Just a guest, but lost and over thinking the dress code.
Hi there, very sorry if this is off topic (if so, feel free to delete it, or recommend me to where I should be asking this). I'm a guest to a semiformal beach wedding in California next week. I have never been to a semiformal wedding, and I was trying to figure out what men are supposed to wear for footwear. My boyfriend is buying a suit for the wedding, and I'm wondering if he's supposed to buy some dress shoes just to ruin them at the beach. Would they get ruined at the beach? I don't even know. So, that's question 1.
Unfortunately, while combing through wedding etiquette guides, I began to question my own dress choices. I only have one dress that I think of as formal enough, and I love it and never get a chance to wear it, and it is this dress, in red:
This is it.
I do not have that model's breasts, and I know how to use a safety pin, so I don't feel it's too revealing in that way, nor is it too short. But it is tight, and it is red. A couple of lists have said not to wear red or sexy dresses, because it takes attention away from the bride. I do not want to do that, and it wouldn't have even occurred to me that it was a thing I'd need to worry about before reading up. I know the bride, and am fairly confident she would know I meant no offense, but I don't know the groom or his family, and they are Midwestern, which I know can mean a little more formal than us Californians, and I certainly don't want to offend them either. I am also under the impression it is a large wedding and so how much could I as one person in a crowd ruin it?
Anyway, I am already spending a lot of money for flying in, hotel, etc, and would prefer to wear the dress I already have and like, and feel like some of these "rules" might be people just trying to round out a "10 things not to wear" list, but I definitely don't want to be rude, so I turn to you brides for your opinions.
Unfortunately, while combing through wedding etiquette guides, I began to question my own dress choices. I only have one dress that I think of as formal enough, and I love it and never get a chance to wear it, and it is this dress, in red:
This is it.
I do not have that model's breasts, and I know how to use a safety pin, so I don't feel it's too revealing in that way, nor is it too short. But it is tight, and it is red. A couple of lists have said not to wear red or sexy dresses, because it takes attention away from the bride. I do not want to do that, and it wouldn't have even occurred to me that it was a thing I'd need to worry about before reading up. I know the bride, and am fairly confident she would know I meant no offense, but I don't know the groom or his family, and they are Midwestern, which I know can mean a little more formal than us Californians, and I certainly don't want to offend them either. I am also under the impression it is a large wedding and so how much could I as one person in a crowd ruin it?
Anyway, I am already spending a lot of money for flying in, hotel, etc, and would prefer to wear the dress I already have and like, and feel like some of these "rules" might be people just trying to round out a "10 things not to wear" list, but I definitely don't want to be rude, so I turn to you brides for your opinions.