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Original poster

Wedding guests wearing long dresses - yay or nay?

44 replies

toffeecrisp1980 · 06/03/2015 21:43

What's your view on wedding guests wearing long dresses?

I have two gorgeous long dresses which I have never had the chance to wear. One is lilac and one red. They are both silky type fabric with lace sleeves.

I have two weddings coming up and was wondering whether it would be ok to wear these dresses?

One is this dress (not in ivory though!)

www.ghost.co.uk/taya-dress-ivory-dp30ca-m10

OP posts:

Original poster

toffeecrisp1980 · 06/03/2015 22:16

I should add, one of the weddings will be super posh, the other will be normal but very nice, at a very nice venue etc.

OP posts:

Nocturne123 · 06/03/2015 22:25

Gorgeous dress! Is there anyway you can find out what colour the bridesmaids are wearing ? I wore a red maxi to a wedding and so did all the bridesmaids . I was embarrassed but I doubt anyone else really noticed or cared!

Other than that I don't see a problem at all.

ClassicTron · 06/03/2015 22:25

Long is Ok in the context of flowy summer maxi dress or evening dress for a super posh evening do, but that one is far to bridal. Even not in ivory, it will look like you think you're a bridesmaid at least.

I can see why you want an opportunity to wear it though.

specialsubject · 06/03/2015 22:26

why not? Always looks good to make an effort.

I suppose to be super-paranoid you could check on bridesmaid colours, but you have a choice of dresses so one will work.

NK5BM3 · 06/03/2015 22:31

Very nice. I wore a ghost dress to a posh wedding at the ritz... And it's the dress I wear when I have black tie events. Roughly once a year where the men wear black tie.

AnnieMoor · 06/03/2015 22:35

It's lovely but I think I'd be wary of wearing it to a wedding.

I went to one last month and 2 guests, a teenager & her mother, wore full length dresses. Several people have tutted over it since, likening them to bridesmaids' dresses.

In America, however, it would be the norm!

BackforGood · 06/03/2015 22:59

It is a lovely dress, but I wouldn't wear it to a wedding, no. It's an evening dress - different occasion altogether.

LovelyBranches · 06/03/2015 23:33

Long dresses are lovely at a wedding, very smart.

That long dress, as gorgeous as it is, no. It's too bridal

Original poster

toffeecrisp1980 · 07/03/2015 08:30

I have checked and bridesmaids are wearing completely different colours.

Not sure what people mean by it'll look like I think I am a bridesmaid. Why would someone want to pretend to be a bridesmaid?!

OP posts:

CharlieSierra · 07/03/2015 08:44

It's an evening dress, so suitable for a black tie do - not a formal daytime event like a wedding. Usually only the bridal party wear long gowns at UK weddings, unless it's a summer maxi dress (a bit casual, depends on the wedding).

MaybeDoctor · 07/03/2015 09:05

No, unless it is a black tie do with an evening function.

GlitzAndGigglesx · 07/03/2015 09:09

At a wedding I went to a woman wore a low cut red maxi dress and all eyes were on her, not the bride. I'd be more careful about colour than style. The link you posted is lovely though and suitable for a wedding

dotsanddashes · 07/03/2015 09:15

No-one would deliberately pretend to be a bridesmaid, but there are certain styles of dresses bridesmaids wear at formal traditional weddings, in terms of style, fabrics etc, and that dress is exactly it. I might think you were a bridesmaid at one of your friends weddings and you'd got to keep the dress and now you were re-using it.

I also don't think its suitable for a church somehow, too dressy.

Unless its a very formal evening do in a manor house or such like, I wouldn't wear it.

Buts its a nice dress.

KatelynB · 07/03/2015 09:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

dotsanddashes · 07/03/2015 13:31

Nothing wrong with long dresses at weddings at all, its just the combo of fabrics of this particular one make it an evening gown only unless you were bride or bridesmaid. Satin, lace, those covered buttons on the side....now if the skirt was cotton jersey for example it would be fine, or all satin with no lace top...

OR..would you consider having it shortened? If you did then I think the fabrics and style would maybe work. Would cost less than buying a new dress.

What's the other dress like?

Original poster

toffeecrisp1980 · 07/03/2015 13:46

Thanks
The other dress is very similar but no buttons on the side

OP posts:

specialsubject · 07/03/2015 16:20

no, of course you wouldn't pretend to be a bridesmaid. But weddings do produce temporary insanity and some fool with no life may give grief if you turn up in similar colours to the bridesmaids.

I wouldn't be bothered and you probably wouldn't be either. But then I wouldn't be bothered if someone else turned up in the same outfit, which apparently is something for which one is supposed to run screaming to the hills.

SirChenjin · 07/03/2015 16:26

That's a gorgeous dress - I can see why you want to wear it

I don't think long dresses work well at weddings - maxi dresses always look a bit 'holiday in a Med resort' to me (nothing against Med resorts by the way, have been/am going to one, just remind me of the sort of thing you tend to see worn there in the evening, iykwim?) and evening dresses are for another type of event.

DontDrinkandFacebook · 07/03/2015 16:29

I don't think there is a problem with wearing long, but I do think that Ghost dress looks too much like you might belong to the bridal party, especially if the bridesmaids are all in different colours.

It's not a question of wanting to pretend to be a bridesmaid, it's dressing in such a way that leaves other people in doubt as to whether you might be or not. Or in such a way that possibly snatches attention away from them.

Original poster

toffeecrisp1980 · 07/03/2015 16:37

Ok so if I can't wear the dresses to weddings, what kind of event exactly can I wear them to? Do you all go to black tie dinners? Can't say I have been invited to a black tie dinner since I was at uni and we had black tie balls.

When I say the bridesmaids are all wearing different colours, I mean different to my dress not different to each other (the bridesmaids are all in gold at one wedding and all in green at the other)

OP posts:

thenightsky · 07/03/2015 17:06

Damn this thread... I've just gone and spent over £100 on Ghost sale items

OublietteBravo · 07/03/2015 17:42

I've just been spending money in the Ghost sale too

TheBuskersDog · 07/03/2015 17:55

Why did you buy the dresses, what occasion did you have in mind if you don't go to black tie dos?

MrsFrankieHeck · 07/03/2015 17:59

I had someone at my wedding who everyone thought was trying to be a bridesmaid. The photos are a bit odd but I didn't mind

Original poster

toffeecrisp1980 · 07/03/2015 18:08

I bought them for my own wedding. Last minute and all a bit of a panic.

I ended up going with something else as I felt they were not quite special enough to be my wedding dress. The dresses were originally ivory and white and I have since dyed them as I got them in the sale and it was too late to return them, plus I actually really like them and they are so flattering so I thought I could dye them and wear them for something else. Now I am just not sure what.

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