Wedding Attire Etiquette

[shelbel]

Hello lovely people!!

I have a question, we're going to a wedding in 2 months time. It will be winter so cold and wet. And i need to start thinking about what the heck im going to wear! I have a few questions;

1) Is it ok to wear solid black to a wedding??
2) Are floral prints strictly for summer weddings?
3) Its not ok to wear the same colour as her bridal party, right? I know white is a MAJOR no no!
4) what sort of prints are off limits??

The dress code is formal, so what exactly does that mean?? Dress below the knee? Floor length?? I was thinking of a nice dressy maxi dress or something. I know its ages away but i need to think about it now because dress shopping for special occassions is a nightmare for me, so i need to know the rules before i go!

Any imput would be very helpful!

Plus brides, was there something someone wore to your wedding that offended you??

[Butterfly_Dawn]

These days dress etiquette seems much more permissive. Formal wear I would imagine entails a nice dress, either evening gown full length type thing but not over the top, or a cocktail style (I'd go the cocktail style cause full length is very formal). Depends on your friend too. If it were me, what guests wore wouldn't bother me in the least, black, white, short, long, floral, whatever (and most of my wedding guests cottoned on to that and wore what they felt necessary - dad and some of my uncles wore jeans even). But some people are more sticklers for these things, so go with your gut on what you think she'd like.

IMHO a good medium is a cocktail style dress in a colour that suits you and if you're worried about it stay away from black and white! Try shops that cater for formals etc.

[ali76]

Personally, I think the only thing a girl can't wear to a wedding is white - thats strictly for the bride if she chooses!

Most of my formal clothes are black so I'm always wearing black to weddings!

Wear what ever makes you feel good! Long, short, black, floral...anything goes!

Just make sure you take pics to show us all

[Booties]

As a bride from 2yrs ago, i dont remember anything anyone wore but what i wore and my gals wore i was too busy being happy and smiling for pictures etc to even notice peoples clothes :p

i am sure u will do fine

[shelbel]

Thank you!

They're a pretty laid back couple so i think a nice cocktail style dress would be fine. I'll stay away from white! And to be on the safe side i'll keep away from her girls colours, well in block colours anyway. I'll try to steer away from black, although its my fave clothing colour so i'll struggle!

Thanks for your input,
Signed, the stress head!!!

[EvilWombatQueen]

I actually think the safest colour to wear is black! At the last few weddings I've been to the bride wasn't wearing white. Two of them wore pink, the other light blue. Imagine if I'd gone with my first instinct and bought that gorgeous pink gown I'd had my eye on initially! Most guests now wear black (or maybe that's just Melbourne fashion). And if you don't want to wear the same colour as the bridal party black is usually a good option. Of course if you're lucky and you're let in on what colours the bride and bridal party will be wearing you can easily choose something else. If you're not game enough to wear black then a dark colour like burgundy or dark green would be fine and in most cases you won't risk being in the same colour as the bride.

Formal means evening-wear. White tie sort of thing. Think Oscars or other red-carpet events. The most appropriate thing to wear would be a nice satin dress, preferably floor length. Not sure if florals would necessarily fit this category, I'd call a floral dress more semi-formal.

Of course I'll guarantee that if you go out of your way to find a gorgeous ball-gown most of the other wedding guests will just be wearing skimpy race-wear! That's what's always happened to me when the dress code is formal. Of course 'semi-formal' is always a big laugh to see how broadly people can define it. Everything from ball-gowns to jeans at the weddings I've been to!

Good luck! And make sure you post photos!