What to Wear & Not to Wear to a Wedding When You Don’t Know the Dress Code

Wedding’s can be so much fun but showing up to a wedding and feeling under or over dressed is never fun. I’m writing this post to give you a guide on all the things you need to know when dressing for a wedding. 

Etiquette for Dressing for a Wedding 

NEVER WEAR WHITE 

This one is pretty universally known, but still I had to include it just in case it wasn’t already obvious. I try to keep this rule to also my shoes and will instead opt for tan shoes over white. This also includes dresses that are white with a pattern. I’ll always skip out on any sort dress that is predominantly white. 

SKIP THE RED DRESS 

This is a rule I only heard of recently and apparently wearing red to a wedding is frowned upon. In some instances it can indicate that you slept with the groom so it’s best to bode on the side of caution and skip any sort of red dresses just in case this is a well known trend! 

AIM TO NOT MATCH THE BRIDAL PARTY 

This can’t always be avoided if you don’t know the wedding colors but I always try to avoid dresses in the same color region as the bridesmaids. I’ll typically text another person in the wedding a few weeks before to get an idea for what color the bridesmaid dresses are and avoid wearing that color. This is also especially important to me in weddings that Pierce is in but I am not as I’ll be sitting with the entire wedding party and don’t want any confusion! 

STEER CLEAR OF ANYTHING TOO CASUAL 

I’ll always skip the mini dress for a wedding and instead aim for a dress that is just above knee length or longer. I typically wear a midi dress just to be safe because a midi dress can easily be dressed up or down depending and you’ll never feel under or over dressed. When I don’t know the dress code I always try to go a little bit on the dressier side just to make sure I’m never too casual.