Within the last 9 months, my daughter and two nieces whom I adore, got married. My daughter was bride #1, which made me MOB #1 in my family of four sisters. MOB #2 was my younger sister in Dallas/Fort Worth. MOB #3 is my older sister who lives in Minneapolis. It has been an exciting year for marriages in my family.
This past weekend I went to Minneapolis to check out my sister's MOB outfit for her daughter's July weekend. She had sent me a photo as well as described it to me. It sounded, well, ummm, stately?
When I saw the melon color pearl accented suit I was impressed. It would be an appropriate suit to wear to a 50th wedding anniversary or a retirement party. But for a hip, young, single, vibrant MOB? Nope. Not enough bling!! The suit would be better if my sister was the Grandmother of the bride, not the actual MOB!
But I held my tongue. Who am I to say what people should wear? I told my sister, "That's a lovely suit." But inside I was thinking... too conservative. Too boring. Too matronly!
She asked me to go to the mall the next day to find MOB shoes. Gulp. To go with that suit?? May as well get white wedged nurses's shoes to complete that look! But I was here to support my sister's choice. So off we go to the mall.
Right away I found a pair of sexy, side cut out, off white almost pearlish color high spiky heels with a puff on the bridge of the shoe. My sister liked them but thought the heel was too high. I found another pair with a lower, thicker heel but still pretty rad. She didn't like them.
She grabbed a pair of basic strappy sandals. I say "You could wear those to work." She replied, "Yah I know! That's great."
I should interject that my sister has one daughter. ONE. She will be MOB only once. And I will also mention that while my sister was married twice, she never had a blow out in your face wedding and reception. The first wedding was very small with only immediate family in attendance. The second wedding was a destination wedding in Hawaii with only she and her husband in attendance.
So this was it. This was the one wedding where she could go all out! Show what she has. She is a perfect size 6, or a 4 on her skinny days. She works out, she is fit. Not like me who believes work outs consist of walking to the bathroom during commercials. She has yogurt for breakfast. C'mon. Who has yogurt for breakfast. She threw out all the chips in her house so she wouldn't be tempted. If I was her neighbor, I'd be out in the middle of the night combing through her garbage looking for those bags of chips!
Ya get the picture, she is gorgeous, thin, single, MOB and she wants to wear a suit with sandals. For her one daughter's wedding.
What WHAT is wrong with this picture. Just about everything. Again, I bite my tongue.
I finally talk her into trying on the sexy stilletoes. They are adorable. The sales clerk who was about 10 years younger than us says, "Wow. Those look great on you." Slam dunk. My sister walks around in them and says, "Ya know, I kinda like these!!" Well, DUH!! She then tries on the other pair I picked out and she exclaims, "I like these too!" So buy them both! Wear the sexy ones for the pictures and dance the night away in the lower heels. No brainer here!
She agrees and buys both pairs. As we were leaving the shoe department at Von Maur's my sister looks at a beautiful, trendy, youthful melon color dress on a manican. It had a deep v-neck with ruffles around the neckline. Skin tight. I knew instantly that she liked it. I suggest "Why don't we try that on?" She hesitates and says "I already have a suit." Yes yes you do...I push harder. "We're going upstairs to try this dress on NOW!"
My sister mutters something anal about it's not procedure to buy the shoes before you buy the dress. Details.....
We enter the evening wear section on floor 2. OH NO. There is not the magic gown in her size. She says, "Oh well, not to be...." NO NO NO. I grab a salesclerk and ask her if she would go down and get the dress off the manican as that looked like an extra small perfect for my sister size. Why is it that outfits on manicans are always size zero?? Who really is that skinny? The salesclerk was somewhat dense as she looked straight at us and says "We don't do that. We don't remove attire from manicans." WHAT?? Ummmm, yes you DO. Or at least you will today.
We stood there and held our ground. Figuring we were serious about trying on this dress, Miss Dense asks her supervisor who immediately says, "Why yes, you certainly can try that dress on. We'll go and get it for you." Miss Dense was not a happy salesclerk by now.
Great! I'm excited. Can't wait to see this formal dress on my sister.
Off my sister goes to the waiting room with Miss Dense holding the dress behind her. Miss Dense comes over to me a few minutes later and says, "Your sister has the dress on. She wants you to see her. Oh, and it looks terrific on her!"
I run to the waiting area yelling her name!! This waiting room is packed! Must be lots of weddings coming as there were ladies our age everywhere with formal dresses on. I felt like the ugly step sister, very underdressed with my jeans and John Deere sweatshirt on.
And then my sister appeared. She was radiant. Not only was she wearing a sexy modern dress but she was also wearing a huge smile.
She said "I feel special."
BINGBING> That's the feeling every MOB should have. The feeling of being special. MOBs are special. Next to the bride, they are the most important woman at a wedding.
She put on the sexy shoes and people stared. I wanted to put a crown on her and declare her "Queen for the Day," her daughter being the princess. Other woman were saying she looked beautiful. That the dress fit her like a tee. That she looked trendy. She looked youthful. She looked like a MOB! I asked other women "Does this look like a MOB dress? All the answers were a resounding YES!
Yet she lingered. "What about the suit?"
I took a deep breath and said, "No one will remember you as MOB wearing a melon color conservative suit that has pearl accents on the collar. But people WILL remember you wearing THIS dress."
"This dress is way outside my comfort zone." I nod.
"Ok, I'll return the suit." I secretly am screaming YES and doing a happy dance inside my head.
She had to have a few minor things altered and the seamstress pinned up the hem. My sister is committed now. After alterations there is no "return it."
I simply cannot wait to see my beautiful sister walk down the aisle on the arms of an handsome usher on her daughter's wedding. She not only will be "queen for the day" but she will make all of her guests feel like they have witnessed something special.
My job here is done.
