Choice of wedding guest dresses

[BrightonFrock]

Hi 🙂 I have two weddings to attend in late summer and am torn between two dresses. (Totally different casts at each wedding, so thankfully I don’t need to shell out for two different ones!) Both weddings are in country hotels, so formal-ish without being stately home level.

This is choice one:

https://www.johnlewis.com/raishma-alice-floral-midi-dress/p111671763

I love the design and unusual colour. The length would be good on me too as I’m tall - anything too short makes me look like I’m wearing a tunic and forgot to put my leggings on 😁 However, it’s viscose - which I wouldn’t mind, but it feels like a lot to pay for that (although I do get a discount at JLP so won’t be paying full price).

Choice two is this. I love it and, even better, it’s silk. It’s also really top end of budget even with the discount, but I’m trying to justify it based on the fact that I’ll be wearing it to two weddings:

https://www.johnlewis.com/hobbs-aurelia-cascading-floral-print-silk-midi-dress-cream-multi/p111904250

Which would you pick? I’m dark-haired and am a large 12/small 14.

The second one is by far and away the nicer dress in every respect.

Two!

But only if you will wear it again- it's expensive.

The second one is lovely. I don’t think you need worry about it being too white, it’s cream and there’s no way it could be confused with a wedding dress.

Second one is stunning, I love it on the model with the red accessories, but I think it would go well with lots of other looks too. It also looks comfortable and relatively easy to wear as long as you can exorcise its cost from your mind!

The only item I've ever had from Hobbs were second hand ballet flats but they were gorgeous quality.

If you like Hobbs and fancy hiring, you can rent their dresses here (filtered by size 12 and 14)

https://byrotation.com/designers/hobbs?category=Women&productType=Dresses&size=UK12%2CUK14

Not the exact dress from your poll, but plenty of choices, and there are lots of brands to browse.

I don't like high-low dresses, so I'd definitely go for the second one.

IMO the first dress is absolutely horrible. Second one is beautiful!

The first one looks like the sort of plastic horror that you would pick up in a supermarket. Hi-lo hemlines that show the back of a fabric with poor print saturation look scruffy and cheap.

Number 2 is lovely, but try it on rather than buying online to be sure it suits you. It's a classic shape, very pretty, and should last for years.

You’re not keen then 😆

Whatever gives you that idea? 😁

£185 for a polyester dress does make me quite angry. There are beautiful viscose and tencel fabrics out there which are lovely and swishy and much nicer to wear.

Strongly dislike the first, the uneven hem line and sleeves are a big no - looks cheap.

I like the Hobbs one, but if you are looking at that kind of money have you tried Cefinn or Jasper Conran? Silk can crease and also pick up every little mark known to man, is difficult to wash etc. Cefinn some amazing dresses in fabrics that don't crease, you can chuck in the washing machine, don't need ironing etc. They also do silks and other fabrics but I have had some great dresses from them that still look amazing 15 wears in.

It is viscose.

I prefer the second one but I was dpending that amount, I would want to consider the following:

• is the the best colour palette for my skin tone?
• is it the most flattering for my body shape?
• Is the right dress for my height?
• Where else will I wear it? (it's very much summer fancy occasions - do you have enough of them to justify the expense or will it be a dress that hangs in the wardrobe due to lack of other opportunities to wear it)

Cefinn has some nice stuff. Like Me+Em their dresses are dressy enough for a wedding but don't have that "wedding guest dress" look that makes dresses like the Hobbs one almost unwearable at anything else.

This Me+Em dress is the same. It's a silk cotton mix. Silk cotton is a lovely fabric. It's very wearable in the sense of being comfortable but also "wearable" in the sense of being suitable for all sorts of occasions.

Cefinn
Me +Em silk and cotton dress

It's polyester, according to the product listing

Both lovely, but the second one hands down. Depends on the colours that suit you too.

I love the colour f the first one but it’s a lot of money for polyester and it’s dry clean only. I love the print of the second dress, but I think you could keep looking. Rixo has lovely silk dresses.

Both nice but overpriced imo

Viscose creases, unless it’s mixed with other fabrics. Have you tried Monsoon, Coast , Debenhams, Next?

second one!

Dress 2. They’re in entirely different leagues.

I'd vote for the second one, but you mention that the weddings are in late summer and I wonder if that dress would look a bit too "spring" by then? I know you said you can get JLP discount, but if you are heading towards that price point, have you looked at Saloni? Many of their styles are similar to the second dress you posted, but you'll see a wide range of colours that might mean you get more year-round wear out of it. For example...
Mitsu B Dress in Amulet Wave – SALONI (saloniworld.com)

I like the colours of the 1st dress. 2nd one is pretty... but too afternoon tea for me. I like bold.

The second one.
The first is a shade of green that I really don’t like and think looks awful on most people.