WHAT COLOR DO I WEAR TO MY REHEARSAL DINNER?

Are brides supposed to wear white/ivory/cream/whatever to the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner? Is this not a little... redundant? My friends/bridesmaids keep suggesting these dresses that I would categorize as "Vegas Wedding Dresses" - short, "flirty and fun!" white cocktail dresses.

What's protocol here? Does it matter? Suggestions?

*****

DON'T WEAR WHITE TO YOUR REHEARSAL DINNER.

I thought you guys all knew how I feel about this.

Let your guests foam at the mouth imagining you in that white dress. Don't show them, like, a cuter version of it the night before.

Dior Couture by Patrick Demarchelier via Fashion Gone Rogue

Dear ESB: I don't like my dress

When I first started wedding planning, my grandmother offered me her dress to wear. It was too big for me, but it is a lovely old dress, simple and vintage, which is definitely my style, so I was very excited about it. Then my seamstress friend offered to alter it for free. Last week I got the altered dress sent it straight to the dry cleaners to turn it back from yellow to white. It was there for a week, and now, three and a half weeks before my wedding, I got it back.

And I don't like it.

Oh, it's nice enough. The silhouette is really pretty and it whitened up beautifully but-- I feel kind of awkward in it. It doesn't fit quite how it should, and the long sleeves make me feel really prim, and I feel sort of constricted in it. So my problem is this: I don't really have the time to find a new wedding dress, and even if I did, I'd feel like it was kind of a kick in the teeth to my grandmother and my friend who put all the free labour into it. I could try to get it further altered-- but can I do that in three weeks? Should I just live with it? Should I go on a panicked search to find a new dress? Maybe you just do feel kind of awkward in a wedding dress because it's a gown and when else do you ever wear a gown? I don't know. But I feel miserable.

Any advice?

*****

Ditch the dress. Please.

Call in sick. Drive to Barneys or Bergdorf’s or Nordstrom or ANYWHERE and try on everything they’ve got.

(Photo: Steven Sebring courtesy of The New York Times)