There is nothing wrong with wearing red to a wedding

[LadyMaid]

Inspired by another thread.

Why do people feel red shouldn't be worn to a wedding? As a guest.

As a bride, with Indian heritage, I wore red at my wedding, and there were countless guests wearing red, and white, floor length gowns.

I didn't give it a second thought.

I have attended a lot of weddings over the years where red and white have both been worn.

I mean the thread in question.

@CaptainMyCaptain

I think, in the post in question, it was the fact that MiL wore red to husband's wedding to ex (OK) and black to the poster's (not OK). I haven't read the whole thread so this might already have been mentioned.

It wasn't, the poster came back and confirmed it was the red that was offensive and provided links to some articles claiming it was frowned upon. Very few people agreed!

It's completely fine. Much like green, it's a superstition that's nonsense. White makes sense if the bride is a. Wearing white and b. Wants to stand out in photos (though to be fair they are usually in the middle which achieves that). I couldn't have cared what anyone wore to either of my two weddings. But i guess some people have fallen for the wedding industry hype and think it is something other than a fairly common life event.

I've worn red to weddings, especially in the winter. I've worn florals with a white background.

I have no great love of black and my black dresses are for work/ funerals so wouldn't "taint" a wedding with them. I'm not offended or reading into others wearing black though.

I'd only be cautious with red for an Asian wedding where that's the bridal colour.
As I understand it, traditionally in India red is for married women? (Which I am so eligible to wear it?) In general while travelling through India, older widowed women tended to wear muted browns. The importance of tradition varies from place to place anyway.

I wanted simple white/ivory and silver but dh insisted on red cravats so that is what we had. Many guests had red outfits and we had red roses in with other white flowers. It was raining cats and dogs after we got our outside pictures done which is seen as good luck.
All black or all white are for me.

Never heard this before!

I’ve worn red to weddings before - it’s a colour that suits me as I have olive skin/ dark hair etc. Look really shit in pastels!

Mind you I’ve also worn navy which might be too close to black for some people

I think the point is that it’s polite for the guests to make sure that the bride looks like the most eye-catching person there.

Indian weddings are very colourful and it’s pretty easy to spot the bride! I’m not sure it’s relevant to compare them to a traditional English white wedding though.

So, a subtle classy red = fine, but a tight scarlet dress that screams “look at me” is disrespectful to the bride.

I've just checked the full group photo from wedding (10.5 years ago) as I don't remember at all what anyone other than my mum wore. 100 guests. Red used by:
My mum in cream dress with red flowers and a red jacket
Her best friend in similar dress with big red scarf
Her other friend in pinky-red dress
Another of my friends in pinky-red
Another couple from side where she wore a black dress with red hair flower and her husband is in a dark suit with a red shirt
My aunt in black dress with various red accessories
A toddler in a red pinafore dress

They all look fab. I can't believe anyone gives a crap about what colours anyone else wears to their wedding. It's so weird.

I’ll continue to wear red or black dresses to weddings, surely as long as no one is wearing white or one that resembles a wedding gown then any colour is fine?

Essexgirlupnorth my grandma didn’t like red flowers at weddings - blood and bandages she called it. I think it was an old superstition bad luck.

I wore red as a bride. I also wore red to my brothers wedding. Never realised it was a bad thing!?

@beinggreen

I thought the connotation of wearing red to a wedding was that you had slept with the groom.

Not that I really buy into wedding traditions anyway, other than not upstaging the bride and not wearing the same colour as her and/or not wearing white.

Gosh, then I've clearly put it about more than I was aware of!

The importance of tradition varies from place to place anyway.

I think that’s the key. I’ve worn red to weddings where I know the couple don’t give a toss about old fashioned superstitions, and possibly didn’t even know them. I was brought up from 7 by my grandparents so know a lot of daft old things.

I wouldn’t have dreamed of wearing red, black, or green when DH’s Granny got married because she was 87 and very vocal about superstitions and the likes.

I thought the connotation of wearing red to a wedding was that you had slept with the groom.

Oh my really? Well I wore red to my brothers wedding and erm no most definitely does NOT apply!!

It wasn't, the poster came back and confirmed it was the red that was offensive and provided links to some articles claiming it was frowned upon. Very few people agreed!
OK. I can't see anything wrong with it.

I have never heard of this. No white certainly, but red???

@DappledThings

In a traditional christian style wedding where the bride typically wears white, it's seen as inappropriate as a very secual colour when attention shouldn't be diverted from the bride I come from a very Christian family with clergy going back generations. Have always attended church and had the most traditional of weddings. My mother is a massive stickler for all kinds of minor points of etiquette that bother nobody else and yet I know nobody who has ever suggested red to a wedding is wrong. My own mother wore a red and creak dress and a red jacket.

Never heard of this bollocks till today.

Every church community is different but I'll amend my statement to "/traditional western style weddings generally speaking" if its offended you.

A friend of mine got married a few years ago and her SIL wore red, she said it's all she sees when she looks at her wedding photos.

I didn't realise it was a thing. Ever since she said that though I've made a conscious effort to not wear red to weddings.

Every church community is different but I'll amend my statement to "/traditional western style weddings generally speaking" if its offended you.
Not offended in the least, just disagree with you that it is widely or traditionally a thing not to wear red to a wedding

Well if two Everton supporters or two Spurs fans were getting married it might provoke comment, but otherwise I cannot think of any reason why not.

The only colour I wouldn´t wear is white. I have worn a black dress, combined with turquoise and fucsia accessories. I haven´t worn red, although I have rusty orange. I think it is all daft.

@LadyMaid

Inspired by another thread.

Why do people feel red shouldn't be worn to a wedding? As a guest.

As a bride, with Indian heritage, I wore red at my wedding, and there were countless guests wearing red, and white, floor length gowns.

I didn't give it a second thought.

I have attended a lot of weddings over the years where red and white have both been worn.

As I pointed out in the other thread, I’m pretty sure this is a White British wedding thing (if at all), because it’s definitely not a thing at Black weddings.

I was told by my grandmother that red was traditionally the colour of clothes for the groom's mistress.

Also green shouldn't be worn at a wedding as its bad luck. This was imparted with no explanation.

Black should only be worn at weddings if you have lost someone recently or are a widow. Or it will look like you think the wedding is a sad occasion.

Obviously all of this is nonsense, but its nonsense that matters to some people so best avoided if you think some of the older family would be upset.