Dress recommendations for July wedding in Ireland

[CatCaretaker]

Hello, maybe someone with time on their hands could recommend some nice dresses for a July wedding (in Ireland) for me (as a wedding guest).

I'm 40, size 10-12, inverted triangle shape or maybe rectangle shape (I think, no good at this stuff). Long torso, paunchy belly (which I could blame on pregnancy, but in reality is due to too much food). The belly is the reason for the size 12, as I'm quite skinny otherwise. Anything that helped to mask the belly would be welcome. Small boobs. Pale with mousy blondish hair. Greens tend to suit. I tend to buy second hand (Vinted etc.), and budget could stretch to maybe €60 or so second hand, more for new, though I'd want to feel that I could wear it again on a night out for that price. Prefer natural fabrics, cotton, linen etc.

Thanks 🙂

Some beautiful dresses here, but in case your friend is traditional about these things, it can be considered unlucky to wear green to an Irish wedding. (I have no opinion, so nobody come at me.)

I bought these at the weekend and wore the black dress to the office on Monday. The pink will appear at a birthday party on Friday. The pink looked brilliant in the shop with black lace up ankle boots.

https://kindredofireland.com/products/vivienne-dress

https://kindredofireland.com/products/camille-candy

Nice!

Which way round will you wear them both?

I was thinking exactly the same! I would check with the bride before turning up in a green dress.

Fabulous! I love the slightly vicar-ish neckline on the black one. I take it you visited Belfast then - hope you enjoyed your weekend?

If the bride is superstitious, that's on her, surely.

(I'm Irish, as are most of the many weddings I've ever attended, and I've either worn green or black to all of them, without anyone suggesting I was either in mourning for my lost chance at the groom or trying to bring the bride bad luck.😀)

I'm Irish, been to many weddings there, probably even worn a green dress to at least one (& black, & red, & cream floral!), as have others.

There are plenty of superstitions that used to abound, but have now mostly died out/been forgotten about - & I think that is one of them. Like my aunt never having white flowers in the house (which stemmed from hawthorn being sacred to the fairies, so it was bad luck to bring it indoors, & then that became associated with all white flowers). But very few people would follow that now.

Ditto with the green = bad luck because you'd anger the fairies superstition - it was long ago overtaken by an association national pride/pride in your heritage. I've been to a couple of weddings where the bride accessorised with green & her bridesmaids wore it, in part for that reason.

If the bride is superstitious, that's on her, surely.

Are there really grown up woman with sufficient capacity to consent to get married who think this?

Buttons to the front on the black and frill to the front on the pink. I also bought this in Envoy, which will be worn frontways and backwards

https://envoyofbelfast.com/products/hb-cotton-blouse-black
with this
https://envoyofbelfast.com/products/pleated-stripe-skirt-white-blue

Not remotely traditional no! I've never heard this about green though! Where did you hear that? Going to ask around about that now, interesting one.

Irish weddings a very dressy, some of the suggestions are really lovely but are a little under dressy for an Irish wedding.

Oh, very nice again - the CdG skirt is gorgeous, it looks so crunchy and huggable.

How were both shops in the flesh? (Although doubtless we might each have a different experience in both of them.) Worth the journey?

No - some Irish weddings are dressy, just as some are not! There are sooo many variables that will inform that - just like in Scotland, Wales & England! (And that's not even taking into account whether it's Northern Ireland or the Republic.)

The OP has already said that it will not be excessively dressy, & that her friend is a relaxed type of person. She's checked with her already - that's the important part.

I like the Boden dress. Wear Spanx for tummy control.

https://www.wolfandbadger.com/uk/category/women/clothing/dresses/long-sleeve-dresses/?colour=Green&product_type=Women+%2F+Clothing+%2F+Dresses+%2F+Floral+Dresses

Look at this product that I found on google.com
https://share.google/PU3MTm6EATSBrZaqp

I personally love the Monsoon dress. Very wedding guest.

We went to Kindred first. Lovely shop but they don't have the full online stock on display. The dresses I bought were dresses I'd earmarked online.

Also tried this but it's OTT
https://kindredofireland.com/products/the-puff-dress-poppy

and this which was just a little tight

https://kindredofireland.com/products/the-red-rose-dress

No pressure and assistant said try on as much as you like. She was taken by the idea that I'd made a special trip to Belfast just (or mainly) to go to Kindred and Envoy. They kept my purchases so we could go to Titanic Exhibition.

Envoy is a fantastic shop if I had unlimited cash I could have bought almost everything. Talked about brands and other shops like Dicks and Egg, Very helpful at suggesting brands and what would go with what but got an odd reaction when I said I'd come to see Kindred and Envoy.

The assistant was quite disparaging about Kindred - said she didn't want to be controversial but she didn't see there would be an overlap in Kindred and Envoy customers. I was surprised at that as I would have thought the Venn diagram overlap would be near 100%. And it was a slightly odd thing to say to a customer wearing a Casey Casey coat bought from Envoy (they recognised it and I'd a lot of email traffic about the size) and who'd just spent quite a lot of money with them.

Paul Harnden stock was beautiful - no price tags! And it's true, if you have to ask, you can't afford it.

Thank you. (I am dying with longing!)

Yes, that was odd. No reason why they should feel threatened by another shop, surely?

Years ago I lived briefly in the Republic of Ireland and did many road trips. I was always tempted to drive up to Belfast but somehow never did.

Envoy is a fab shop but waaay too expensive for me . Pity .Ah well I might one day be able to afford it .
Irish weddings can be both . Some MOB or MOG dresses in a fancy venue can be over a €1000 with big hats. But the majority of guests if younger wear just very pretty dressy things . My DD had 7 weddings last summer and just couldn't afford a pricey outfit every time .

Good point on NI vs ROI but I have a huge family and we have been to loads of friends weddings too, Civil and religious, and from my experience wedding in ROI particularly are very dressy, even ones that are low key.

And that's before you take into account religion in Northern Ireland ... The few NI Presbyterian church weddings I've been to were very different, in terms of wedding guest attire, to the Catholic ones! (Lapsed Catholic from NI, with family & friends down south - but living in Scotland.)

My Dad is from a border county so we’ve had a few cross border North-South all Island collaborations 😂 and yes you are definitely correct they have had a different vibe across the border.

Glad your trip was successful, but that doesn't surprise me about Envoy, sadly. They seem to have a bit of a knack for employing rather snooty/dismissive shop assistants, which I cannot abide or comprehend. It's a shame, as they stock beautiful clothes.

I've been to a couple of those too! One was a long weekend where the wedding was one side of the border & the hotels/pubs the other. The bride was NI Catholic, the groom secular Jewish Australian. The culture shock for the Australian guests was hugely entertaining ... 😁