Anyone turned up at a wedding in the same outfit as another guest?

[LaliqueSaltGrinder]

We were at a wedding last weekend and there were two guests wearing the same (very nice) striped handkerchief hem dress. They spent the whole day avoiding each other.

Lots of discussion among other guests about how turning up in the same dress as someone else was a real risk in the 80s or early 90s where there was limited choice on the high street.

But nowadays, what's the chances?

@PineappleCoconut , @strawberry12345 Goodness , are you now simultaneous posting on MN?
The stories are so close! Fantastic . You two were meant to be in each others lives, if so 😁

Not a wedding but a relative showed up at my mum's funeral wearing the same blouse as my mum.

My sister chose my mum's outfit, it was a distinctive blouse she'd bought but not worn before she died very suddenly. The relative would never have known but she turned up at the funeral home to 'pay her respects'. We think she was a ghoul who wanted to look at a dead body. So, serve her right. It was several decades ago. I've not seen her since. In hindsight, i find it faintly amusing.

@PineappleCoconut was it by any chance in Norfolk and both bride and groom had the same surname before (and after!) marriage?

Not the same dress, but I wore the same slightly unusual colour as the bridesmaids. It was my brother's wedding and soon to be SIL wouldn't tell me the colour theme as she wanted it to be a surprise. So I, perfectly innocently, turn up looking like a matron of honour (I'm a bit older and was already married) in an outfit the identical shade as the bridesmaids. SIL was a bit annoyed about it and I was a bit embarrassed, but I think she realised that I would never have done it deliberately.

No but this is the kind of thread which emphasises there’s something weird going on my brain (not claiming neurodivergence as such, but definitely a quirk) because I truly don’t understand why this would be a problem. I doubt very much I’d even notice. And yet clearly, for most people, it would be mortifying 🫤

I did years ago. It was a Dorothy Perkins silver 40's style dress with a V neck and shoulder pads (showing my age). I was in my 20's and the other lady was probably in her mid 40's. It looked far better on her as her whole look was more put together. She had a lovely updo too.

She was a little bit upset, but we had a lovely chat and ended up having a photo taken together. You just have to style it out.

Wow why did you pick the same dress and not tell her, that’s horrible.

Me and mil in near identical monochrome dresses to sil wedding.She refused to get out of the car at first when she saw me.

Is it just me finding these posts odd. How could she not know ir wasn’t deliberate as you didn’t know the colour scheme.

That’s pathetic and childish
you didn’t do it intentionally!

Absolutely
I used to work part time in monsoon years ago, and my sister had a job in Debenhams (lots of franchises!) and I was always amazed by people like MOB and MOG buying stuff that ANY guest could wear off the peg!!!!!

when my sister got married I went to a little independant boutique and got something a bit more unique, it wasn’t hundreds of pounds either but I didn’t want anyone in the same dress so high street like Hobbs wasn’t happening and Hobbs is fairly expensive too and so if you are going to spend that sort of money - go to an independant shop!

I bought a beautiful Karen Millen dress with matching shoes that I wore to my 40th birthday party. One of my friends turned up in the same dress immediately left went home and got changed and came back. I would probably have thought it was funny but I still appreciate she did it I'm really appreciate that she didn't tell me on the night.

Yes. About 15 years ago, my daughter and her foster sister, both adults, wore the exact same dress for her brother’s wedding. They hadn’t discussed what to wear, it was complete chance. Both bought from independent boutiques, not chains. Fortunately, they get on well, and we have some lovely pics of the two of them together laughing about it.

My DSis and my new MiL wore the same dress to my wedding - fortunately different jackets and shoes. They looked fab as the style suited them both really well.

Another time, and not a wedding but a family funeral. Guests had been asked to wear something colourful, ideally red, and my DD and I ended up ordering exactly the same dress. She had travelled up to stay at my house so had no alternative, and was adamant that I had to find something else. I found a green dress but as we only discovered the issue when we both appeared downstairs, I’d already removed the sales tags so couldn’t return the dress.

I went to a wedding and all the men were in tails............

Many years ago both my brothers and their respective partners decided to get hitched at the same time.

Both my SiL's headed into town for the Boxing Day sales independent of each other and ...........

Chose the same dress

It took all my mothers Diplomacy & Tact to resolve it without my SiL's realising what had happened

A friend of mine turned up in a dress - that was exactly the same material as the venues curtains 😂

What a thoughtful friend

It wasn't a wedding but a Very Important Party and I wore the same dress as another lady (it was blue with white spots iirc). We stood and looked at each other, I said that we clearly both had impeccable taste in clothes, and that was that really. In the great scheme of things it wasn't that important. But I'm in the season of family weddings - I was MOTG and am about to be MOTB and I've made sure to compare notes with my opposite numbers to make sure that it doesn't happen there!

I didn’t know! I wouldn’t have picked my bridesmaids dresses to match a first! She had shown me it months before when she bought it but it was on the hanger and a different colour so I didn’t recognise it when I came to get my dresses. Plus she bought the dress for a different wedding (that i didn’t attend) so I didn’t know what she was wearing to mine.

I had the same dress as another friend of the couple. The ceremony was family only. Everyone thought we were the bridesmaids because they didn’t know any different. We both just went with it and the bride still refers to her in conversation as ‘you know, the other bridesmaid’ 25 years later!

When DBro was getting married, it turned out our mother and the mother of the bride had picked identical dresses (and would both have looked equally good in them). Thankfully they compared notes beforehand, as that would have been a bit more noticable than a random pair of guests.

This still makes me cringe so thanks for that 😅

50 years ago, I was 12, my cousin was getting married and for whatever reason, my mum bought us both the same dress, mine was green hers was red!

I asked her many times over the years what on earth possessed her, but never got an answer 😅

Even know when im in a shop and see these mum/daughter dresses or pyjamas i want to set fire to them!

Whoever thought dressing mum and daughter the same probably knew my mum 😅

I went to a same-sex wedding and the two brides turned up in the same dress (unplanned). 😅

My step aunt turned up to my aunt’s wedding in exactly the same dress as the bride. Nuts to turn up to a wedding in a white lace dress. Fortunately my aunt found it funny and wasn’t bothered.

One should follow the example of Her Late Majesty. When Mrs Thatcher was concerned about possibly turning up to an event wearing an outfit similar to what the Queen was wearing, she was told 'the Queen never notices what other people are wearing'.