I tried on 5 outfits yesterday to decide on what to wear, with votes from the Peanut Gallery. DH said "wow that was a lot of work deciding what you would wear".

I replied "Oh no, that was fun!".

To which he said "Right, right, I always forget that is fun."

Enjoy the beautiful day and wonderful occasion!

PS I switched out the purse for a small shiny blue LV vernis I have.

You pulled it off - good for you! I would be in a similar situation if called upon to attend something similar. Except I have nothing!

Mtn, shiny blue LV sounds perfect. I am sure you looked fabulous!

What a funny, happy post, Funky! I grinned all the way through it. It’s times like this when I wish this was a small, closed group and you could post pics of yourself all dressed up in your boho outfit. It sounds wonderful!

Y’all crack me up! Funkyart, the main thing is i’ll bet you looked fabulous. And who among us doesn't do the same dam thing when getting ready for a special event most of the time? We need a little help from our friends, daughters, whoever, now and then to get it perfect.

Ha! I gave up on the wrinkle cream so thoroughly discussed on GW a month or 2 back. I should have started 50 years ago. Driver's license picture would scare anybody. So if I get pulled over I will be sure to keep my hands on the wheel and not look the person who pulls me over in the face. Jeeze. Do I really look like that? Tell me the camera sometimes lies.

Hahaha! I enjoyed the tale so much and so could relate! I had my dress picked out for the wedding already, no problem...but the shoes! the hose! the jewelry! the wrap! It went on and on.

Oh funkyart - you're funny. I hope your nephews wedding was fun.

I do the same thing of trying on a zillion outfits and combinations of shoes, purses, jewellery before an event - but I do it at least a week in advance. For me, something wouldn't fit or something would be the wrong shade and or the outfit wouldn't be quite right. I could never do it the day before and certainly never the day of - I would be a basket case of worry. The week gives me time to hit the two Winners within 15 minutes of me to hopefully find something that pulls it all together.

My daughters oooh so hip would tell me the hose are not a thing anymore!! Spanx can stand alone!! LOL

The best laid plans... I could have written this. I can be all dressed and ready to walk out the door when I catch myself at a certain angle in the mirror and realize it's bad. At that point clothes start flying and are left where they fall. My main problem is I second-guess myself all the time.

I ended up loving the dress I bought for my niece's wedding. I not only got lots of compliments, but I realized it was totally the right choice for me and the event.

I don't know what Spanx are. The name conjures up tight pants (like Speedos) people wear when they ride bikes.

I did have a near-disaster pantyhose wise. I bought three pairs with my weight and height squarely in the middle of the size range. With two pairs, the crotch would not rise past mid-thigh. And I have short legs. The rehearsal dinner found me doing strange things to keep them from going to my knees. Fortunately I had a pair of Hanes in the trio and that saved my bacon.

I would put on the Spanx first. No panty hose used to be the thing. But I think now you can wear them, depending on the situation. I wore gray pantyhose with a black dress to attend a funeral recently.

And yes, Funkyart, that was hilarious!

I think no panty hose only works if the skin on your legs is reasonably good. I considered not wearing any with a knee-length dress to the wedding rehearsal dinner and my daughter firmly told me no. I did appreciate her honesty.

Pantyhose, at least skintoned ones, have been firmly out out out for some time now. Of course, sometimes cooler heads prevail. Thong bikinis might be in too, but...butt...

Kate Middleton, however, has brought nude hose back into acceptability.

I spoke with a nice young gal in the shoe store ... a customer ... who was very nice to talk to me about hose. She said that if I wore hose, I should wear closed toe shoes. If I wore sandals, I'd best not wear hose. But I wasn't about to go bare legged. She suggested that sheer black hose with black close toed shoes could work. So I decided to free myself from everything ... at my age, why not. I tried on nude hose and black hose and closed toe and open. I ended up with sheer black hose with black pumps and was glad I did. The reception place was colder than a meat locker and I was freezing.

When it comes to spanx, I either wear control top hose or spanx, but not both. I need to be able to breathe.

I don't care if pantyhose is out. I continue to wear it. My legs are very pale and bruise easily. I'll take out-of-style pantyhose over my bare legs any day. I would never wear Spanx. They smush the body into unnatural, sausage-like shapes, IMO.

For me it depends on the dress and the event .. honestly, I haven't worn panty hose in many many years--but wore black hose only because the second choice dress would have required black and I already had them on. My dress was ankle length and really didn't need them.

Bfenton, I had a plan for an outfit--down to the jewelry and shoes but the temps rose and boy, I am so glad I didn't try to wear it. I'd have died. I had one dress that I'd not yet returned that could have worked and one that I'd never intended for the wedding. I ended up wearing the one I had never intended to wear. I am so glad I chose it because while it got very cool in the evening, it was downright hot in the sun. It was perfect.

It was a lovely service and event.. on an estate along a beautiful creek. Everything was perfect... and we had a great time.

The next wedding event is a reception only for the niece who eloped. It will be a much more casual event and my siblings and I have already decided we'll get a hotel and uber it so that we can enjoy ourselves.

Thank you all for laughing along. I did learn one important lesson that I will share with you-- go for the spanx with an open bottom! I didn't get them and my younger sister was showing off all night that she could go to the bathroom without disassembling! LOLMe? I chose not to go .. which made for a very long ride home!

1929spanish - LOL!

YEAH!! to hose being ok again!! My girls hit high school about the time they went out. I spent MUCH time at prom grand march pointing out how much better the gals legs looked WITH hose than w/o. Even young shapely legs are GREATLY IMPROVED by hose IMHO!! Bare legs in a dress looks RIDICULOUS, to me. We had a spring wedding in the family. I ended up buying nude, barely there hose. Sorry but I love my suntan tone!! Still I think I looked polished and the other ladies 50+ sporting no hose looked like wannabes and they will never be 20 again!!! Don't own them but daughter's do and to my way of thinking spanx is just grandma's girdle revisited!!

Like Annie, I do spanx or control top hose...when needed...but never both. I'd die!

I've done the early try-on, the last minute change, etc...all of the above! I sometimes will even try on a few outfits and take pics of myself in the full length mirror and text them to my friend and ask her opinion. You need the right kind of honest friend to do this.

I think I'd be more relaxed about dressing up if I had to do it more frequently, but I usually dress formally only a few times a year.

Not that it will influence anyone, but Jane Pauley wore hose on CBS Sunday Morning yesterday. I glanced twice just to be sure that's what I was seeing.

For my daughters' weddings last summer and this, I wore a "foundation" with hook bottom and sheer thigh-hi hose with close toe pumps. Best combination ever! Thigh hi hose are soooo much easier than panty hose i don't think I'll ever go back, and I've had several expensive brand-new pantyhose in my drawer for several years now. Thigh-hi hose forever! Hook Bottom "foundations" forever!

Sometimes in life one is best advised to ignore what is "trendy" or "dated" and go with what looks best on you. I have sometimes gone a long time without buying clothes because I thought the trending styles did not flatter me. I believe that when I wear skirts or dresses, my legs look better with thin-heeled pumps, so I do not buy dress shoes in the years that stores are only featuring chunky heels. Similarly, I strongly believe that my legs look better when I am wearing nude hose. The hose evens out my skin tone and finishes the look. If you don't buy the shiny stuff, it can look pretty natural and not weird. Plus, wearing control top hose reins the body in enough that I don't look lumpy in a tailored dress or pencil skirt. Looks much more natural than Spanx, IMO. To each his own, but once on gets to a certain age, especially, it's good to have some confidence about what works for each of us as individuals rather than focusing on what is necessarily "in" or "out."

I want to see Funky's boho dress!

Beyond making your legs look better, I find wearing shoes with some kind of sock/hose is so much easier. It's easier to get the shoes on and off and it's easier wearing them vs. all the rubbing of bare skin on shoes. Sandals are different because they breathe easier, but shoes without hose? Not with my hot puppies. Not comfortable. I've gone back to wearing knee hi nylons with pants too as the ped things always show or they slip off or bunch.

I agree completely, Annie.

Two of my daughters are young and trendy, thin and beautiful, well-toned, etc. professionals. They won't wear hose, even in winter! In summer their gooey, sticky, stinky feet emerge from their beautiful expensive shoes with occasional blisters. On dry days in winter those feet freeze in their fashionable little shoes. One daughter knits, so she knitted little pouches to put their feet in under their desks! Ah, But it's better to look good than feel good, at least while you're stlll young.

I cannot wear any enclosed shoe without a sock/hose/something. All that moistness and swelling. I would not have been able to even get my foot into the heels I wore.

If I have to wear hose it's some version of black, from sheer to opaque. In LA I had to employ the old nail polish to stop a run technique on NEW pantyhose. Fortunately it was up-thigh so the red polish didn't matter.

The dress varied quite a bit leaning towards dressy but not formal. I am very glad I didn't wear the sequin dress I looooved but felt was too formal. The sun was so bright and it picked up the sequins in any dress like crazy. I would have been a sparkle machine-- and I would have stood out as more sparkly than either the MOB or the MOG (my sister)

Sue the dress was the same as this one-- but it BLACK. In the photo it looks like a tshirt but it's actually a very nice weight jersey and lined. It moves very nicely.

Oh how great that looks! I loooove the dark purple bag! And I can just imagine the wrap with it all. Well done!

Thank you! I got a lot of compliments on the clutch (Hobo).. and I will get a lot of use out of it. I wore the pendant on the beaded piece which was wrapped twice. The ruby was centered on my neck as a choker.. the pendant hung just a few inches below the v neck of the dress.

as I've mentioned way too many times lately, with my depth perception issues, I can't wear heels. I wore these shoes.

I love the dress!! And the accessories!

Lovely! Glad the outfit came together!

Similar to 1929spanish I had an ALMOST very embarassing incident that involved a too-old pair of underwear, elastic letting go, and a very legs-together shuffle through airport security!

Funkyart, thank you for coming back to share the outfit you chose. How sweet of your sister to give you the bracelet that matches your lovely necklace. Love the dress with the EF shoes and the accessories. I'm guessing the wrap was a complimentary accessory with the coordinating colors. The devil is in the detail and you nailed it!

Funky - this is a fun story and I'm sure you looked smashing!!

what an outfit! I bet you looked fabulous! I grew up with two other sisters and the motto was "first one up is the best dressed." We always tried on dresses for each other when trying to decide what to wear. Still do today--thank goodness for iphones!

jo

Funkyart, great color on accessories for your black dress.

This thread has some interesting stories! I've experienced the "I'm loosing my pantyhose" situation. It also reminded of the time I was sitting in a packed out church for a concert or play and the underwire in my bra popped out! It came out of the casing it's sewn in and up towards my chest. Guess that was better than it popping out the side lol. Needless to say I hurried to the restroom and removed it. What a weird experience! LOL

Thank you all.. you are all too sweet. My whole plan changed when I stopped in a fav boutique on Friday.. I thought maybe I'd get a bag but had no intention of looking at jewelry. I had soooo much fun with the owner that I had to just go for the splurge. The accessories cost more than 8x the dress but I will wear them all again and again.

I have so many underwire popping stories it's ridic. I have grown to abhor underwires .. and yet, I still wear them!

My worst story was a button fiasco. I went to an interview in a beautiful mocha silk button-down shirt.. but had no idea that the two buttons had worked themselves out of the silky button holes. They were the top two buttons so I am assuming that between the suit jacket and carrying my briefcase, the material had been strained across my shoulders and pulled it open. The first button would have been ok-- a little daring for the office but ok. The second totally crossed the line! I went the whole way through the interview with my bra and cleavage showing!! (Yes, I got the job.. no, I never mentioned it to my boss.)

Yeah, I've pretty much always been a hot mess lol.

I traumatized nice commuters in a Tokyo railway station once.

I was in my late 20s iirc. Back before I battered my knee and when I wore dresses. I had a button-down sundress on. I had gotten a very bad sunburn on my back while snorkelling, and I could not bear to wear a bra. So I put on a navy sundress that i had, because you could not see thru it.

We were running through the station trying to make a connection to Kyoto. I had on a backpack. The pressure of my backpack swinging back and forth, had, unbeknownst to me, popped open the buttons right down my torso. It was full frontal upper-half nudity. While running. At rush hour. Through a train station in the land of AA-cups.

hahahaha.. I needed a choke alert for that one, Mtn!! You win!

Such a pretty dress Funky, so glad you had fun!

mtn, today that would be a video gone viral :D

Funky, every time I read the title of your thread, I think to myself, “me too”.