What Should Guests Wear to a Wedding | What Being an Austin Wedding Planner Intern Taught Me
/When I worked my first wedding as an intern for Something To Celebrate, so many questions about the wedding process flew through my head so I thought I would share some advice I learned to help make planning a wedding easier and more enjoyable.. After all, this is about YOU! ;)
One question I encountered frequently in particular was how do guests know what to wear to a wedding? Is the attire listed on the invitation or do guests just assume the dress for the wedding? After doing a little research, I found this “Rule of Thumb” (brought to you by author Emily Post in her book Emily Post’s Etiquette):
Formal Ceremonies: The ceremony usually takes place in a house of worship or a large home or garden. The bride and her attendants wear long gowns in formal fabrics. The groom and his attendants wear cutaways or tailcoats. White tie is the most formal attire.
Semiformal Ceremonies: The ceremony can take place at a house of worship, chapel, civic site for civil ceremonies, hotel, club, home, or garden. The bride and her attendants usually wear long, ankle-length, or midcalf-length gowns in simpler fabrics than for formal wedding gowns. For daytime, the groom and his attendants wear gray or black strollers with striped trousers or formal suits; for an evening wedding, dinner jackets with black trousers or formal suits.
Informal Ceremonies: The ceremony can be held at a house of worship, chapel, rectory, civic site, home, or garden. The bride and her attendants usually wear simple floor-length gowns or ankle-length, midcalf-length, or street-length dresses. The groom and attendants wear suits or sport jackets and slacks.
So if the invitation does not specify dress, guests generally decide what to wear based on the time of day and where the wedding will take place! These “old-fashioned” concepts are still used today though they are more lenient. A bride may choose to make her wedding as formal or informal as she would like no matter when or where her wedding takes place. Like I said, after all…this is your day!!
Hope these helped!
~Rebecca