I like that dress, lucy. It looks springy!
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Mac Duggal is my favorite, and they have such a great collection.
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Dillards website had a lot of MacDougal dresses. Very pretty. Pricier than some of the other brands, and they definitely jumped out as I scrolled last year.
I’m going to one in July, the bride & groom are fitness influencers. The dress code is “black tie, dress fabulously, but no black.” Of course, all I’m seeing is great black formal dresses. With “black tie”, I find it challenging for women to find a formal dress that doesn’t cross the line into looking too MOB/MOG-y or too bridesmaid-y.
I’m typically not a vibrant color person but love the bright, kind of grass-green that I’m seeing. I don’t like red, or purples or pastels. I could do a blue. I also don’t want to spend a ton on something I’ll wear once - thinking of trying rent-the-runway or something similar.
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I love the rental idea. Tons of choice plus stuff you’d never buy to wear once. Having never done that, I’ll follow your journey with enthusiasm.
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Think the rental idea is good, I might focus on sequins/embroidery/paillettes to get the fabulous ‘black tie’ vibe and to help stay away from the color black.
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I also shop in person for the most part. For me, it is too hard to figure out how a dress will look or how the material is from an online photos. I ended up with dresses from Macys and Nordstrom Rack for weddings last summer.
Wow. I love these Mac Duggal dresses!
Thank you for sharing this brand here bc I rarely shop in stores anymore and thus totally unaware of what brands I’d even look for when shopping for wedding guest dresses (or MOG), etc.
Understated elegance.
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When my S was getting married, I tried to shop in-person. At the time I lived in a fairly large metropolitan area so figured within an hour I could get to several nice department stores. However, I discovered as a short person who needed petite sizing, that most of the stores only carried the petite sizes online. If they had any in the store there was no guarantee it would be in a size I could try on.
I ended up ordering online from a variety of sources: Amazon try before you buy had several of the same dresses that Dillards and Macy’s carried. I ended up with a dress from Adrianna Papell that was perfect and didn’t require any alterations. Sadly, it looks like they are no longer offering their dresses in petite sizes on their website, although there are some on Macy’s website. I think the Mac Duggal dresses are stunning, but they’re not available in petite sizes either.
Well perhaps a black dress would work, topped with a lovely blouse or scarf or scarf/shawl.
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Love Amazon’s “Try before you buy” feature!
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The rent the runway idea sound great! I’ve seen a lot of nice non-black fancy dresses (not over the top) at places like Macy’s though.
I generally like to try on to see how a dress (or other clothing) works with my build, hair, coloring. I find grabbing a huge pile of different styles and plowing thru them in the dressing room quickly is actually more time efficient than online ordering/returning (for me). Everyone finds what works for them, though!
Some non-black:
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The problem I had last time was that even driving to an area with large department stores was that they all had very few dresses. One of the Nordstrom had eliminated the dress department. The hour plus drive was a bust. I ordered from Amazon (just make sure it’s free returns), Macy’s which has a good selection online and often has sales ( I could return local). Nordstrom return policy is great as if you find a good contender you can hold on to it while you continue to look.
My sister did a lot of Rent the runway. She loved it but remember you can’t alter.
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I definitely prefer trying on a dress at the store, but there is limited selection even when we drive to Denver.
Between my 2016 MOB shopping and 2024 MOG shopping, there was a big reduction of in-store formal dresses (especially for Petite). I think the stores have decided it’s just more efficient to have shoppers do a bunch of order/return.
It was in September, 2022 when I tried to shop in-person at stores in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Almost all the ones I went to had their fitting rooms closed! They said I could take clothes home and return the ones I didn’t want. Uh, no, thank you, I was just visiting for the weekend and didn’t have time to return to the stores. Ugh.
I ran into that in one department store. They were short staffed and would not open the formalwear fitting rooms. I went to another department and almost had to beg to have one room unlocked. A few of us shoppers cycled through it, holding open the door for each other. Crazy.
Have you been to the Talbot’s near you yet? I did online shopping with Dillard’s and Macy’s and returned to local stores. My MOG dress was bought online at Dillard’s
My sister got her dress for the wedding online from Macy’s and a really nice floral rehearsal dinner dress from Talbot 's.
I’m planning on going with my sister-in-law when she is here next week. I think I will post a photo of one dress I have and see what people think. I like it a lot, but I want to see if you think it’s appropriate. I will do that later today.
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When I’ve tried to find dresses for wedding and funeral, I tried to shop at stores but gave up and ordered online and returning at local stores. Since no postage for NRack, that’s where I purchased and returned to Nordstrom. It worked fine and had much bigger selection than locally of styles and sizes.
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I went into a Nordstrom Rack a few weeks ago when I was visiting my daughter and it didn’t have anything that looked of quality. One rack of dresses that looked like something from a discount chain. One rack of bras but none looked like something they sold at Nordstrom. The Rack used to be pretty dependable, I’ve noticed the same at Saks off Fifth, mainly stuff made for outlet versus deals from the main stores.
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