Guest Post: How to Dress at a Wedding Reception

The big day is approaching and your best friend or sibling is getting ready to walk the aisle and make the biggest commitment of his/her life. Time for you to get ready to dress for the reception. Unlike the focused formality of the wedding ceremony itself, during which most people’s eyes will be fixed solely on the bride and groom, the wedding reception is the time in which all the attendees are on display. In other words, you have to dress nice for the wedding, or risk permanent documentation of your poor style choices.

The theme of the day is love – be respectful

Here are some tips for how to make sure you look good (and appropriate) before the big ceremony:

Go with conformity—If you know any of the other attendees, ask them beforehand what they’re wearing. Uniformity is a good thing when it comes to weddings. Make friends of the groom should wear standard men’s dress shirts; female friends of the bride should try and remain neutral, so not to compete with the bride. Imagine if everyone decided to wear their most garish, colorful outfit. The reception would look like a circus…and unless that’s the theme, it’s not going to work out for the pictures…

No upstaging the bride, the groom or the bridesmaids…wait your turn…

Err on the side of overdressing—Most likely, you’re going to want a tuxedo if you’re a man, or a statement dress if you’re a women. Check out the invitation to gauge how formal you need to be. But it’s better to be safe than sorry. Unless the invitation specifically requests casual dress, err on the side of caution and dress in your finest.

Guys, keep it tailored and streamlined

Avoid flashy patterns or bright colors—You want to dress nicely, but not abrasively. You don’t want to stand out at a wedding reception. This day is not about you, and if you wear flashy colors you’ll be risking looking like you’re desperate for attention. Go with simple, light colors and patterns that aren’t distracting.

A little bit of personality is alright – not too much though…

Don’t outshine the bride or groom—This is usually more important for the females. Make sure not to look like you’re trying to look better than the bride. This means steering clear of flowing, white gowns or anything too ‘bridal’. Few things could look worse at a wedding ceremony than someone appearing to upstage the lady in white.

These are just a few tips for decorum and protocol when it comes to dressing for a wedding reception. The key is tasteful formality  - don’t stand out too much and stay in line with the rest of the wedding guests. This is not to say you have all turn up in a uniform; individuality and personal expression is allowed of course, but just be sympathetic to the most important people of the day – the bride and groom.

Guest Post from Amanda Green

Pics from theveil.ie, pinterest.com and fffound.com