Cathy D.: Feeling the Love

Mother of: Bella
Wedding venue: The Woods Chapel followed by the Lafayette Club in Minnetonka Beach, Minn.
Vibe: Large, fanciful, yet intimate
Dress: Catherine Regehr from Saks Fifth Avenue

"Can you feel the love tonight?" read the napkins at Bella and Brett's wedding reception, held at a century-old private club on the grassy shore of Lake Minnetonka. The lyric was a nod to the couple's first connection, an online comment about their mutual love of The Lion King. They got engaged after seeing the musical.

“It really summed up the wedding,” says Cathy, mother of the bride. The dinner reception looked like a scene from a fairytale: with pink lighting, pink roses, ornate tablecloths and candles galore.

For her mother of the bride dress, Cathy shopped early and online. A deep blue-green off-the-shoulder dress caught her eye on Saks.com. The fitted floor length gown featured a roll collar—a signature of Canadian designer Catherine Regehr—and short sleeves that peeked out from the beneath the structured collar, covered in exquisite floral applique. (See a similar Catherine Regehr dress from the current season collection) It was more than she’d planned to spend, but she kept coming back to this dress. “I had to take the plunge,” Cathy says.

She ordered two sizes to be safe. “I was so happy with the fit, I could justify spending a little more.” And the quality matched the price: “It was so well made,” Cathy says. “I loved all the tiny flower details.”

Bella and Brett were married in August, 2017. Exactly two years later, Cathy’s son Nick proposed to his girlfriend Ella. They set a date for October, 2020, little did they know that 2020 would find the Los Angeles couple quarantining at a Central Minnesota cabin with Cathy and her husband Kevin. With the pandemic raging, they decided to postpone their wedding…but actually move up their wedding date. The couple exchanged vows with just immediate family present. Cathy wore an above-the-knee patterned dress she found in a hurry on the Neiman Marcus website.

But Cathy did get the chance to wear her original mother of the groom dress, purchased before the onset of Covid-19. The newlyweds held a 2021 wedding celebration—not far from their quarantine cabin, at Madden’s Resort on Gull Lake. She was glad for the chance to wear it, because finding that dress had been no easy task.

“It was harder this time around. I probably ordered 30 dresses,” Cathy says, “and some were absolutely ridiculous on me.” After so many strike-outs, she returned to Catherine Regehr dresses at Saks. “Because I loved my dress for Bella’s wedding, I went back to something I knew and felt comfortable in.”

This time, she chose a simple-yet-elegant round neck gown with jewel encrusted cuffs on the long sleeves. “It was a little dressy for the venue, but it worked. I loved everything about both weddings!”

| Photography by Liz Banfield (Bella's wedding)

Aimee Jobe Photography (Nick's wedding, last photo)