Wedding guest dress etiquette

The dress is gorgeous, wear it . When my son got married , mother of bride sent a pic of her dress 👗, disappointed as it was the colour I would have chosen . I sweated buckets over trying to find something completely different and eventually settled for the best of a bad job . On the day she arrived wearing a completely different style and colour . Not a word to me , I was silently fuming . Hubbies said well you should have just worn what you wanted to in the first place
Wear the dress and never mind other people

You look lovely in it. Go for it!

You could wear a pashmina type wrap with it in a blue that picks up the colour in your dress? Or a threequarter length lightweight coat/cardigan? I wore a gauzy long cardigan over a dress once because of undertain weather and several people admired it.
And I wouldn't bother with a hat, I always used to wear them at weddings but hardly anybody does now, other than the occasional bride's mother.

It’s lovely. Definitely wear it. Why ever not?

my niece got married last Autumn and asked all the ladies to wear long. I did not want to upset her so bought a hobbs dress costing a small fortune, will never wear it again. silly me most of the ladies ignored her and wore short so much more sensible wish I had had the courage to buy something that I could re-wear.

You look lovely, the dress really suits you, perhaps if you want to be slightly more formal add a jacket, short sleeve as it will be summer, then you will have a lovely outfit for the reception and I presume evening function.
I did this at my nieces wedding, I wore an expensive dress I had bought for a formal occasion, patterned blue, wore a jacket I’d had years and treated myself to a fancy hat as my sister didn’t want to be the only person wearing one, it was alright she wasn’t.
I dont understand these rules about what to wear, colours etc apart from white. 60 years ago my dad wore the same suit and my mother simply wore her best dress and had a new hat for the weddings of myself and my three sisters. Isn’t the actual Marriage Ceremony the important part of the day, not a fashion parade, leave that to Ascot.

Wear it. You look lovely and clearly have to figure for it !

"the"

You have plenty of time if it’s next year do maybe ask other guests what they will be wearing. The red dress is lovely. You are very organised. My son’s wedding is the weekend after next. I have bought a bright, cheerful dress but am now panicking after reading this. No time to get another one so fingers crossed I don’t spoil all the photos!

Looks perfect. I would check if the bridesmaids are not in cerise, gold or similar, and then stand away from them in photos.

OP, there’s nothing wrong with that dress! It’s not too short, not too low in the neckline and certainly isn’t white……what’s not to like about it.
You’ve worn it before so obviously feel comfortable in it. Unless the bride has specified a colour scheme and there's risk of it clashing then go for it. You’ll look fabulous!

Stuff 'em! Why look and be something you're not? Unless the Happy Couple would like to pay for it........?

I don't own a dress. I don't own a skirt. My footwear goes from flip-flops to Doc Martens boots. My nephew is flying over from America at the end of October with a plane full of friends, relatives, photographer, celebrant, and wedding planner. He will already have got married in an office in the US, and is coming over to celebrate that. They've hired out a castle in the a**e end of nowhere and the dress code is US formal. Apparently those not dressed appropriately will be turned away. I don't do formal!!
But you look amazing in that dress - beautiful figure and legs to die for! Chin up, shoulders back, and be the Queen that you are! Xxxx

You look amazing- wear it !!

It's gorgeous and you look lovely! If you think you might fret on the day, why not ask just to make sure there isn't a colour scheme? Otherwise go for it and be proud of yourself. I wouldn't wear the fascinator- they are very dated - not many women even wear hats these days to weddings. However, same applies- if you like it, wear it!

I'm very interested in hearing from seapebble and a couple of others that fascinators are " very dated". How do you know that? They are still very much available at all price points &, at DD's wedding a couple of weeks ago, they were very much in evidence - indeed, I wore one with a beautiful, bright flowery dress. The bride just stipulated she'd like the ladies to wear summer frocks and OP's red dress would fit the bill beautifully, it looks gorgeous!

M0nica

I didn't know there was an etiquette for what you wear at a wedding. I usually just put on my best bib and tucker and perhaps new shoes or a handbag.

Even for my son's wedding after looking for something new and finding nothing I liked, I wore a silk suit I had bought a few years previously and worn twice. I put some braid on the jacket, bought new shoes and a top.

Same here for my son’s wedding. I found a lovely woman who made me a beautiful full length silk skirt which matched the lovely jacket I’d bought. I just couldn’t find the right skirt in the shops.

I then found a shop who coloured my satin shoes and bag to match my outfit. I was delighted with the outcome.. It was a long time ago but I’ve still got it all but I can no longer get into the skirt as I had a much smaller waist then. I’ve still got the hat too. I should give it away really but can’t.

OP I should wear your lovely red dress but maybe wear a short jacket over.

Seapebble

It's gorgeous and you look lovely! If you think you might fret on the day, why not ask just to make sure there isn't a colour scheme? Otherwise go for it and be proud of yourself. I wouldn't wear the fascinator- they are very dated - not many women even wear hats these days to weddings. However, same applies- if you like it, wear it!

It depends what part of the country one is in to a certain extent.

Back in south-west England literally decades ago the thought didnt cross my mind to wear a hat and, as said, my dress I wore was a bit smarter than normal.

Cue for decades later and going shopping with mother of the groom here in West Wales (she's also from a south-west England city) and she asked around about the best place here to buy an outfit for her sons wedding and got a general recommendation to a particular one-off clothes shop. So off we both went to it and with similar specifications in mind for what she should buy to be mother-of-groom, walked in and virtually put our sunglasses on and realised there would be nothing we would want for her. That's when we realised that wedding clothes here don't seem to be "smart, understated" we were both picturing - they were bright colours, sequins, very glitzy compared to what we both had in mind.

Cue for there was loads of hats there and we could see that seems to be the norm here - so we did pick out one of the plainer hats in a subsequent visit there - after she'd had to buy the sort of dress we were picturing from elsewhere - so it was smart and elegant...but plain enough and not "hitting us both in the eyes".

So yep...the part of the country one is in does seem to influence the way people dress somewhat - so it may be a "hats area" there - where I wouldnt even think of it personally.

Where what you want, I think the only don't that you should obey is 'don't wear white if the bride is in white'.

I'm just very impressed that you are confident a dress that fits now will still fit in 12 months!

Do wedding invitations really come with instructions about what guests should wear? Think I would decline the invitation if I received one like that.

missdeke

Where what you want, I think the only don't that you should obey is 'don't wear white if the bride is in white'.

I'd expand that out to "don't wear white - especially if the bride isn't wearing it".

There aren't that many people that will do that - and I was certainly shocked recently when I saw wedding photos out on the Net of the wedding of one of my erstwhile nephews and there was my erstwhile sister-in-law (who is not that different in age to myself at that) wearing a dress that was short, a bit "flouncy" and low-necked. Rather proved the point as to what is not acceptable dress...as my first thought (before I recognised her) was "I can see who is the bride at that wedding - but who is that second bride?"

I remember someone I worked with having a dress code (requested, not compulsory) for his wedding, at his bride's insistence. I wasn't invited but saw the photos.

eddiecat78

I'm just very impressed that you are confident a dress that fits now will still fit in 12 months!

😂

Getting the memo is just a turn of phrase. No dress rules have been issued as far as I can see.