Help me choose a dress.

OK. I'm driving myself nuts with this.
BIL is getting married soon - formal occasion and lots of people who disapprove of me and DH marrying me will be there. So.... I need to look fab but conservative (booo).
I need to sort the dress soon because I am going OS until the day before the wedding so I need to be able to leave my outfit (or at least the dress, I might buy some shoes OS) with MIL while I'm away.

I'm not very tall and my figure is somewhere between hourglass and pillar.

Here are my choices so far.
1. http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/...ats=0&format=0
I didn't think I could wear this style but I tried a similar one on in DJ's today and it was ok. No doubt it will need taking up but it won't be complex.
I dunno about the colour - I'm not sure what colour shoes I could wear with it. I think black would be awful, I'm not a huge fan of neutrals for shoes and a red or hot pink might be a bit overwhelming....

2.http://thumbnails.inkfrog.com/pix/bu...Gown.jpg/450/0
It's a navy blue so it's easier to accessorise. It's also jersey so size wise it's more likely to fit well but harder to adjust. No bolero to worry about.

3.http://cdnd.lystit.com/photos/2012/0...arge_flex.jpeg
I tried on a similar dress today. All the ruching hides a multitude of sins but this dress only comes in regular sizing not petite so I'm concerned that the length on the torso might be off. The dress I tried today would have needed the shoulder straps adjusted as well as a couple of cms off the hem.

There were a couple of other options but they are off my list now.
I'm open to all suggestions but these are the selection criteria
Must have at least a 3/4 length sleeve.
Must be floor length
Not too grannyish
Can't be red (or white). The bride might surprise us by following tradition and wearing a red dress and even if she doesn't the grumpy elderly females would not approve of me wearing red.
Needs to be available now - I don't have time for custom sewing because if the dress arrives and it's a disaster I need some time up my sleeve for another one. I don't want to make DH tour the department stores of Tokyo hunting the perfect dress on his holiday and my children have given me one day of their holiday to try on dresses.
It can't cost too much.

Thanks for your help :)

D'you know what colours suit you? I really like that first dress but personally, I just can't wear neutrals.

Second choice would be the last one (ie. the purple one).

I like the navy one but not the little detailing on the side - like the ruching but not the beads or sequins or whatever they are.

I don't like the first one, it's too detailed and you risk it overwhelming your petite frame. The second one is lovely and you could accessorise with silver shoes, clutch etc which are very hot right now and thus easily obtained. I'd go with that.

I love the 2nd one!!!

I agree with traveller!

The blue one is gorgeous, and the silver accessories would be fab! Its also figure kind (not sure if that required or not...) in a darker colour without being black and blah, and any tailor worth their salt will be able to adjust a jersey dress just as easily as any other fabric.

2 votes for the stunning blue dress :)

My concern with the second one is underwear.
I used to have a skirt made of the same fabric and it was very sexy because it draped so beautifully but it showed every single wrinkle or bump in my undies. So a dress will have the same issue but worse - I don't have any seam free bars but I suspect I will need one or maybe some kind of spanx or similar...
I dunno - what do you wear for a perfectly smooth sillhouette? Hollywood tape with no undies?

My life would be easier if I didn't over think trivial crap.

go with spanx and a seam free bra, target actually have quite a good range of suck-you-in undies at the moment and not too $$ either

Spanx all the way, you can get some for lack of the better word ' mini dress' style spanx than smooth everywhere, I am pretty sure spanx do seam free bras as well... or some of their lines have bras incorporated into them....

Number 2, 3 then 1.

Good luck. Hope you look hot!

I love dress 2 as well! Really stylish and not too fussy! Maybe a slip underneath?

just from a quick look i LOVE the navy one. but dont what you look like at all, so dont know how it will look on you.
I also think silver shoes would look good with any of them.

Love number 2!

I like the Navy one. For me, the first one looks too mother of the bride and the 3rd one looks too bridesmaid like.

Definitely the second one

Thanks.
Number 2 it is :)

Now I need to stop having anxiety over the size and order it. The size chart says I have the waist of an 8, the bum of a 4 and the boobs of a 6 and the reviews say it runs large.... :o

So 4 or 6.....
Maybe I should ask the shop.

I agree with number too. Sexy and conservative all at once. And depending on how you feel, you can go either way with the undies. ;)

And I say sparkly shoes to set it off.

Yep, 2 for me as well. I'd order a 6 from what you've said :D

The dress looks great, and will no doubt look awesome on you. I bought some 'suck you in and smooth you out' undergarments from BigW before my brother's wedding. I felt just a little bit cheating and just a little bit fabulous too. Going to the loo was a little more time consuming but i'm not a big drinker, so no problem really (;))

You can dazzle with ridiculous shoes and even a wrap/pashmina with this dress. It'll look amazing.

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I like the Navy one. For me, the first one looks too mother of the bride and the 3rd one looks too bridesmaid like.

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Totally agree. I actually thought the last one looked a bit old too

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I like the Navy one. For me, the first one looks too mother of the bride and the 3rd one looks too bridesmaid like.

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Totally agree. I actually thought the last one looked a bit old too

Definitely number 2!

I agree with the silver accessorizing. Sounds like a size 6 by what you've explained and I would go for one of those mini dress spanx.

I find the problem with jersey material, is if you went no undie/g you'd end up with a creeping problem ;)

I pulled the trigger on the blue jersey number.
I hope it fits :o

So now I need your help again because I can't decide which hangbag to buy. I like handbags the way other women like shoes so obviously I must have a new handbag :p
1. http://img0.etsystatic.com/005/0/624...84728_4m76.jpg
2. http://img1.etsystatic.com/005/0/656...42105_g9uu.jpg

Matchy matchy or pop?

Number 1 is c1918 so no-one will ever have the same bag.
Number 2 is probably 1940's (only a guess because this style was popular then) and whilst no-one will ever have the same bag there are still quite a lot of that style about so I might run into a similar one one day.

I think number 2

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I think number 2

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I agree. The red is nice but its gold. Can't tell completely on the blue dress but is it silver detail?

Yep, handbag number 2 to match dress number 2..... You will look totally fab!

I'm a bit worried that handbag 2 will be *too* matchy matchy.

I don't really mind mixing gold and silver tones....

Love the camel BTW Mrs O'M.

ETA - I wear a scarf so that has to match/not match too. If I go the blue bag then I need to find a blue or silver scarf. If I get the red I can probably wear one of my red/pink/purple scarves.

Is it head scarf? If so I think you could go either way and look fine.
Neck scarf definitely red or silver. Not blue.
I'm thinking if you don't want to fork out for the scarf as well I would go red bag, red scarf...it is a wedding after all ;)

I'd go red bag and whatever scarf you think so not too matchy matchy. Purdy! I want photos :p

I think red bag and purpley red scarf would look gorgeous

If you are matching scarf and shoes and bag and dress it may all be a bit blue....

I changed my mind... Go with the red and one of the scarfs you already have!

Novella was kind enough to do the camel for me ;)

If you're doing red scarf and bag, you also need red shoes. Or sparkly silver/gold ones with a red pendant on them.

Not my old birkis? :p

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Not my old birkis? :p

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I was thinking red crocs!!

Dress is here already :o

I ended up getting the 4 because every single review said size down. I love it. It fits perfectly except the length so it will need hemming but I expected hemming so no surprise there.

Awesome. I'd go the red bag and silver and red shoes. MMmmmm shoes. I do have some that may be almost perfect ;)

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Dress is here already :o

I ended up getting the 4 because every single review said size down. I love it. It fits perfectly except the length so it will need hemming but I expected hemming so no surprise there.

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How fast is that!

Its always good when the smallest size fits!

So glad you went dress number 2 :) even better that it arrived so quick and looks great. Go the red bag and scarf. Do not get matchy. My mum wore metallic brown and gold everything to my wedding and it looked terrible. Add colour to make it stand out. Your going to look famntastic I reckon. Will we get to see a final photo, even one with a cut out head for privacy reasons?

So can we see a picture of you in the dress?? And of course, which of Divvy's collection of shoes might work...