http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd5TJemW_iE

I've got one hot momma. And of course want her to look like one on our big day. (after all the Kolache baking she's doing for the wedding she more than deserves to look and feel good in her dress!) Since I've got my dress squared away - we felt comfortable starting the search for some other important ladies in the wedding. I was lucky enough to get to go do some shopping with my mom for her dress while down in Williamsburg and over St. Patty's day weekend while she was up in DC!

First - I should introduce you to the dress she wore for Kelsey's wedding. It. was. awesome. So much so, that The Office used it for Pam's mom in the Niagra episode (Jim & Pam's wedding).

It was great! The style was super flattering and we all loved it! (Apparently many MOBs since have loved it too b/c we found it in just about every store we went shopping in!) So we set off to find something equally as fun, but also comfortable and flattering. Mom was looking for a dress with some kind of sleeve, reasonably long and an appropriate fall color (this was the one criteria that Mom and I had trouble communicating about - I'm still not sure what a 'fall color' is but Mom identified what was not a fall color when I suggested some dresses)

We started at Binn's in Williamsburg and found a couple to try on for Javs and Dad (they were good sports and came along for our quick trip). We ended up liking two here - including this one to the left. This was actually a halter-top dress that came with this adorbable little blazer. It had sleeves, was a good length and was very flattering. Even though its pictured here in black - the sales ladies assured us that it came in some other colors as well! We also thought we'd probably remove the brooch on the neckline and Mom would do a fun necklace or something like that. YAY! Success already and still a trip to DC to come.

Spring forward (literally) and a week later we're in Tysons continuing our MOB shopping! We started in Saks and found a few dresses to try on.

We all really liked this one (right)- the color was awesome and it had a flattering fit, but mom reminded us that it didn't have sleeves. That meant she would have to wear something over it and we all agreed that would really take away from the pretty neckline and design. In the end - a no go. Kels, Dad and I also liked this one (left). It was a pretty navy color and had a fun design down the front (hard to see here but kind of layered material), but Mom once again pointed out that it was missing a substantial sleeve. So again - out. (Sorry Mom, you're making a kind of funny face in this pic, but I wanted to give the readers.....all 5 of them....a real feel for our shopping trip so I kept it in.)

I (and the sales lady) really wanted Mom to try on this next one. She said it felt like a prom dress and did a little dance to prove it. Alright, fine. It did have some tulle underneath to give it a little poof and it only came in black anyways so I guess it is also - out.

Now you remember that I mentioned we liked two dresses at our original store, Binn's. I really preferred one of them and hoped it would be the dress. Mom and I wanted Kelsey to get a chance to see it too though - so we were all SO EXCITED when we found it in Neiman Marcus at Tysons! Mom tried it on again and it became clear....

This was the one!!

Its (again) hard to see here, but the dress is a perfect navy blue color. Mom said it was comfortable and we all agreed it was fun. It has just enough ruffle to make it feminine and unique. The belt gives the whole thing a nice shape and for some reason I just love the bottom of the skirt. To boot, it met the sleeves and length qualification we were looking for! Winner all around :)

**Advice Alert** Once you find it, stop looking.

My mother and I share a lot of characteristics; we both like to cook/host, struggle with patience, care deeply about the people we love which often leads to unnecessary worrying. She, however, does a much better job with the advice I provided above. (Although she had done some shopping with my dad prior to our outings) we looked at 3 stores - she found her dress and was completely satisfied. We continued shopping that day (for another 3-4 hours are so....don't worry that post is coming) and she never seemed tempted to peruse even one more rack.

While I haven't done it with dresses (I'm still super pumped about mine!!) I've done it with other wedding stuff....venues, currently with save the dates (another post thats coming) and its certainly not helpful and probably not healthy. I haven't felt the need to continue my search for a guy once I picked him out for the wedding ;) and since he's the most important part, I can probably stop doing it for other stuff too. Once you've decided stick too it and be happy about it :) Don't waste time looking at other options - you could probably use that time to do one of the other 1238768716432 things on your wedding 'to do' list!