wedding gown. How cool is that?

Pops of colours

Grace’s Mother opted for a contrasting colour and neutral fascinator to coordinate her outfit. Like Hatty’s mother, this fit was practical, and she felt super comfortable and relaxed the whole day. For my style as a Kent wedding photographer, I am all about documenting your wedding day while you feel relaxed and natural.

7 Top Tips for Classy Mother of the Bride outfits

#1 Don’t wear your old wedding gown at your daughter’s wedding!

#2 Listen to your daughter – remember it’s her wedding

#3 Wear something comfortable and classy, maybe even welcome her to help in picking it

#4 If you’re unsure of the colour palette, don’t hesitate to ask

#5 Don’t suddenly decide on a fascinator without asking beforehand – some brides seriously don’t like them!

#6 Invest in a unique shawl or coat for the day in case it gets cold

#7 Chat to the mother of the groom – it could be an excellent opportunity to bond and coordinate your outfit

I wish you all the best in finding classy mother of the bride outfits!