Winter wedding in unheated barn

[ecofreckle]

You wise buddahs sorted me out for a summer wedding earlier in the year and now I have a winter wedding conundrum. The wedding is being held mid December in an unheated church and then in a barn. We have been told to wrap up. A friend has loaned me a floor length black coat with black (fake) fur trim at the collar and cuffs (which I need to get a belt for to cinch it in as it's too big for me). I have zero clue about what to wear underneath it. Would anyone have any ideas please? I am size 10 and need to have my decolletage area covered as it's scrawny - photos attached so you can see what we're working with. To complicate matters further I am on a budget: £50 tops. Thank you.

You have fabulously toned arms. It's a shame to cover them. Is the entire reception in the unheated barn or just the ceremony?

If both barn and church are unheated you probably won't be taking your coat off anyway. I would just accessorise it with some nice gloves and a scarf.
I once went to a wedding at the end of November in an unheated venue and I was so miserable with the cold that we left before the cake was cut.

Sorry. I misread that. The church us unheated. Presumably there is some sort of heat in the barn. Have a look on hotsquash.com. They also sell through debenhams and house of fraser. They do dressy dresses in a thermal fabric. I can't comment on the quality because I've only seen them online.

Sounds chilly! Do you want a dress that in itself is going to be warm? Or do think the coat will cope with that? Will you be able to wear it in the barn? Do you need shoes too?

www.asos.com/ASOS/ASOS-Bonded-Metallic-Cut-Out-Pencil-Midi-Dress/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=5451830&cid=12899&Rf-800=-1,50&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=36&sort=2&clr=Gold&totalstyles=741&gridsize=3

www.asos.com/ASOS/ASOS-Midi-Dress-with-Metalwork-and-Lace-Detail/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=5456609&cid=12899&Rf-800=-1,50&sh=0&pge=0&pgesize=36&sort=2&clr=Maroon&totalstyles=741&gridsize=3

www.asos.com/ASOS/ASOS-Wiggle-Dress-with-Split-Front/Prod/pgeproduct.aspx?iid=5841451&cid=12899&Rf-800=-1,50&sh=0&pge=1&pgesize=204&sort=2&clr=Zinfadell&totalstyles=746&gridsize=3

Something velvet could be a little warmer and still a nice fabric to wear to a wedding but I can’t find anything that I like within budget. Will keep an eye out

Wear a duvet. And an emergency foil blanket. Take a thermos. Or don't go.

Who the fuck has a wedding in an unheated barn in December? Anti social cunts.

I quite like this dress - would work well with warm tights and shoes. It's potentially going to be very very cold. (I'm not sure I could face a wedding in an unheated barn in December)

Whatever you wear, Id spend the £50 on very fine, silk thermal underwear, under whatever you already have. You will be lovely and toasty warm, regardless.

P.s. Not my tip,it was the first and most useful tip i ever read in Hello magazine.

Another idea would be a tulle skirt with a little round neck cashmere jumper, opaques and heels.

I've been to a winter wedding reception, held in a marquee. It was perishing!

Ok. I'm blaming the wine. I'm not with it at all this evening. I didn't see the budget.

If you spend the money on a skirt you propably have the rest in your wardrobe already.

I went to a wedding in May that was freezing inside the reception venue.
Not a chance I would do that in December

Wear layers. Lots of them. I second the silk thermals. Selfish buggers! WHO, WHO WHO has a winter wedding in an unheated venue? I hope the bride is wearing polar bear skins or something.

You’ve all said what I was thinking! So cold!

I'm loving burnished's idea of tulle skirt and little cashmere jumper! Gorgeous.

Thanks everyone. Hermione you made me laugh. They're lovely and not bonkers. Their family church is unheated but the barn afterwards is heated. If it was all unheated I'd be more able to fathom it out, but half and half is mind boggling.

I like the wiggle dress with split katespade, and I guess it'd just come down to how it fitted.

Burnished hotsquash looks awesome but I'm in the post motherhood starting a new business skint phase. Bum.

Dinosaurs I quite like that John Lewis dress...the shape would help give me some more curves I think.

So a tulle skirt and cashmere jumper sounds sweet! I don't have a cashmere jumper but live in a well-heeled village so could possibly borrow one. What colour tulle skirt? they seem to be beige or black.....can you wear black tights with beige skirt? Are black opaque tights ok then? I have the heebie jeebies about opaques after an oaf cousin made derogatory comments about them. Anyone got any examples of something for me to work with? I'll get goggling then.

Thanks everyone

PS arms are less toned now I have a child!

If you could find one, grey tulle would be nice, with a black jumper and black opaques. Otherwise maybe a black skirt and a silver/grey or baby pink jumper.

Disclaimer- From time to time I read on here something about not wearing black to weddings. I'm not English so I don't know if that's really an issue. I never heard of it outside of mumsnet.

I would wear boots (and probably keep my snow boots in the car). I went to a wedding at the end of January this year. It was apparently heated but it was brass monkeys. And my feet were freezing.

.

Make sure you wear something you can dance in to keep you warm!

Ok you need:
Jewel-coloured dress with sleeves
Tights
Boots for church and shoes for barn
Cashmere cardigan
Scarf/wrap & gloves
Coat

Plus thermal undies

Normal dress that you'd wear to a wedding, cardigan and coat. If in there church you're warm enough you have the cardigan, but can keep the coat on if needed. I managed to walk down the aisle in a strapless dress in January. Guests had their coats on in church/outside for photos, then took off for reception in hotel where normal wedding attire for heated hotel

I wouldn't worry too much whether what you are wearing underneath matches the coat, iyswim. You won't take the coat off in the church, and if it's floor length you won't see what's underneath it either.

Once in the heated reception, you can take the coat off.

I guess this probably comes from China and I've no idea about quality but isn't this fantastic?

Tulle dress