Wedding Dresses, White, Which Length, Black Tie, Wartime Wedding, and Over-Sexed Dresses Post 666
I keep getting requests on Facebook to say which of three dresses a bride or brother of the bride or guest should wear to a wedding. Often it is a black tie wedding.
Wedding Colours - Black Tie
First, regarding colour. Black tie means men wear black ties. Co-ordinating with black suits. Sometimes dark blue.
My wedding photo from 1976, showing black tie. Photo by Angela Lansbury.
It does not mean that women wear black. Unless specifically requested to do so, rarely for a bride, and all her bridesmaids, to wear black, or a black and white colour scheme.
Black For Funerals
In the UK black is traditionally worn by mourners at a funeral, sometimes by the entire congregation. Men and women.
If your hotel has a wedding and a funeral, you want to be sure that the doorman points you to the correct reception room.
The Bride Wears White In The West
This fashion was started by the wedding thrown by Queen Victoria for her daughter. White was impractical in the days before washing machines and working women with incomes. White is for a first wedding and evokes imagines of cleanliness and purity and luxury, and wear it once which means luxury.
My parents' wartime wedding in the 1940s. The bride did not wear white for two reasons. It was wartime when clothing was rationed and white fabric was in short supply.
Secondly, it was her second marriage, because her first husband was killed in combat in WW2. Another photo shows my father in a top hat.
White For Shrouds
In Asia white is worn for purity of the dead, the shroud, in some cultures, Hindu and Sikh, and red is the lucky colour worn by the bride by the Chinese. Check whether red is worn only by the bride or whether it might be acceptable for guests.
If in doubt ask the bride. And/or her mother.
Dress Length
A formal wedding requires a floor length dress. When men are dressed neck to toe, women do the same.
Outdoors, garden and beach weddings may be different. You might not want to wear floor length dressed and high heels in the sand which you sink into, the pebbles, or the muddy golf course.
I wore a long dress to my wedding. Too long is a nuisance. I nearly tripped over the front hem as my father held my arm and galloped up the aisle.
As for trying to get past the toilet cubicle door, then sit down without scraping your skirt on the floor ....
I once went to a wedding in a field in Israel with a buffet on long trestle tables outdoors. I was amazed to see people wearing shorts, long Bermuda shorts and even shorter shorts. Again, sensible to ask in advance.
Sexy
You could wear a dress split down the front to the navel. Or reveal your shoulders and back and spill over the top at the bust. Or wear something so tight that anybody can guess the size of your bosom and bottom. And something, if you are overweight, which makes your tummy stick out, so by the time you have had a three course meal at the reception of the buffet, people start asking if you are pregnant. Or split up the side to reveal your entire right leg and thigh. Very sexy. If you are looking for a husband. Or a quick one nighter. And you don't mind upsetting the bride, who you will never see again. And her mother, her groom, a few elderly people, and some young ones. Some will be angry. Other jealous. Others contemptuous. Your call.
(If anybody who speaks English as a second language reads this paragraph under sexy and is puzzled, it is British humour.)
I would think that if somebody has spent several thousands on a reception, and invited you, as a good friend, or even a stranger who they were kind enough to include in their celebration, it is polite to ensure that you look pretty, or handsome, and respectable, unique if not in a uniform required, but never upstaging your kind hostess and host.
Co-ordinating Colours
It's great to co-ordinate colours. If the mothers of the bride and groom tell each other what colours they are wearing. As the mother of a groom I wore blue, whilst the mother of the bride wore green. That made it easy to point out, the lady in green is the bride's mother. Also, having met one or both of us, guests could more easily see the bride was in white, her mother in green.
Mother of the groom, Angela Lansbury, wearing a floor length dress for a black tie wedding.
Comments
Post a Comment