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Everyone is pretty clear on what the bride and her mother will be up to for the duration of your engagement: planning a wedding! Some women give the impression that they've been planning this event in their head since the first wedding they attended at the age of six, and now the starting pistol has fired in real life, look out!

Thing is, your mom's a woman, too, and maybe she's been planning a wedding in her head, too. Only (in this wedding at any rate) she's got a son, not a daughter. What does the mother of the groom do?

While she doesn't do as much as the mother of the bride, there are a few things that are just for her.

This dress is great-all around. It's a fun party dress and would be perfect for a swanky rehearsal dinner. It's short and sleek and white - making it a fine option for the hopelessly chic bride who wouldn't be caught dead in a princess ball gown. And it also has a definite 80's vibe (check out that belt) and a tiered skirt - which makes it white-hot and trendy.

It also comes in black (picture after the jump) - a look your bridesmaids will love. On the other hand, YOU could wear it in black to your rehearsal, right?

Lauren by Ralph Lauren - $280 at Macy's

Planning an outdoor party for your pre-wedding festivities? Here are a few simple tips to keep things flowing smoothly.

1. Have a Plan B. If it's too hot, if it pours rain, if the bugs come out and drive your guests buggy, you'll need a back-up plan. You might rent a marquis, or move to a screened patio, or light up the citronella candles -- but be prepared for the less-than-romantic realities of the great outdoors.

2. Paper napkins are convenient, but cloth are less likely to blow away. What's convenient about chasing your serviettes around the lawn, anyway? Wrap the cutlery in a cloth napkin, and tie with twine or a pretty ribbon.

For the maid of honor who wants to go the extra mile, it's always nice to add little personal touches to a wedding shower, like these personalized coasters from For Your Party. In addition to wedding showers, these coasters would be great for rehearsal dinners and wedding receptions.

You start with a blank slate on one of ten different coaster styles. Different shapes and materials are available. From there, you add the text and pictures that you want, in the colors and font of your choice from the wide selection on the website.

It takes just a few minutes to design these adorable coasters (the hardest part is narrowing down your selections!). When you're done, you've got a lovely and inexpensive bit of flair for your party.

Visit For Your Party to order.

In the days and weeks leading up to your wedding, you'll probably sit down to half a dozen dinner parties. You'll have showers and a rehearsal dinner and maybe even a bridesmaids' luncheon. That's why we love these plates as a gift idea -- as a gift either from the bride to her bridesmaids, or the bridesmaids to the bride.

My Clean Plate Club sells a variety of custom plates that would be perfect for any or all of these pre-wedding dinner celebrations. The plates vary from traditional scripted monograms to modern designs also featuring monograms or whole names, and you can get childrens' plates as well.

These would make sweet keepsakes for each member of your wedding party to take home with them, or the wedding party could pool together and present the bride and groom with a whole set of the plates. We especially love the idea of getting these plates for the kids at your wedding. Kids love personalized gifts, and you have dozens of adorable styles to choose from!

Flip through the gallery to see some of our favorite designs. To see more options and to order, visit My Clean Plate Club.

If you are donning a traditional white or ivory wedding dress, the rehearsal dinner is the perfect opportunity to add a splash of color to your wedding wardrobe. With summer right around the corner, it's also the perfect time of year to shop for your rehearsal dinner dress -- the hottest season of the year tends to produce the hottest summer dresses.

Choose a funky patterned shift dress or a brightly colored classic cut. Pick a flowered pattern dress or pastel-hued wrap.

You'll wow every guest at your wedding with your gorgeous and made-for-you gown, but you can evoke even more jaw-dropping looks from any of these dresses (and the ones in the gallery) for your rehearsal dinner.

Feel beautiful at every wedding event -- you deserve to!

Your wedding isn't just about the walk down the aisle; chances are, you will have other festivities -- rehearsal dinner, bridesmaids lunch, after party, Sunday brunch -- that require you to get dressed and look lovely. And while you don't want to spend the weekend dressed up like your bouquet, a pink and brown theme wedding lends itself to some fabulous pink and brown dresses.

Right now, Banana Republic has got you covered, with dresses that are flirty and feminine and wearable long after the wedding. You might even find the perfect bridesmaids dress right there at the mall! Or certainly a terrific frock for your big party weekend.

Traditionally, the parents of the groom are the hosts of the rehearsal dinner, so getting people there is up to them and not something you will have to worry about in your wedding planning. But if you are hosting your own rehearsal dinner, or just helping with the planning, you may have questions about invitations.

The guest list is up to the host, but it's usually a fairly intimate gathering, made up of the wedding party and close family. Because anyone who would be attending the dinner is closely involved with the wedding and wedding planning, it is not usually necessary to send a formal invitation. A phone invitation with the information about time and place is acceptable.

If you're having a super formal wedding and you feel like phone invitations would be too informal, then feel free to make up invitations for the rehearsal as well, but don't feel like you have to do this. No one is expecting it.

Planning a rehearsal dinner brings up a lot of questions. Who's invited? What do you do besides eat? Who plans it and pays for it? Where is it held? Well, there's not just one answer to these questions, but there certainly are guidelines.

It used to be that only the bridal party and immediate family was invited, but it's now common to invite anyone coming in from out of town. If that seems like an awful lot of people, consider holding your rehearsal and dinner with a small group and having cocktails with everyone afterward.

If you've not done so already, you'll out gifts to your bridal party and parents. A toast is often given by the groom's father, and sometimes by others as well. It's a nice time to get some of the speeches out of the way before the wedding itself.