Monday, July 20, 2009

V: Guest Attire

Who doesn't hate showing up under- or over-dressed to a party? In that respect, I guess I appreciate the 'Black tie preferred' or 'Pack your bathing suit' requests (though I'd hate to burden someone to run out and rent a tux just to attend a party in my honor).
 

But this is a new one. A wedding featured in Brooklyn Bride today asked guest to specifically wear white (see above).

I can't decided whether this is really cute, fun and makes picking out an outfit easy; or if this results in an undue burden on guests.

Personally, I'm not a fan of folks wearing black to weddings. What are you going to, a funeral? Since we're having a fun, casual wedding, would it be wrong to add "Skip the black and don something vibrant" to the info card of the invite? Any suggestions for a cute way to word this? 

4 comments:

  1. If you're playing off the old tradition that bridesmaids are supposed to dress in a manner similar to the bride in order to confuse anyone who might want to kidnap said bride, then requesting all guests to don white is a stroke of genius!

    I think that you are within your rights to encourage people to dress in vibrant colors, and you do want to do it in such a way that it doesn't really seem as if you are requesting "No black, please." Consider including something along the lines of:

    "As we ask you to join us on our day of vibrant joy, we ask that all guests reflect this celebration by wearing bright and festive attire."

    With something like the this (but written by you and far less corny), it sounds like you're encouraging your guests to be joyful instead of prohibiting something. Even this small thing helps set the tone of your wedding for the guests, which, ultimately, sets the tone of the day for you.

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  2. I agree with Flawed Events above- sounds fun! Of course, I would be super excited to be asked to wear vibrant attire. Your wedding is small enough for this not to be a ridiculous request.

    We actually did not indicate dress code on our invitation- only on our website. I think that we'll have a lot of variety!

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  3. We also include attire suggestions on our website. Here's the blurb:

    "Dress is less formal than black tie, but more formal than jeans. It would be appropriate for men to wear shirts and ties (and jackets, if you wish) and ladies to wear sun dresses.

    Please choose dress shoes that you'll be comfortable wearing in a garden on the banks of the Susquehanna River. Emily suggests flats or wedge heels for the ladies."

    While it doesn't specify "no black," I think it indicates that this will be a fun and festive wedding. And it lets ladies know that they may have to walk down a dirt path to get to our beautiful and secluded ceremony spot!

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  4. Also, I had a friend who told guests to come in "garden party attire." It worked well- people came in hats, cute dresses, etc.!

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