{Fill in the Blank} Attire Required.
The celeb gossip world is buzzing with news that one of P. Diddy’s guests was turned away for wearing an off-white trousers to his annual White Party, where guests are instructed to wear all white. Horrors! Oh, the scandal!
(Not that I’d ever land an invite to Diddy’s party but I look HORRIBLE in all-white. What about us pale-skinned people that look like death in white, Mr. Combs? I could never attend. It’s unfair. I protest.)
This got me thinking about about the etiquette and appropriateness of demanding or requesting that wedding guests adhere to a certain dress code. Over the years I’ve seen “black tie”, “beach casual”, “your vintage best”, and eye-roll-inducing “please no light blue attire” on invitations.
So, I’m curious what you think. Is it ever appropriate for a couple to mandated a dress code at their wedding? (This is assuming that all guests are reasonably sane and cultured adults.)
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In most cases I would say no, but my wedding is being held at a private country club where the club, not me, has a mandatory dress code. Since we are not members, it would look especially bad if we had our guests turn up in attire that does not meet their dress code and then we asked them to make an exception for our guests. The code is not that strict. It requests no denim, and men must wear collared shirts. The men must also wear jackets/blazers from Oct – April but they don’t insist on that during the summer months. I think that is simply appropriate wedding attire anyway so I have no problem with insisting on that dress code for our guests. I certainly hope they all abide because I would hate it if the club were to turn away one of my guests.
As a suggestion, I think it’s fine. For example, “wear your favorite shade of blue” or whatever. That can be cute and fun way to get everyone involved in the theme. But to mandate it, well that’s another story. Nothing should ever be demanded of guests.