What Should A Guest Not Wear To A Wedding?

However informal you dress normally, as a wedding guest, the right attire is important. 

As we dress more and more informally for relaxation and enjoyment, it's still a tradition to dress fairly formally when attending a friend or family wedding. 

Even women who aren't usually seen in a dress or jacket might dust off a smart dress for this special occasion.

So, unless you want to discover you've been named as wearing the worst wedding day outfit, here's a few tips to follow:-

Colours NOT to wear - one big "no" in terms of what you choose to wear is that no-one should be wearing the same color as the bride.  Hence wearing white (or cream) is pretty much out, however much you may love your pretty little white dress, etiquette says NO, please don't wear it and try and outshine the bride.

Clothes NOT to wear - if you're someone who's glued into her jeans 365 days of the year, it's time to prise yourself out of them and find something else to wear.   Also, you don't want to wear a show-stopping outfit (see image above) that detracts attention from the happy couple.

To reveal or not to reveal - a wedding day is not the occasion to wear your revealing low cut top or your skirt slit right up the side.  This is a day for modesty and allowing the bride and groom to take their rightful place as centre of attention.

Hats or fascinators - some weddings it's only close family that wears hats, though it's currently quite fashionable to wear a simple fascinator in your hair.

Accessories - it's fine to wear some jewellery, take a small clutch or handbag to hold all the necessaries of the day such as confetti, tissues, camera, phone, etc

The only real exceptions to this are when it's a beach wedding, when many of the normal rules are relaxed due to the more informal setting.

If you're in any doubt about what's appropriate to wear, simply get in touch with the bride or groom (whichever invited you) and ask!

Mens Wedding Outfit etiquette

For gents, a smart (ironed) shirt, tie and a pair of smart trousers, teamed with shoes (no sneakers, however cool), is usually fine.  Pretty straight forward by comparison!