Please style my dd for USA wedding

[Gatekeeper]

She knows Im posting this as she would very much appreciate advice. Wedding in Arizona in a few weeks andn the theme is cocktail attire. All parties apart from dd are American so they might have different ideas on what constitues 'cocktail '.

Daytime wedding
Dd is 5'3 and an true hourglass size 12
Pale skin and long blonde hair...proper English rose and suits sweet pea type colours
TIA

In early 20s

Bumping for the morning crowd

Hi there - I found this blog from a US website, which you might useful https://bellabridesmaids.com/blogs/bridesmaids-buzz/cocktail-wedding-attire?srsltid=AfmBOorCGAY_UkAHHPL5xrUmGmrfAOXmnkhJNY8iL_b5Zgeb92O3z0ly

It's dressier than smart casual without requiring long dresses for women and tuxedos for men. So get dressed up, but no need for a red carpet style gown.

US weddings are much smarter than UK ones

no suggestions though, other than bear this in mind

That's a massive generalisation! Depends on location, status and income of the couple getting married, etc.

No hats!

This would be perfect.

https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/pink-floral-jacquard-tie-neck-fifi-midi-dress-d250625pnk?variant=53946197639553&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Nobodys_Child-UK-PMax-All-DT%2BTA-SE-ePmax-Tier+1&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=19229866515&gbraid=0AAAAADQCJIX9BpvsEPamOlupWLPui77OU&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2pPHycbNjwMVtJRQBh1YDQ7PEAQYBCABEgLZBfD_BwE

The main thing to understand is that for all formal occasions they wear evening clothes in the daytime, so men will wear dinner jackets and the women wear evening gowns and high heels even at 10am.

If it's cocktail they mean cocktail length, so short dresses and sport coats, but what they never mean is what we might wear to a wedding: no Ascot race day dresses and no morning suits. They don't have morning dress at all.

Couldn’t possibly beat that Nobody’s Child dress, it’s lovely 😻

It is!! I've sent her the link and she went "ooohhhhh"

@Lanva I am American and I think your advice is completely mistaken

Oh, ok! I live there for a part of each year myself, not full time. Happy to be corrected. It's just my observation from weddings I've been to, and the observations of Americans I know well.

Well do enlighten us please.

Will it not vary state to state? I know my family in Texas will have very different style from the one in Cali!

I mean it's possible, but to be honest I was pretty sure that Americans don't wear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_dress morning dress for weddings. I have had this conversation before - felt like an uncontroversial statement. But we will have to find out more details from Spuyten.

Would something like this be any good:
https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/butter-yellow-asymmetric-bethany-midi-dress-d255382ylw?queryID=35de31092d508a74d9c81c88067e3b5b
Or
https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/butter-yellow-square-neck-reign-midi-dress-d250622ylw?queryID=e7a9e6b12b5961c549d51a7495755f02
Or
https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/mint-green-reign-midi-dress-d255327grn?queryID=fd715419d10536c08c718048bc09e4b4
I like this, but the material might be too heavy & colour too dark
https://www.nobodyschild.com/products/green-off-shoulder-velvet-pippa-maxi-dress-d254697grn?queryID=72d8ef093cbb69a8fb56915bf71749d8

https://www.adriannapapell.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooGK1iHMf8y_FElg869LRTQNe7Cex5yO8ILBuLXBNCQXEuWo4Bs

This is standard, go-to wedding attire for a wedding here. I actually saw this being sold in John Lewis when I was home this summer! Cocktail length is just below the knee or just above.

Thanks everyone

Keep em coming

That article about 'cocktail attire' suggests they do not know what 'cocktail attire' actually is.

My experience of (Latino) Americans is that they wear what we would consider to be evening dress to weddings. Lots of full-length gowns and a much more glossy look than would be considered appropriate in the UK.

Exciting!

If Arizona is likely to be hot on the wedding date would take layers, for the air conditioning!

Good morning, ladies. We are in Northern CA and cocktail dress for weddings is definitely not evening gowns. Men will wear suits or sport coats. Women wear cute dresses, any length but often short (especially because she is young and it could be hot,) sparkles and heels. DS got married last year and the suggested style was dressy cocktail. All the young women looked beautiful and fun.

True. I live in the Deep South. For my wedding, the men in the wedding party wore morning dress; guests wore business suits. No tuxedos before 6 p.m., please.

I think a lot of the slinky dresses people have suggested are very British in style. American styling for 20-somethings is a lot more on the JCrew or Anthropologie end of the spectrum. How long before the wedding are you arriving? If she's concerned about being over/under-dressed, maybe she'd like to go shopping for a dress locally so she can feel confident that she's pitching the style in the right way?

Very pretty dresses but she will Burn Up if she wears velvet in Arizona in September! Dark color is perfectly fine, just make sure material is light enough. And yes bring something in case air conditioner is very strong.

Cocktail typically means short knee length fancy/evening dress (not work dress or simple cotton dress) but I wonder if midi would work too because that length is so popular nowadays and not necessarily more formal? The dress wouldn’t have to be a solid bridesmaid looking outfit - could be some kind of pattern just as long as it is fairly fancy.

Having attended weddings in Tennessee and Oregon (which I appreciate does not constitute much of the US) I was surprised to see a big percentage of the female guests wore black.