Wedding guest attire

[honda1114]

NC as I know my MIL is on here!

BIL is getting married in the summer. A little while away, I know, but I have a household full of teenage girls who are obsessing excitedly about what to wear.

Showed one of the dresses my 21yo DD said she liked for the wedding, and MIL said it was far too dressy, and next to the rest of us (who don't even know what we're wearing yet) she will stand out like a sore thumb.

I didn't really know what to say to that as I thought a wedding was about as dressy as you get!

I have been to a few weddings but my DDs haven't been to any since they were small so they don't have a comparison and I can't say I can remember what girls of that age wore at previous ones Ive been to!

I'll attach pictures of dresses similar to what she liked. She doesn't want anything particularly clingy as she is a bit weight conscious (probably due to comments from MIL)

If you saw a young girl wearing a dress similar to these at a wedding would you think she was too dressed up? And if so, what would you expect someone of that age to be dressed in?

Meant to add this link too:

goddiva.co.uk/collections/wedding-guest-dresses

Given this is now in trending I'm not sure how successful the name change will be in hiding this story from your MIL (if she's a regular MNetter).

Anyway, agree with PP that the dresses look more like bridesmaid dresses, so not appropriate for guests.

If DD searches 'wedding guest dress' on ASOS there are over 3,000 results.

what people are not saying for some reason is that the dresses are totally immodest for a wedding, too showy and will divert attention from the bride.

Because that is misogynistic bs.

The last wedding I went to one of the younger guests was wearing something similar OP. However she looked out of place and in her outfit stuck out like a sore thumb.
The rest of the young female guests were fashionably dressed but she was the only one displaying lots of flesh.

You could get away with those dresses if you were just an evening guest, but I would agree with your MIL that they are too 'eveningy' for the ceremony and breakfast. If they were a print fabric, or even just a lighter colour they would look more day-time-y, but a lighter colour also risks looking like a bridesmaid dress. I suggest your daughters looks at daytime events for ideas, like races or regattas if they are taking celebrity inspiration.

She is 21, not a child, let her wear what she wants, as long as it is not criminally indecent and likely to get her arrested.

Too OTT for a day wedding but dress 2 ok for an evening do. Dress 1 is a bit tarty.

The dresses are a bit OTT, more like evening wear. I'd expect to see a twenty something wearing something like this www.next.co.uk/style/st415675/d65870#d65870

This

@MeinKraft I'd have probably worn that as a twenty something in the early 2000s. If it was a bit shorter anyway. 20 somethings now may feel differently about that.

dd1 age 24 wore this to a wedding recently

I understand what you're saying, but the nuance here is the unwritten rule/social norm about never upstaging the bride on her wedding day.

Wearing a dress that most on this thread have compared to a bridesmaid dress or something you would wear to a black tie event, and objectively speaking, reveals a lot of flesh, is almost guaranteed to do that.

That website is predominantly used for bridesmaid dresses. They will end up looking like bridesmaid wannabes.

Calm your tits. They hardly look like prostitutes!!

@DNBU Because that is misogynistic bs.

No, it's the truth.

That suggestion is absolute ugly. No teenager or woman under 40 would wear that it shapeless and frumpy!

Just for clarification here are some 'prostitute dresses', can anyone spot any similarities ?? 😳

www.etsy.com/uk/market/prostitute_dress

That suggestion is absolute ugly. No teenager or woman under 40 would wear that it shapeless and frumpy!

I don't think that's quite fair, the shape is ok. The cut out back couldn't be worn by anyone needing a bra though and the big tie on the back is just annoying. Ghost do some lovely 1930s style satin dresses though.

No teenager would wear that dress or a bolero for that matter. Do people even still wear those??

It’s not a nuance though, the social expectation is misogynistic.

The assumption that the bride would/should feel threatened by other women, the shaming of other women for not understanding or deliberately flouting that social rule (that’s very specific here to the idea of a ‘traditional’ British wedding - other types of wedding have different unwritten social rules of decency or etiquette).

One of the PP in this thread likened the dresses to something a prostitute would wear! What is that?!

I agree with others, I don't think they're right for a wedding. BUT having seen what young women wear, I think anything goes (as long as you can't see underwear). I've been to funerals where some of the young women looked like they were heading off to a night club or the beach.

I’m 35 I’ve never heard of a bolero until the fashionable gods descended onto this thread.

A guest showed up wearing a dress I wouldn’t have chosen personally at my daughters wedding. It was an electric blue, off the shoulder, floor length satin number sort of fitted to knee level then flared out fish tail style. No one uttered a word, if anyone had in my presence they’d have got ‘The look that turns milk sour’ from me.

Cannot imagine anyone younger than late twenties plus in Hobbs!

I’m 43 and have never brought anything from Hobbs! Some of those ‘alternatives’ are awful.