Formal Maternity Wear

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SummerSmiles

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Do any of you have any suggestions of places I might look to find formal maternity wear? I need something very reasonably priced… My husband plans to do his 4th degree initiation for the Knights of Columbus, and I will be about 8 months pregnant at the time. I don’t have anything formal that I can use for that, so I need to find something suitable. I’m checking around at the local consignment shops, but I need some other ideas on where I might check. Does anyone know if it’s possible to rent something like that? And exactly how formal do the ladies need to be dressed for this event? The guidelines said that men are required to wear a tuxedo, so I’m guessing that I’d need something pretty formal.

Any suggestions would be very greatly appreciated!
 
I don’t know how much your looking to spend but Davids Bridal sells Maternity Formal wear you can even order online if you want
 
I always had luck at Motherhood Maternity, or Mimi Maternity.

Wives get to go?

DH is a Knight, and I never got a chance to go to any of it…I thougth it was Knights only and it was private.
 
Mary_Gail_36 said:
I always had luck at Motherhood Maternity, or Mimi Maternity.

Wives get to go?

DH is a Knight, and I never got a chance to go to any of it…I thougth it was Knights only and it was private.
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Yes, the initiations are usually Knights only. For the Fourth Degree, there is a Knights only portion and afterwards they have a ladies evening where they invite the wives and have a banquet. My mom said that when my dad did his that it was a big event… I still don’t quite know what to expect, though.
 
MrsATurner said:
I don’t know how much your looking to spend but Davids Bridal sells Maternity Formal wear you can even order online if you want
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Maybe if I can find something on sale, I could probably ask at the local store as well. Their regular priced items are on the very high end of what I’d like to spend. I really don’t want to spend a lot of money on a dress that I’m going to wear one time. (DH is even suggesting that I just wear one of my cotton dresses, in the interest of saving money! lol.)
 
SummerSmiles said:
Yes, the initiations are usually Knights only. For the Fourth Degree, there is a Knights only portion and afterwards they have a ladies evening where they invite the wives and have a banquet. My mom said that when my dad did his that it was a big event… I still don’t quite know what to expect, though.
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Sounds nice!

I gave away all my maternity clothes, but I had a “little black dress” that I found for 19.00 dollars. I wore it with a shawl. I could have mailed it to you.
 
As a grandmother, I can’t help you with maternity formal wear, but I can give advice as the wife of a 4th degree Knight of Columbus and the mother of a 1st degree Knight.

When my husband was elevated to 4th degree, the ladies were invited. We didn’t sit in on the men’s meeting, but we were invited to the dinner in the evening. We ladies went on a tour of the State Capitol building in Olympia, Washington, as that was the city where the 4th degree ceremony was being held.

I wore a tea length dress, something I could wear for Easter Mass. Some of the ladies were more formal, some less formal than me. Some were in slacks and nice blouses.
If I were you, I would wear my nicest maternity dress or slacks and blouse, and not worry about being too formal.

The men are to wear their tuxes, because that is their uniform.
 
You probably already have a pair of black maternity slacks. I’d just find a pretty dressy top to go with it. Perhaps someone who is larger than you are when you’re not pregnant has a dressy top you can borrow? If you lived by me I’d let you go through my closet 🙂
 
Peggy_in_Burien said:
As a grandmother, I can’t help you with maternity formal wear, but I can give advice as the wife of a 4th degree Knight of Columbus and the mother of a 1st degree Knight.

When my husband was elevated to 4th degree, the ladies were invited. We didn’t sit in on the men’s meeting, but we were invited to the dinner in the evening. We ladies went on a tour of the State Capitol building in Olympia, Washington, as that was the city where the 4th degree ceremony was being held.

I wore a tea length dress, something I could wear for Easter Mass. Some of the ladies were more formal, some less formal than me. Some were in slacks and nice blouses.
If I were you, I would wear my nicest maternity dress or slacks and blouse, and not worry about being too formal.

The men are to wear their tuxes, because that is their uniform.
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Thank you, this was all very helpful!
 
Pax2u said:
You probably already have a pair of black maternity slacks. I’d just find a pretty dressy top to go with it. Perhaps someone who is larger than you are when you’re not pregnant has a dressy top you can borrow? If you lived by me I’d let you go through my closet 🙂
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Actually I don’t. :o It’s probably the one “staple” that I haven’t been able to find for my maternity wardrobe–and I’ve had 3 pregnancies worth of looking! Maybe I’m picky, but they just never seem to fit right on me. 🤷 (It’s not just a pregnancy thing, I always have trouble finding dressy slacks that don’t look funny on me.) Dresses are much easier for me to fit, even though pregnancy nylons are much more difficult than pants. But that did give me an idea for someone that I can ask about borrowing a dress from!
 
I’m (hopefully) past it now bu I’ve been meaning to post on maternity wear.

Cirrainly in the UK it’s almost imposible to find nice practical informal but feminine maternity wear. There are some really lovely expensive formal dress shops but on an informal level it’s all maternity jeans that make you look like an over weight builder at a time when most women feel at their most feminine and desperately want to feel attractive !!

I don’t go with this (often immodest) celebrity obsession with showing off during pregnancy but it is a natural part of being a woman and it should be possible to find nice clothes to wear when you are pregnant.
 
I was just at Motherhood yesterday and they had tons of dresses around $30-$50. Many of them had a black background/were mostly black and were and made of a drapey material that I’m sure you could dress up so that you’re close enough to semi-formal to match your H. When you’re pregnant, you can be a little more flexible with formality since people understand you’re not going to go spend $200 for a sequined maternity gown.
 
I had such a difficult time finding a recital gown (ie. formal gown) for maternity. They don’t seem to sell anything long in maternity shops and I find the clothes to be overpriced for the quality you get with most maternity wear. What I finally did was purchase a long formal stretchy, black velvet dress from the regular evening wear section at Macy’s when they had a sale and spent about $50. It was a ruched gown like you see for many maternity dresses and shirts and I bought it extra big to accommodate my growing belly. I just had the straps readjusted and pinned the bust area to let out when my chest got larger. Then I bought a little black, velvet bolero to cover my shoulders. That I got on sale for $14.95 and that was originally $45. After I have the baby and lose the weight, I plan to just take it in and use it for my concerts/recitals in the fall and winter.

So, if you still have a problem finding something, I suggest trying the regular sections.
 
Em_in_FL said:
Normally you can find a nice dress at your local maternity store… black is always easy to work with… you can “sparkle” it up with some jewelry…
Try Motherhood Maternity, Target, etc…
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I second this! (Black dress, I got mine at Motherhood, I think…)
When I was pregnant with #3 I went to a wedding and wore a black dress and sewed some sparkly silver decorative piece to the middle front (it was like an empire waist and I sewed it in the center right above where the belly started… hard to explain, but I thought it was pretty :), and it was kind of popular around that time to have that type of decoration). It was pretty cheap compared to the fancier evening gowns I saw when I was looking for something, since it was a simple black dress. And black can be very flattering as well :). I later removed the sparkly piece and used the black dress for a more informal party as well :).
 
SummerSmiles said:
Actually I don’t. :o It’s probably the one “staple” that I haven’t been able to find for my maternity wardrobe–and I’ve had 3 pregnancies worth of looking! Maybe I’m picky, but they just never seem to fit right on me. 🤷 (It’s not just a pregnancy thing, I always have trouble finding dressy slacks that don’t look funny on me.) Dresses are much easier for me to fit, even though pregnancy nylons are much more difficult than pants. But that did give me an idea for someone that I can ask about borrowing a dress from!
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I found some “nice” slacks at Macy’s maternity section. (They would look better if I ironed the crease back into the leg) for interviews. They even had my size which is Petite large.😛 (At least it isn’t petite extra large anymore).

I think their maternity is Motherhood Maternity brand. I just have to make sure to wear a shirt long enough to cover the juncture between the pants and the secret belly fit. I also like to cover or at least end at my crotch to sort of hid the funny folding all unstructured materials make in that area.

These are the ones I have, I believe.
 
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