Q: I’m having a hard time finding a dress that doesn’t show lots of skin for my daughter’s wedding. Any suggestions?

A: First, remember you have several places to look. There are the evening wear and mother-of-the-bride sections of a store, of course, but you should browse the designer and ready-to-wear racks, too. Today, labels are increasingly offering styles that work just as well on a mature woman as on a younger one, with options to cover whatever area of your body that you prefer to keep under wraps.

For more affordable choices, check out the MOB looks from Bhldn (bhldn.com) and Tadashi Shoji (tadashishoji.com), with prices starting around $300. Still can’t find a frock you fancy? “Separates are unexpectedly elegant,” says Carrie Goldberg, associate fashion editor at Martha Stewart Weddings, who suggests pairing a ballgown skirt with a sleek silk button-down or a slim skirt with an embellished blouson top. And if you do fall for something more revealing, you can always add coverage, Goldberg says: “I love the cashmere travel wraps from White + Warren, which come in more than 14 beautiful colors (whiteandwarren.com), as well as designer Katie Fong’s exquisite jackets (katiefong.com).” And don’t forget your finishing touches — for those, Carrie recommends halsbrook.com, a shopping site with tons of great age-appropriate accessories.

Q: We’d like to include my fiancé’s only cousin in our wedding, but he’s 21, significantly younger than any other attendant. Can we ask him to be the ring bearer, or is that too immature?

A: If he can vote, join the military and attend a Las Vegas bachelor party, then a guy is way beyond the age range for this task, which etiquette states should be for someone between 3 and 7 years old. And this is one time that we would advise playing by the rules! Plus, he might even be offended if you ask him to perform a duty usually left to the toddler set. “Instead, invite the cousin to be a groomsman,” suggests Martha Stewart Weddings managing editor Lindsay Brown. He wouldn’t be the first college-age attendant in the world, by any means. Or you could have him to do a reading or act as an usher.

Q: My daughter’s ceremony is in the morning, and she wants to wear a strapless dress. Is that appropriate?

A: It’s actually the shape of the skirt, not the neckline, that determines whether a dress works for a morning service. “Think of it this way,” Goldberg says. “Which would be more out of place during a daytime picnic: a simple strapless sundress or a voluminous ballgown?” By that reasoning, strapless is fine for a daytime wedding if it’s a minimalist sheath or a modified A-line. Another favorite silhouette for an early ceremony? A tea-length or slightly shorter hemline. “Those cuts make for a great, 1950s-inspired look,” Goldberg says. Along with cut, consider the fabric. “Something soft and easy, like lace or silk tulle, feels right during daylight,” she says. Stiffer materials, such as satin and taffeta, would be too formal.

Q: I want to have a string quartet perform during our ceremony, but I would also like them to play at the reception dinner. Is that OK? Or is it better to have different music and new musicians?

A: Not only is it OK, but booking the same musicians for various parts of the day can be a smart money saver. In your case, assuming you want strings for both your ceremony and your dinner (which would be lovely), you shouldn’t have any trouble securing a group to play for an extra hour or two postvows. But if you did want to switch up the day’s sounds, a savvy way to do that would be to hire multiinstrumentalists who can play your wedding from start to finish, says Becky Mickel, an editorial assistant at Martha Stewart Weddings. “The same person might play the flute for the service, then shift to piano for the cocktail hour,” she explains. Postdinner, if you fancied a radical change, such as a DJ or a band for dancing, “Hire all the groups from a single music agency,” Mickel says. “It’s less of a headache that way, since it streamlines contracts, payments and coordination among the musicians.”