The Duchess of Cambridge inadvertently caused waves within the fashion world, when she was spotted wearing a white outfit at her brother-in-law’s wedding last year. And although it transpired that she was actually wearing a very pale lemon coat dress, almost certainly at Meghan’s request, it set people to question the whole policy regarding the wearing of white at a wedding.
You And Your Wedding addressed the subject in a recent article, suggesting that the banning of white wedding guest dresses might now be considered as old-fashioned as the groom asking the bride’s father for permission to marry.
Unfortunately, there are currently no hard and fast rules governing the wearing of white to a wedding by anyone other than the bride. So in an attempt to make the subject a little clearer, we’ve put together our suggestions for anyone considering wearing the controversial colour this season.
Is it a traditional wedding?
Traditionalists like to play by the rules, so the bride will almost certainly wear a wedding dress in shades of white, ivory or cream. This is almost certainly the type of wedding in which guests will be expected to conform to certain rules, one of which will be to avoid wearing the same colours as the bride.
Will the bride be wearing something radically different?
Some modern weddings go out of their way to buck tradition. If the bride plans to wear red, purple, or any other non-traditional colour, then it would be perfectly acceptable to wear white yourself. Although as a cautionary note, it’s always worth checking with her in advance, just to make sure.
Splashes of white are perfectly acceptable
If you browse through any selection of wedding guest dresses, you’ll quickly see that many of them include touches of white, whether as a background colour, or as additional elements within a pattern. This is something that no bride will object to, so if white is your favourite colour, you don’t have to avoid it completely.
Some weddings don’t feature a bride
Same-sex marriages mean that sometimes there’s no bride to take into consideration at all. But some same-sex weddings still conform to traditional customs in many ways, so once again it’s well worth checking with the principal players, to make absolutely certain that they are onside with your outfit choices.
Leave a Reply