Dresses for the moms

Over the past couple of months, both my mom and Calvin's mom had looked for dresses, with no luck. During this time, probably every major department store in Cleveland was visited by one or both of them- but the selection of dresses was just awful. They wanted similar things- silk shantung or dupioni cocktail length dresses. My mom was looking for blue, and Calvin's mom was looking for green. Now, this doesn't seem like it should be a difficult thing to find, but it was proving extremely frustrating.

On a whim, I scoped out the bridesmaid and occasion dresses at Watters, with the thought that maybe they would be able to order dresses that would suit them- and both found dresses they liked.

Cue The Perfect Bride, a salon in Rocky River (a suburb of Cleveland). Tipped off on the Watters website that they carried most of the Watters line, I set out with Calvin's mom to scope it out and help her find a dress. And she did:

Watters style 9973; her dress will be a paler green (cilantro) than the midori green shown.

My mom went a couple of days later, and loved this dress:

Watters style 7321 in navy blue (as shown). It will be shortened to cocktail length.

Service at the salon was excellent (if I was still in the market for a dress, I would have tried some on!); the women helping both my mom and Calvin's mom were extremely friendly and helpful.

The one thing that I wish I'd known ahead of time is the amount of time it actually takes to get in theses dresses. (My bridesmaids are wearing dresses from J. Crew, so I had no experience actually ordering non-wedding dresses through a bridal salon.) Our wedding is now less than three months away, which is pushing it for the dresses to arrive on time. So those of you with moms who are still looking for dresses- if you go the "order a dress from a bridal salon" route, I'd order well in advance of 3 months.

What is your mom wearing to your wedding?