When did it become common to wear evening dress for weddings?

[CoastalGrey]

Looking at the pics of Gordon Ramsay’s daughter’s wedding and there seems to be much less traditional wedding wear and more evening dress/black tie. I didn’t think that was usually a thing for daytime weddings - is it common among real people or just celebs?

I’ve got 2 weddings next year and while I’m not a pastel coat dress/pashmina/fasinator type of person I wouldn’t pull off a slinky satin number either!

Yes but the world isn’t made up of just you

The wedding meal was at 8pm so it was an evening reception. You would assume that the invitations said “black tie”.

Sure - but nor is it made up of just you. And you are the one judging others for wearing “bland” tea dresses to weddings.

Hope that clarifies my point for you.

I've found the opposite - since Covid, the weddings I've been to have been much "less smart" than I might have expected before. For example, the last wedding I went to, most of the men were just wearing open necked shirts and smart trousers, rather than a suit and tie (let alone black tie).

All the weddings I’ve been to have started at like 1 or 2pm so florals/pastels more common and to be honest, especially for older women, a bit frumpy sometimes! But I’ve never been to a wedding with a very rigid dress code so something a bit more evening-y would always have been fine even during the day. At my own wedding my mother in law, who had a gorgeous figure, wore a beautiful mid calf-length pale green silk dress which could have passed as an evening dress but she also wore a hat and coordinating suit jacket which made a bit more day time, not that I would have cared. My own mum also looked great in a more daytime outfit, a pale pink midi dress and jacket to coordinate with the bridesmaids. I personally would find it ‘easier’ to find a suitable outfit for a black tie type dress code. To be honest, as long as it’s not glaringly out of place, white, or is the same colour as the bridesmaids, I’m wearing whatever I’m comfortable in and looks good on me.

@SheilaFentiman but I never claimed I was the only person on earth….

My judgement of bland tea dresses is no different to the judgement of others saying black tie is tacky etc. and is unrelated to population size!

Hope that clarifies my point

Your point was clear the first time, you have never worn a tea dress to work. My point was no one cares. HTH

It was supposed to be you dressed for the wedding, the actual service, not the party after.
People wore their Sunday best, their church clothes.

When Prince Edward married Sophie in 1999 the dress code was evening dress because a he wasn't a military man like his brothers and b. It was a 5pm wedding.

Well they didn’t at both my son and daughter’s weddings this year. At DS’s the bridesmaids and groomsmen walked up in pairs first, then the bride. At DD’s the bridesmaids came up first, the groomsmen were already at the front. Bride and her dad last.

I don’t think there’s a hard and fast rule these days.

Both of those options would have annoyed me to see. The having pairs of bridesmaids and ushers is especially tacky

Good job you weren't invited then..! How rude.

When did I claim I was the only person on earth?

Oh, that’s right, I didn’t.

HTH you, dear. Have an excellent day.

Pretty much the very wedding I’ve ever been to is Blacktie. My mum and dads was over 50 years ago. Mind you they’re usually mid afternoon ceremonies and no different evening guests

It’s the norm for Jewish weddings. Has been since forever. It’s great that everyone gets dressed up.

@SheilaFentiman Look i’m sorry I upset you. Wear your tea dress with pride & fight those brash Americans! 😆😆

It depends on the type of wedding, location and timing.

Middle of June, church wedding with ceremony at 12:30. You’ll see pastels and “typical wedding wear”.

December ceremony at 3pm in hotel then you’ll see more evening wear.

December wedding when the sun sets early and the ceremony starts late -> makes perfect sense to have black tie as the dress code IMO.

When my aunt got married in the mid 70s, the women wore long dresses I remember. That then went out of fashion, but it's coming back in now. I think it's nice.

Good job you didn’t get an invite then isn’t it.

Clearly you don’t have a problem with being fucking rude though.

It is a good thing, for my own convenience that I wasn't invited to be annoyed. Obviously wouldn't have voiced my opinion to anyone there, the joys of the internet allow me to express it.

Around when people stopped owning morning dress for church. Although I’m not entirely sure why people my age seem to think ‘sexy’ is appropriate rather than just formal. Some of the bright red, thigh slit dresses worn to my own wedding surprised me.

I would prefer a tea dress to a slit to the thigh type of dress that I’ve seen people on here asking about suitability.

I think people should have whatever dress code they want for their wedding, bearing in mind the venue and time of year.

Like hen parties, baby showers and rehearsal dinners, it all seems to be getting a bit excessive, but each to his or her own.

I think the English floral dress thing maybe has its origins in the summer fete/garden party culture that was part of English life for so long when communities revolved around the church. While still common in the summer, things have moved on a lot.

@CoastalGrey I agree that full evening dress would look a bit odd in a church (not sure how many people have church weddings these days, but that’s probably a side point) but weddings have evolved so much that these days the culture is really just do what you want and can afford. The idea that bare skin in winter isn’t stylish (by which I took you to really mean ‘appropriate for the weather conditions’, though I would probably see those as two separate things) isn’t really important if the whole wedding and reception is inside. One of my close friends had a December wedding in beautiful public building (not a church - think municipal) and the whole day was inside. The men in the wedding party wore black tie, the bridesmaids were in floor length gold sequinned dresses, and most people wore dark and jewel colours (I had bare legs and arms and was at no point cold). These outfits fitted really well with the time of year and venue.

Wear what makes you comfortable.
Wouldn’t give much thought to celebrity weddings or trends.

When we got married 27 years ago we had morning dress so that would be more the knee length dress and hats for women.
I don’t remember ever going to a wedding that was black tie.

we went to a wedding in December that was black tie, so I wore an appropriate floor length evening dress. The groom and best man wore white tie and all the other men were in black tie. It was a posh event and many of the guests including the bride and groom have worked for the royals so I would presume they know etiquette.