I’m supposed to go to an outdoor wedding on May 30 and I have no idea what sort of dress to wear to it. It’s at 6:30 in the evening, I think (I don’t have the invitation readily accessible). The wedding is being held at a botanical garden and the reception will be indoors. If you’re familiar with Richmond, it’s at Lewis Ginter. What sort of dress does one wear to an outdoor, evening wedding?
FWIW, I’m 23, 5’10", and relatively slim. I don’t shave, so I’d prefer something with short sleeves so that my dirty-hippy armpits aren’t the subject of conversation.
If you need anymore information to help the fashion clueless, I’ll be happy to provide it. Please, please, please help me though!
I’m hoping to not have to get new shoes. I currently own nice open toe sandal heels in both white and black. I’m not really a dress person, nor do I have a large expendable income, so if I could spend under fifty dollars that would be ideal.
I’m not looking for specific dresses to purchase, but rather what style of dress people wear to weddings. I’ve only been to weddings that I’ve been part of and not had any say-so about what I wear. I’m figuring on doing the purchasing in a brick and mortar store.
I attended a wedding like that about two years ago. All of the women wore variations on the theme of “nice sundress.” Some wore skirts and tops that they layered nice cardigans or very lightweight jackets over (think silk, or knits with light beading, stuff like that). There were wide-brimmed hats that many lady attendees wore for the outdoor ceremony but removed for the indoor reception.
Anything knee-length or longer is good. Light fabrics and light colors work best, especially if you have something you can throw on if you get chilly later (cardigan, jacket, wrap, pashmina, whatever). I think there are some pretty fun and appropriate ones here – again, look for at least knee-length.
I’m a man and know next to nothing about women’s clothing. However, these days you can have a wide range of formality at weddings. (My nephew married last year, and my daughter married the year before, and at both weddings the young women had a pretty wide range of kinds of dress). So I’d suggest talking to someone involved in organising the wedding, e.g., bride, bridesmaid, or other close friend of the bride, and find out how formal or informal it’s going to be.
I’ve just e-mailed the groom, the only person I’ll know at the wedding other than my escort, and asked if it’s formal, semi-formal, or something else. Worse case scenario, I’m hideously underdressed, my friend who knows that I’m a dork still thinks I’m a dork, and a bunch of strangers talk about me behind my back.
I was thinking about a nice sundress. I’m hopefully entering a religious community over Labor Day weekend and I need something nice to wear for that. It seems like a sundress would serve both purposes. I just wanted to make sure that it was appropriate. I really don’t have any idea what people wear to weddings.
ETA:Beadalin and Sigmagirl, thanks for the links. Those gave me a good idea of what sort of things to look for.
Nordstrom’s website has a category you can browse called “Guest of Wedding.” You probably won’t find much in your price range at Nordstrom, but you can browse there to get ideas of styles. You might try consignment shops to get a good deal.
Not yet. Hopefully my friend will respond to my e-mail in a timely manner. I’ll post the answer when I get it.
Knee length or longer.
My black heels are about an inch and a half and somewhat chunky. The heels are comparable to these, but the rest of the shoe is different. There is no platform under the toe, and there’s only a single thicker strap over the toe and a strap around the ankle. They aren’t shiny either.
My white shoes have kitten heels like these shoes. They aren’t thongs though; they also just have a single, thickish strap over the toe area.
A sundress would be perfectly appropriate since this is being held at a botanical garden.
If you’re into a longer length skirt, maxi dresses like this one from Targetare very in style right now. Most of them are sleeveless, but you can always throw a cardigan over it.
Not sure if that’s too short for you, but it’s very cute. I think either a plain pump or a strappy sandal would be appropriate. However, you’d probably be looking at a 2" heel for that dress.
Sleeved dresses are hard to come by this time of year!
At the end of May, you should be OK in a sundress, but it gets cold fast when the sun goes down. Though the reception is indoors, some places are heavily air-conditioned. I’d plan on taking a nice shawl.
One thing you can usually use to determine the formality of the wedding is the invitation. If it has daisies on it, you can wear a skort. If it’s engraved with those little pieces of tissue paper between each piece of card, you might think twice about going bare-legged. I don’t know the bridegroom, but many men are not that clued in to wedding dress codes . . . they just have to rent a tux and show up. Their only choices (usually) are black tie or white tie.
My take is that if it’s at a botanical garden, you’ll want to wear something flowered or pastel. If you aren’t that kind of person, a brighter solid color. When you say you don’t shave, does that include your legs? You specified sleeves. Are you looking for a longer skirt? I’d say 6:30 is just about the dividing point for afternoon/evening. FWIW, my wedding started at 6:30, and I’d say no more than five of my female guests wore long dresses, out of about 55-60.
I found an adorable dress (sorry, sleeveless) that I REALLY want. It doesn’t come in my size. I think I might make a post asking people about having one taken in by a tailor as I have little experience with tailoring. Hmmmm, that’d go in IMHO, right?
A wrap dress like this Diane Von Furstenberg dress is classic and lives in the middle ground between dressy and not too dressy. Obviously that one is a little expensive.
Ditto on that. I have a friend who wore a dressy pant suit to a wedding and looked perfectly appropriate. If I recall, it had satin lapels or somesuch. It was very pretty. I’ve seen the mother of the bride do this as well.
I think you can just shop for your religious event and I’m sure that will be appropriate for the wedding (assuming that it’s not black tie). Every wedding I’ve been to has had at least a few women dressed in ‘Sunday best’ clothing – a floral dress with nicer sandals, dress pants and a jacket, that sort of thing. Khakis would be too informal but if you can go a notch above that then you’ll stay under the radar. Especially if the only person you’ll know is the groom, you’d have to wear jeans or all-white to get strangers talking about you. And even then it’s not a sure thing, most will be gossiping about people they already know.
