I heard somewhere that matrons of honor often don’t wear the same dress as the other bridesmaids. I think I have a radical idea - you might want to find or have made a similar dress in a complementary or identical color and get it approved by the bride! 
Well, that’s a really good way of looking at it - she doesn’t care if I fit in or not, so I just have to find a dress that I think would be more appropriate. Any body know any good bridesmaid dress/formal wear sites?
I’m gonna jump in with everyone else and say different style, similar color ought to be fine. My best friend’s sister was her matron of honor and because she was married she had a completely different dress than the other bridesmaids; supposedly it was to mark her as the one married person in the wedding party. It’s perfectly acceptable, and if you don’t let anyone know they’ll probably think it’s deliberate.
~Tasha
Dress in formal Godiva attire, and steal the groom away at the alter.
Either that, or offer some selections that you like to your sister, but be prepared to dress however she prefers.
Being a guy, I’m rather relieved that my sister did not make me wear the same outfit as the bridesmaids at her wedding. As it was, however, the store providing the tuxes to the groomsmen lost mine, so I had to wear my own. I doubt if anyone cared about my not matching, for unfortunately that was not the only thing that was lost. The limo driving my sister to the hairstylist got lost in a winter storm, causing the wedding party to commence a grid search for her. (She’s divorced now, so life is calm again.)
my best friend got hers from the house of brides internet store. (they also run brick and morter stores in chicago, but the 2 divisions are separate). She didn’t have any problems. But for one dress you don’t have to worry about matching dye lots, so I would totally just start at the local department store in the formalwear section.
Try Ethos featherlou. It’s not my favorite store in the world, but the women that work there are really helpful and should be able to assit you find something really nice.
They’re down in the Devonish building on 17th ave (right by Mount Royal) if you didn’t know. In fact, the Parisian in the basement of Month Royal would probably be worth a look too.
Alyce designs has some gorgeous gowns, maybe some of her wedding or formal stuff would work? (It looks like it’s all teeny bopper prom gowns, but it isn’t. She makes very elegant mother of the bride gowns, as well as bride’s maid gowns. Check out her evening gowns too, they might also work.)
Can you give us a link to the dress in question or something like it? Maybe we can help better with suggestions if we have a visual of what you’re looking for. (I know it would help me.)
So the OP was a lie, and you want a sympathetic answer?
What are you talking about? In the OP, featherlou explained her problem and asked what we thought she should do. Then, taking the advice she had been given, she told her sister about her problem. Next, her sister suggested that featherlou wear an existing dress. However, the OP does not believe that the existing dress would be appropriate. Now, she is asking for more suggestions.
Where is the “lie” in that?
What the hell are you talking about?
OR…uh…what **Avarie537 **said. :smack:
Why do people jump into a thread just to be critical? I’ve really never seen anything like it. She just wanted some advice about a dress. If you don’t have any advice to offer. why try to be snarky? 
This displays an impressive lack of reading comprehension. Good job.
Yes, my sister has chosen a dress that is, well, according to the shop lady, impossible for me to get (if I could have fit into the one dress that was left, I could have gotten it; unfortunately, it was too small by about half); I asked about bringing it in from another location, and her computer said there were no more available in Canada. My sister’s solution is for me to wear a dress that I feel is completely out of keeping with the fanciness of the other bridesmaids and her own wedding dress. I don’t like this solution, because I feel like I will look foolish. I’m not sure where you think I’m lying, Ratatosk. I’m upset, sure; very few women like looking stupid at something like a wedding, but I’m not lying.
House of Brides does have some interesting stuff; I can send some links to my sister and get her feedback. It sounds like delivery might be tight; I’ll have to decide pretty quickly. I’ll check Ethos, too, Alice. That’s a good call. I looked for my wedding dress there four years ago, and they had tons of dresses.
When my sister gave me free reign to choose a maid of honor dress because I had a hard time finding something in my size, I bought a great dress from http://www.therosedress.com. It fit wonderfully, based on my measurements I was a hard fit and I was really happy with the quick shipping.
I believe if you need a dress quickly you can modify a search to find all dresses in stock and ready tp ship. I did that and my dress arrived within a week. They have a great selection in plus sizes, which I also appreciated.
If you really want that dress (you like it, it’s in your budget), I’m almost sure that you can acquire it. There are many places that specialize in shipping dresses to you, to have altered at any seamstress, bypassing the typical bridal shop. Here’s one that I have personally used. http://www.pearlsplace.com/
featherlou, if you want to email me with the manufacturer and model #, as well as your measurements, I’d be happy to look for it here in the States and mail it to you. You can paypal me the money. OR you can buy it online and have it shipped to my address if they don’t do international shipping. My email’s in my profile if you need it.
Amen. Every once in a while I see a full-scale wedding portrayed on TV or film in all its unlikely, grandiose perfection, and I feel a twinge of regret that my wife missed out on all that beauty and ceremony.
Then there are threads like this one that make me really freakin’ relieved that we just threw some nice clothes on, grabbed a few close friends and family, and drove to the courthouse to sign the papers. (And walked across the street for a nice postnuptial dinner.)
After eleven years we’re still doing well, while my sister’s expensive pageantry wedding launched a marriage that has already ended in divorce.
(Hope this useless hijack has been helpful.)
Why would the matron of honour be dressed the same as the bridesmaids anyway? It’s a different kind of role, so wouldn’t it get a different dress?
Just wondering, “english” bridal customs are very alien to me but I’d like to understand them better.