What Colour To Wear To A Wedding as a Guest: A Comprehensive Guide

When it comes to picking your wedding guest outfit, one of the most important parts is colour. This guide will help you navigate those sometimes tricky waters of wedding guest fashion so that you come out stylish and appropriate for the occasion.

In this article:

• Wedding Dress Code Explained

Wedding Dress Code Explained

Before looking at colour options, it's of utmost importance to know what type of wedding dress code there is, as this can greatly skew your colour choices:

1. White Tie: This is the utmost formal kind of dress code. Women would usually put on floor-length gowns in very dark colours and rich shades of fabric, whereas men will wear black tailcoats finished with a white bow tie.
2. Black Tie: A notch down from white tie and still pretty fancy. Women can wear long gowns or dressy cocktail dresses in jewel tones, with most guys going for the classic: black tuxedos also in midnight blue.
3. Formal or Black Tie Optional: This category also allows the sense of free-wheeling, just adds that for women either a cocktail dressing or a long gown in some defined colours. And men can effortlessly pick a dark suit in charcoal, navy, or black.
4. Semi-Formal or Cocktail: The choices in a semi-formal or cocktail dress for women open up even more, as now pastels and prints can be welcome, and so can a suit in medium shades of gray, blue, or brown for men.
5. Beach Formal: Beach garment taken up a notch—light or breathing fabric with soft colours.
6. Casual: This is a great dress code that offers the most flexibility. Go for a cheerful and comfortable colour with your best sundress for women, and for men, prefer slacks with button-down shirts in pastel or muted shades.

Seasonal Colours

Seasonality can have a strong impact on your colour palette. For instance:

Spring—With the season of rebirth, embrace soft pastels such as blush pink, mint green, light periwinkle blue and soft yellow. Florals are also very popular.

Summer—Introduce vibrant, bright, happy colours that are reminiscent of the summer sun—coral, turquoise, or sunny yellow, for instance. The best fabrics for this season are light and airy.

Autumn—Fall weddings look beautiful in deep and warm tones. Beautifully captured by the colours burgundy, forest green, and deep orange, you can add golden yellow as an accent, giving it the feel of the season.

Winter—Winter weddings would look excellent in jewel tones like sapphire blue, emerald green, and deep purple. Dazzling metallics like gold and silver are also perfect for a festive aura in weddings.

Colour by Venues

Your colour choices may also be influenced by the wedding location(Wedding Venues in the UK). Examples include:

Beach or Tropical Destination: Aqua, coral, seafoam, and sandy beige are great choices that don't absorb heat but also give you that light, feel-at-the-beach type of feel.

Garden or Outdoor Wedding: Opt for soft, earth hue tones that blend with nature. Ideal hues are sage, lavender, peach, sky blue, and floral prints in these colours would be an incredible complement to the set up.

Rustic or Barn Wedding: A barn or a rustic wedding would be complete with a colour scheme inspired by the country charm. Dusty blue, terracotta, olive green, and warm brown make the flare abound with a palette of rustic simplicity.

Formal Ballroom or Hotel: More sophisticated, elegant tones work better for formal ballroom or hotel weddings. Yes, you can't miss at these upscale venues with navy, deep purple, champagne, and silver.

Trendy Colour Options for Wedding Guest Dresses

While classic colours will always be safe, here are a few trendy picks(Use the code BLOG10 to get 10% off Ever Pretty all wedding guest dresses!) to help make a statement in style:

Peach: Pantone's 2024 Colour of the Year is going to be one of the most energetic and joyful wedding choices out there.

Classic Blue: Timeless, graceful, and suits any wedding style.

Sage Green: Softer than some other green shades, this natural tone is very on-trend due to its versatility and calming effect.

Lavender: This romantic colour works well for both daytime and evening weddings.

Champagne: A chic alternative to white that adds sophistication and a touch of glamour to your overall appearance.

Colours to Avoid

With so many colours to pick from, some are great whereas others are not the best:

1. White: White is a colour of the bride—traditionally—and so off-white, ivory should be strictly outlawed. If you must wear a light-coloured dress or outfit, go for distinctly nonwhite colours like pale blue or blush.
2. Black: This colour would be fine for an evening or a formal wedding but perhaps a bit too somber for a daytime or casual wedding.
3. Red: Red is too brash a colour for the wedding guest. If you love the colour, think about a deeper red, such as a burgundy, or a little softer red, like rust, and something to add a punch of colour.
4. Neon Colours: These will be too bright and be a visual distraction, taking away the attention from the wedding couple.
5. Wedding Party Colours: It is not very advisable to put on colours similar to the maids or those of the groomsmen.If in doubt, there is no harm in asking the couple or one of their wedding party members what their colour scheme ensemble should be.