Too white for a wedding guest dress?

[EndlessCupsofSugaryTea]

I have my eye on this for a spring wedding. I love prints, it’s silk and is in the sale - perfect combination.

However, I showed it to my mother and she said “But it’s white!” in a horrified way. I was bewildered. I don’t believe most people’s first thought on looking at this would be “white”. To me, it’s all about the print - and in any case, the background looks more cream to me.

I love it, but not for the first time, my mother has created a nagging doubt. Would anyone really think I was trying to look remotely bridal in this?

If you’re close to the bride you should just ask her. Tell her how you’re planning on accessorising it (pink hat, bright shoes, etc).

I wouldn’t risk it otherwise…

If you wear this dress to someone else's wedding, a reasonable proportion of the people there will definitely be upset and think badly of you. It's not against the law, but why upset people for no reason?

It looks like it could be a wedding dress to me!

It's lovely but I'd wear it as the bride, not as a guest

A beautiful dress but please don't wear it for a wedding . The bride will never forgive you. Take it from someone who knows, my Mil and 3 sil all wore white to my wedding. I hate the photos. 47yrs later it still irritates me that they would do it. Save your dress for when you can be the "star" .

I'm sorry your MIL and 3 SIL felt the need to do such a nasty, attention-seeking thing to you on your wedding day. Stuff like this makes a good case to just elope, or just have a very small wedding with a small handful of friends (like less than 10 people in all.)

Although, my DH would have gone postal on his mum - and his brother's partner if they had turned up in white, (or something mostly white like the OP was considering wearing.) He wouldn't have let them in! 😆

Fortunately, my MIL and SIL (DH's brother's wife) were actually really nice, and we got on well, and they both wore navy. They did have a white blouse on though, so maybe I should have kicked off! 😂

Yeah I’m with your Mum, too much white, unless you know that the bride is wearing dark, multicolored dress with no white I wouldn’t risk it.

Did I say it was?

I think it probably is a bit too white for a wedding, but its a lovely dress - buy it anyway and get something else for the wedding!

Also, it probably depends a bit on the bride, can you ask her? I wouldn't have been bothered at all if someone had worn this to my wedding

Genuinely amazed you even considered wearing it to a wedding.

It’s a beautiful dress but definitely not appropriate for a wedding.

As much as posters like to mock the idea of not wearing white to a wedding, it remains that it’s etiquette and polite and deciding to ignore that rule will reflect badly on you.

Strange attitude of some people on here, “if you like it OP wear it, don’t worry what others think (including Bride??)
Unless you know 100% that Bride is very non traditional and is wearing bright/dark/multicolored dress why would you wear a mostly white (or cream/light coloured) dress??
Even if you know the Bride well, I’d still check it with her, she might have a no white/cream theme for EVERYONE! It is her and the grooms big day ffs

This is nuts. What would they have warned you against? Really bizarre.

@PhaedraWas

Just on this wedding, Oprah Winfrey changed her dress colour, hours before the wedding as her original dress was photographing too white. Here is the link

So Oprah also know the etiquette

I think its absolutely gorgeous 😍 and would definitely buy it but not 100% sure about for a wedding.

To consider whether it was appropriate. Sorry, I thought that was obvious given the context of the thread.

I think if you are really unsure run it past the bride. If you don't know the bride well enough to do that then No

Wouldn't even do that, it puts pressure on her to say it's fine even if she's unhappy. Just wear something else.

I agree that it's the kind of dress that a bride may choose if not going the traditional wedding dress thing.

I thonk its lovely and accessorise with a pink jacket/shoes/bag would not look too "white". Very pretty 😍

There are loads of dresses with falling flowers on them that are beautiful and less white eg Hobbs and phase Eight.

@EndlessCupsofSugaryTea I think some of the replies on here are absolutely bonkers.

It is very clearly not a wedding dress, I think it is lovely and as others have said with coloured accessories it is totally appropriate.

Over the decades I have worn everything from a cream skirt suit (90s) to a cream and beige bodycon dress (00s), and have seen multiple other guests in similar white-adjacent outfits, and no one batted an eyelid.

As long as it's not a plain white dress, no one will confuse a guest for the bride.

Nope, I’d be mad if a guest had worn something like that to our wedding. White in any form, with or without print is a no no for me

As you obviously got married in the digital age why didn't you ask your photographer to tweak the colours so the blue looked blue? I was bridesmaid on a very sunny day and on the photos taken guests the champagne coloured dress (that the bride chose for me) looks
white-ish but on the official photos it was very obviously champagne - this was pre-digital photography so was achieved by the photographers skill but for anyone even basic photoshop abilities it would be easy to up the blueness of the blue.