I got an email from Lover.ly inviting me to weigh in on one of fashion’s biggest debates: is it O.K to wear white to a wedding?
To begin, I should point out that I’m not the kind of lass to adhere to fashion rules. For the most part, I find fashion guidelines a bit too hoity-toity for my liking. Most of them seem to have sprung into being around the same time that our society decided that ‘thinner is better’ and are centered around making you look as small as possible. Which is kind of pointless if you aren’t small. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with being bigger, or smaller in some areas and bigger in others. All bodies are different so what’s the point of trying to camouflage ourselves into looking like carbon copies of one another? I prefer the motto of: wear what makes you happy.
That being said, I’m kind of old fashioned about the whole “wearing white to a wedding” issue.
I wouldn’t wear white to a wedding. I simply don’t think it’s appropriate. If anyone’s going to wear white, it will be the bride. The bride’s wedding day is HER DAY and for that day, white is HER COLOUR. If she chooses to wear white, then I think she should be the only one. In a weird way, I think it’s kind of rude to wear white to a wedding if you aren’t the bride. It’s like stepping outside the boundaries of ‘guest’ and beginning to encroach on the bride’s sartorial territory.
The only time I would consider wearing white to a wedding is if I knew for sure that the bride wouldn’t be wearing white. If the wedding is more informal and you knew that the bride wasn’t planning on wearing a white dress, then I think it would be O.K to relax the rules and wear white if you choose.
So what would I wear to a wedding if not a white dress? Well, weddings are very exciting for me because they’re an opportunity to pull out all the stops and get dressed up to the eyeballs. I have a lovely collection of dresses that are too fancy or special for everyday wear, and a wedding is a great excuse to grab one of these beauties out of the cupboard.
The last time I went to a wedding, I wore this vintage cheongsam. I added patent leather shoes that were comfortable enough to dance in and funky textured hose. The time before that, I wore an emerald-green silk dress and a hat with a little veil on it. I feel that it’s perfectly O.K to get as dressed up as you like for a wedding, as long as you don’t wear white.
What do you think? Should you wear white to a wedding?
Nessbow 
I agree, don’t wear white if you’re not the bride.
Yep. There are so many other colours to choose from. 🙂
Having recently gotten married, to be honest I’m not even sure I would have noticed if someone else was wearing white on the day… I was too busy being excited and emotional about marrying my husband! Even if someone had, I would have still been the only one looking like the bride in the room… unless someone else had also decided to wear a floor length cream lace dress with a train!!! But I agree, it’s kind of a taboo.
That’s true, and it’s awesome that you wouldn’t have let it spoil your day if there was another guest in white at your wedding. I know that some brides would pitch a fit if someone showed up in white on their special day.
I suppose you’re right that even if a guest wore white, it’s unlikely that they’d look like a bride. I still think it’s a no-no though.
I quite agree. Last year at our weeding, the people wear white….because i´m, wearing a darkred weddingdress 🙂
That’s awesome! What colour was your dress? Even though I’m pretty traditional I do love to see a bride breaking out of the box and wearing something that expresses her style if white isn’t her thing.
YES! YES! YES! No white at weddings please. You should have put the gifs of Kelly in white at Phyllis’ wedding here LOL. Like you this is really the only fashion rule I adhere too.
Haha! I’d completely forgotten about Kelly wearing white to Phyllis’ wedding.
I had a feeling you and I would see eye-to-eye on this.