Wedding Wear

I recently attended a beautiful outdoor wedding at a vineyard venue here in Virginia.  It was a lovely wedding, not too big, not too small, for an adorable young couple.  I was impressed that one of the bridesmaids approached me and complemented me on my outfit.  So I thought I'd share it with you.  This was a 6 pm wedding, outdoors, and it was difficult to know what the weather would be like in September so I had to find something that could go warm or cold.  And trendy is not my style so the outfit needed to be something I could wear again.  Classic always reigns.  I also wanted to stay away from bell sleeves as I think they are a trend that will see an early death. The thrift shops will be full of bell sleeved dresses and tops that no one wants to wear.  Net-a-Porter is also a great place to get outfit ideas. 

This is the dress I found and this brand fits me perfectly.  The dress is comfortable and heavy enough to wear in colder climates.  It's not a summer dress (will be too hot) but this can be worn to cocktail parties too. You can't go wrong with a black or navy dress. I tried a navy dress but sent it back.  This one is here.  I managed to find this one 70 percent off.

I wanted a small box clutch bag that I could wear with other outfits but did not want to spend a fortune.  So I found this one on sale.  It is much cuter in real life than here and it has another striped pattern on the other side.  I will use this for years.  See it here.

My real splurge for this outfit was shoes.   I have a difficult time with shoes with bad bone spur and I cannot wear so many styles for this reason.  And I don't like high heels but want a little heel. After serious debate I splurged and bought these (with a gift card so it wasn't such a shock).  But I will wear these this winter with black pants and a turtleneck. These made the outfit.  See them here.

Sometimes you have to splurge. The shoes were worth it.  I felt lovely and wore simple pearl drop earrings with a hint of gold that I already had and my double strand pearl bracelet (a 30th birthday gift from my parents). It was fun to dress up for a change - I remember when all the weddings 6 or 8 pm formal and we all dressed up.  Formal no longer works today, sadly enough, but I am planning a cocktail party later in the fall.