This is a great time to check the department stores for party dresses on sale. Around prom time is another good time to find dresses in department stores. Also look for cruise wear. If all else fails, you may need to have a dress made. It seems that there are few shorter dresses currently available that are not dark colored cocktail dresses. You might also want to do an on-line search and see what you find.

If she can't be at the wedding ceremony then she is not the Maid of Honor. The Maid of Honor attends the wedding and acts as a witness. Those are her only mandatory duties. Bachelorette parties, brunches, etc. are not mandatory. Many would say showers are not mandatory, but where I am (New England) they basically are for the first weddings (the bride's attendants are basically expected to host some type of shower). You say "couldn't be" at the wedding...past tense. Did this wedding already take place? Bridal showers occur before weddings, not after. So, to answer the question. She has no responsibilities. Her only mandatory responsibility was to attend the ceremony.

the rest of us only care so much about your wedding. I mean, we're happy for you and all, but your wedding isn't THAT big a deal to us. We can't stay excited about it for months and months. We aren't going to worship at the altar of someone else's wedding. We can stay excited for a few weeks, while your marriage is still pretty new. But if we've seen very much of you in the meantime, why are we suddenly celebrating w/ a party now? I think you are right about people being in "wedding mode." Having a party in the summer to celebrate your wedding SIX MONTHS AGO OR MORE! would be total anticlimax. I'd be thinking, "Enough already!" I say, the reception should be within a month or the wedding itself. Maybe 6 weeks, at the MOST. If you're going to put it off for much longer, then just don't bother. In fact, I think it's important to have the reception BEFORE people have sent you Christmas cards as a married couple, and before you've sent them out in your new married status. Stick to your guns.

There are often receptions or parties after the wedding. But I have never seen anyone wearing a bridal gown at one just so those who weren't at the wedding could see it. I'm assuming you are talking about a traditional wedding gown. But it was a small ceremony; perhaps you wore a terrific "regular" dress? If so, I absolutely would go ahead and wear it again for the party. That you wore it for your wedding doesn't mean it needs to be enshrined forever! If it's a traditional gown and veil -- well, you know your group, and we don't. So I don't know if they really are all that worked up about seeing you wearing a wedding gown, or if they will be thinking it seems a bit silly, or some of each. In any case, I assume all these people love you, so I don't think you have a problem with anyone permanently thinking anything bad. If you have your heart set on wearing your gown again, who is it hurting? I think the bigger issue is how YOU will feel. The fact that you are asking here makes me suspect that you feel uneasy about it, and if you plan to wear it, you will be second-guessing yourself from now until the party and all through the party, worried that you will feel foolish, which will reduce your own pleasure. If you wear a terrific regular outfit, you will for sure feel confident. Believe me, you will still be The Bride! Maybe wear some flowers, too. Best wishes on your marriage, and have fun at your party whatever you decide to wear.