Too white for a wedding?

[KookyOliveSwan]

I have 4 weddings to go to this summer, so I’m looking for a dress that I can wear to all of them.
I’ve fallen in love with this one, but is it too white/cream: https://www.theoutnet.com/en-gb/shop/product/zimmermann/dresses/midi-dresses/floral-print-lace-paneled-cotton-voile-midi-dress/46376663162888639

I wouldn’t choose white or cream accessories, and for the church wedding I’d wear a sage coloured jacket with it.

It definitely isn’t bridal, but is it still too white?

I wouldn't wear it... the lace is a step too far. Just my opinion.

It’s highly unlikely that I’ll be going to any weddings anyway. I’m 59, and have only been to six, including my own in all those years.

My own DC show no interest in marriage

Posted too soon!

Being single is a bit of a thing in my family, of those weddings, two were cousins, two were friends, one was my own and one was as a friend’s guest to her nephew’s.

Only my DD1 has a partner and they don’t want to marry, been together for about eleven years now, and I know of no-one else that intends to. If one should come up, then I would just wear something I had already, none of my clothes are white or cream, so there wouldn’t be an issue.

I couldn’t have cared less if anyone had worn a “bridal colour” to mine though.

I’ve noticed this, too. I’m not super stylish (I’ ‘m sure I used to be…) but Next is the last place I’d shop. Haven’t been in since the 90s!

Yes, suggested for everything, even super high end things 🤷🏼‍♀️

Well it has changed hugely since the 90s - which is what has secured its fortunes I guess?

It has now basically become a huge online department store for lots of other brands (whereas it started out as just Next brand clothing & homewares). So it now stocks a big selection of mid-range brands, & people find it convenient to be able to order from lots of brands in one go I suppose.

But I haven't shopped there since the 90s either!

It’s just basic etiquette to not wear white to
a wedding. Rather than posters disagreeing with the rule, just show some respect for the bride and don’t wear one colour out of the many options to choose from.

Next online is my go to. I buy loads from there, but I’ve never bought anything Next branded. They basically have hundreds of brands as well as their own on their website.

I think it’s too white for a wedding. I’m getting married this summer and I wouldn’t be pissed off by it per se (because I hope I’ll be far too focused on enjoying every moment of the day with my husband to care what people wear), but I do think I’d be surprised to see a guest wearing that at my wedding. I think it would be one of those “really? There was nothing else?!” type of thoughts.
An older woman wore a white dress and white blazer at my friend’s wedding and she didn’t fully notice on the day, but the rest of us did and she definitely got judged. My friend then brought it up a few weeks later when she’d looked back at pictures and was stunned she wore it. It’s such an easy thing to avoid.
I think if the floral pattern was much darker, deeper colours then it would be fine to have a white/cream base peeping through but that dress, imho as a soon-to-be bride, is too white for a wedding.

It's not white.

Colourwise, I wouldn't have any issue with it - especially as you say you are wearing a jacket over it.

But seriously.... six hundred quid for a sundress ???
If you have that sort of money to splurge, you could get a new outfit for each of the weddings and still find (4 lots of) something that is more suitable.

If you have to ask then yes. It’s a pretty dress just wear it for something else if you like it so much!
also £600 for a dress just for someone’s wedding 😭🤣🤣

It’s been around as long as I remember (and i’m 49). I think this is borderline fine though, as it’s got a pattern, but i’d steer away from white based dresses. Personally, if I was the bride, I wouldn’t care if someone wore white, but i’d never choose white for a wedding.

It’s a gorgeous dress, but I personally wouldn’t wear it to someone else’s wedding unless I’d checked with the bride first.

The issue isn’t that it looks like a bridal gown exactly — it doesn’t — but the base colour is cream, and with the lace detailing it could photograph quite pale/bridal, especially if the bride is wearing ivory or cream rather than bright white.

If you were wearing it to a garden party or races type event, I’d say yes straight away. But for weddings, especially four different ones where you don’t know how relaxed each bride/couple will be, I think it’s a bit too risky.

If you absolutely love it, I’d ask the bride first and style it with very clearly coloured accessories — sage jacket, coloured shoes/bag, no cream or white accessories. But safest answer: beautiful dress, probably not the best choice for a wedding guest.

But once you've moved into the 'bride wearing pretty dress' territory as opposed to a classic wedding dress then you lose the 'guests won't be wearing anything similar' thing. Because anyone could be wearing any nice dress.

The dress above is lovely and not at all bridal.

Any decision like this there will be a point where there's a grey area. If we keep declaring the grey area (and I really don't think this is grey area) then we will keep nudging darker until all the women are dressed for a funeral by 2050.

It's gorgeous.

Perfect for a wedding.

I’m curious how you are seeing it as pink? The listing even says it’s cream

I think the base colour looks peach on my phone. Whatever, it's floral and therefore OK.

It’s a long cream lacy dress. From any distance you'll hardly see those pale colours and it’ll look like you’re in a boho bridal dress so I wouldn’t do it.

In a culture where all the women will be wearing a similar outfit e.g. a sari, it makes sense that the bride has a specific colour and no one else wears it. In a culture where typically the bride wears a completely different type of outfit to the guests, it’s not the colour of the guest’s outfits that the etiquette hinges on. The bride is the one in a long white or ivory silk/satin/lace gown with some sort of sparkly/floral/tulle headgear. No woman in a pastel or floral day dress is going to be mistaken for the bride. Turning up in a cream satin slip dress would be poor etiquette, but a day dress with a white or cream background is perfectly fine and suitable. I think people have become confused since weddings have been allowed in various settings, certainly a lot of suggestions on here veer into the evening wear category for daytime weddings and that is poor etiquette.

It will look white on the photos, floral and lacey wedding dresses are ‘in’, Why would you even consider it as a wedding guest, let alone 4 times! Are you a secret attention seeker?

The Zimmerman dress is indeed so much nicer. And it's fine for a wedding.

I'm guilty (and I say that because spending £600 on a dress does seem to be treated as a crime by some of you) of spending that sort of money. But I never buy one off occasion dresses. The Zimmerman dress will be prefect as an occasion dress, even 4 times running, but afterwards it's a dress that can easily be dressed down and worn just because you like it. If I saw someone wearing it on a hot day with say canvas sneakers or ballet pumps I wouldn't think anything more than "nice dress"

That other dress isn't anywhere near as wearable.

It’s absolutely fine. I don’t get this anal obsession with not wearing white or black to a wedding, tiptoeing around as if the bride is Mariah bloody Carey.

I get not wearing ALL white or black, but in moderation or as part of the outfit it’s absolutely fine.

It’s a no from me. I think it’s a combination of the colour, lace and length. It is beautiful though.