Questions:

1. What will the weather most likely be like in the wedding location on the wedding day? Is this in the South, the Northeast, the West? Hot and humid or hot and dry? Cloudy or sunny?

2. What is the level of formality of the wedding? Casual and beachy/backyard? or Formal? or Somewhere in between?

3. What time of day will the wedding be held?

4. What is the mother of the bride wearing? Traditionally, the MOB sets the formality standard for the MOG to follow.

I was mother of the groom three years ago (you can search this board and find a picture of my dress, but truthfully that won't be any help -- ) and now am mother of the bride. And I am built very similarly to you - an inch shorter, even.

I can give you this advice:

SHOP IN A STORE, not on line. Unless you are very easy to fit -- i.e., tall and thin, which let's face it we aren't! -- it's very hard to find a flattering dress, especially a long gown. Even when they look good on us, they don't look at all like they do on the pictures of the 5'10" size 4 models; it's like a different dress. Even my future son-in-law's young, gorgeous sisters didn't like the first set of dresses they ordered on line that looked so perfect in the pictures once they actually got them, so they are starting over.

If you really don't live in or aren't visiting a city where you can try on, then I guess you have no choice but to order a bunch of returnable dresses on line and hope that one looks good and send back the rest. But I would still start by visiting local stores just to see which cuts look good on you.

I had zero luck at bridal shops. The clerks told me that it wasn't my imagination: the mother-of-the dresses are mostly designed for tall women. Of course they will make yours in your size, but all the details are out of proportion. I also think that the styles are usually kinda unoriginal and matronly compared to the dresses you can find in shops or department stores. (For both weddings, all the grandmothers, all in their 80s, found their dresses in bridal shops.) They just don't look like anything you'd buy another time, let alone that you'd see on the red carpet. Plus, they take forever to come in, they aren't cheap, and they aren't returnable if they don't look like you had hoped. So unless the bride insists on a matching fabric or something (which she shouldn't, but if she does, humor her!), I'd skip the bridal shops.

You can look at lots of pictures of other moms, but it's not really going to help. You need to find what looks good on YOU. If you live near a store with a free personal shopper service, USE IT. You don't even have to buy anything. I found my dresses out of town but used the Nordstrom free personal shopper for help finding accessories and undergarments. What a huge help that was, and believe it or not it ended up SAVING me some money and definitely a lot of time. And it was fun!

So, tell us: what kind of dress do you need? Day, night, long, short, dressy, not so dressy? What time of day and time of year is the wedding? What is the venue? Do you think you will have future occasions to wear this dress again? Do you have any particular jewelry or accessories that make you feel wonderful and/or have sentimental meaning that you'd like to wear for the wedding that could give you a starting point?

What is your all-time favorite dress you've ever had?

Do you know what the bride's mother is wearing? Try to match that in terms of formality and probably length. Does the bride want you in a specific color scheme? If not, great -- choose what looks best on you when you try on, although I suppose avoid things that will clash like mad in the photos (it's NOT the time for black, green, and orange day-glo polka dots!).

Keep an open mind when you shop. I was glad I tried on styles and colors I didn't think would look good on me; I got some surprises in both directions.

Happy hunting, and congratulations on your son's marriage.

There are many stores out who have good collection of dresses. You can check out for clothes online as you may get wide range to choose from. Check out at davidsbridal.