"Dressy Casual" wedding

Ginger

My cousin's wedding in a few weeks has a dress code on the invitation: Dressy casual. It's at a church (evangelical Christian) and there will be dancing. This is in Texas, indoors, in the A/C. (It IS May.)

I'm not sure what dressy casual means! Or more accurately, how I would interpret it. I don't want to buy anything for this. My wardrobe is plenty big, and very much focused on flared skirts and dresses. Any ideas?

8 years ago

Dressing

14 replies

Latest reply was from UmmLila (Lisa)

Diana

Veteran

I'd wear one of your fab full skirt/dress outfits and flats. I tend to go for "garden party" in this kind of situation.

8 years ago

JAileen

Veteran

Ginger, I am in Texas right now, and wow has it ever been humid, plus thunderstorm!!! Anyway, thank goodness it's indoors.

I looked through a few WIWs, and I think one of your cute dresses might work, if you added some dressy accessories. I saw a royal blue dress, but I don't know what the fabric was, and if it would work in May.

ETA: If they have a vague dress code, they should expect a lot of variation of dressiness in what their guests wear.

8 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

How about one of your flirty day dresses with cowboy boots?

8 years ago

Jenn

(website)

Veteran

I think you wear dressy casual most of the time, Ginger. Go for a dress or a skirt in a "daytime" fabric, and avoid denim or sneakers. I think Diana's "garden party" description will work pretty well.

8 years ago

Ginger

Veteran

Diana, good idea on the flats. That will help with the casual feel since most of my dresses skew decidedly dressy with heels.

JAileen, it's definitely the stormy season! An outdoor wedding in Texas is really tempting fate. The only season for dependable weather would be July or August, and people would have to be INSANE to do that.
The royal blue dress is a knit, so kind of casual inherently; it might dress up with heels. It does have a bunch of elastic shirring in the back that make it extra casual, though.

Angie, that's what I wore to another cousin's wedding last year! It's all the same people (we're a close family) so I don't want to repeat TOO closely. I'll ask for some more detail on the decor/vibe; my mother's making the cake, so she's should have a good handle on it. Especially if there's line dancing, boots would be perfect.

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8 years ago

Ginger

Veteran

I wonder if this one is too cutesy? Cowboy boots would work great with it. Or maybe the sandals. It's really a sundress with an open upper back, not as demure as it may look from the front.

I've got more options, just not uploaded to Finds yet.

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by Ginger

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$33.00

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8 years ago

Anonymous

Oh, yes definitely on of your day dresses with some flats, should see you right. And if there's line dancing can I come too

8 years ago

kkards

Veteran

oh i love the dress in your custom find for this!

8 years ago

Anonymous

Ginger, your custom find dress is perfect.

8 years ago

Anonymous

"Dressy casual" is a bit of an oxymoron, isn't it?

Love the custom find dress, with those cute sandals. How open is the back? You mentioned this is in a evangelical church, which sounds pretty conservative. Would bareness of the back be a scandalous thing?

8 years ago

AviaMariah

Veteran

I would guess anything less dressy than a cocktail dress would fit the criteria.

8 years ago

Ginger

Veteran

Diane, I'll see what I can do about the invite.

Xtabay, evangelical churches do run the gamut, and this dress isn't scandalous at all It's just a bit more sporty/summery than a solid back would be. Normal bra is just fine - major points in my book! And yes, "dressy casual" is an oxymoron. I think that's the thing that's really thrown me.

Thanks for the ideas!

8 years ago

unfrumped

Veteran

I like all the ideas!

I agree with relating the "dressy casual" to day-dress styles and fabrics and more casual but nice footwear such as pretty sandals, espadrilles, flats, and cowboy boots if that fits the crowd and the dress, instead of high heels, though block heels would fit in as less formal. Festive and pretty more than zingy-blingy. Dresses and skirts sound like you for sure.

For non-dress folks there would be culottes or a variety of day-dressy pants outfits, cropped or slim or wide-legged.

8 years ago

UmmLila (Lisa)

Veteran

Here's an interesting article called a Sane Guide to Wedding Guest Attire. May or may not be helpful in the evangelical church setting

A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ

A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ 4/28/16, 4:27 PM

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers visit
http://www.djreprints.com.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-.....1460651297
LIFE | STYLE & FASHION | FASHION

A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire

If you’re facing down a slew of matrimonial events that range from beachy to black-tie to
garden-chic, you can go crazy shopping for multiple looks—or invest in versatility. Here’s
how to get more looks out of fewer clothes.

Boss Dress, $1,895, Hugo Boss, 212-485-1900. Beach: Lucifer Vir Honestus Earrings, $1,400,
The Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove, 305-644-4680; Ashley Pittman Bangles, $695 per set,
neimanmarcus.com; Clutch, $2,690, Lanvin, 646-439-0380; Chloé Sandals, $795, Neiman
Marcus, 310-550-5900. Black-Tie: Nina Ricci Bag, $2,370, Barneys New York, 212-826-8900;
Sandals, $725, biondacastana.com. Garden: Elizabeth Locke Necklace, $15,825, and Pendant,
$5,125, neimanmarcus.com; Sandals, $745, tabithasimmons.com. Mirror, $1,128,
hitchcockbutterfield.com. Fashion editor: Rebecca Malinsky PHOTO: F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL
STREET JOURNAL, MAKEUP BY JOSEPH CARRILLO, HAIR BY BRITT WHITE, MODEL: DARIA
ZATSEPINA/WILHELMINA; ILLUSTRATION BY PETER OUMANSKI

By ELLIE MCGRATH
Updated April 15, 2016 7:26 p.m. ET

ONCE UPON A TIME, attending a season of weddings meant finding

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A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ 4/28/16, 4:27 PM

a lovely dress that could take you from church to reception. But today,
guests grapple with thornier challenges, trying to strategize looks for
nuptials with wildly diverse dress codes (beachy! black tie!) or—
within the course of a single weekend—multiple brunches, cocktail
hours and minigolf ordeals. That’s a lot of shopping.

With spring’s wedding-a-weekend slog, the test begins. “I have six
weddings from May through October,” said Charlotte Steinway, 27,
North American editor at Soho House. “I definitely feel like I have to
wear a different dress to almost every one.” Further upping the
pressure: Among affluent 30-something professionals, weddings have
become huge, hopefully-once-in-a-lifetime affairs that are
Kardashian in scope. Fewer couples seem to be going to the local
chapel to marry, jetting instead to Jamaica or Jakarta for a dizzying
calendar of diversions.

These weddings are elaborately themed and dress-code-ambiguous:
“Modern Gatsby at Chateau de Varennes,” “Aloha Formal in Hanalei
Bay” or “Afternoon Garden Party in 1930s New England”—demanding
that guests take time off from work, cough up airfares and devise
convincingly varied outfits. The invitation may even include a “color-
palette card” indicating which hues of guest attire a bossy bride and
groom approve. Noncompliance won’t bar you from attending, but you
may not make it into the couple’s photo gallery or onto nuptial-
obsessed sites like Wedding Chicks, the Knot and the Coveteur, which
feature lavish, real-life weddings.

Then there’s the dreaded faux pas of being seen in the same head-

to-toe outfit you already wore. It’s an issue compounded by the
feverish Instagramming and Snapchatting that now dogs every
occasion, exposing you to a vast social media audience of critics.
Concerns about Insta-shaming multiply with every invitation you
receive.

With creativity, Sandra Jones, 42, figured out how to dress for her
friends’ wedding last July, a four-day fête at an estate in the south of
France. “I reused several different pieces by putting the accents on
shoes and jewelry,” said Ms. Jones, the U.S. sales manager of French
lingerie company Lise Charmel Group. Ms Jones, who is based in the
Bay Area, chose three outfits that could be easily transformed with the
extra shoes and jewelry she packed in her bag. For the night before the
wedding, she wore silk harem pants by Be by Nadja with an ornately-
beaded Saint Laurent top and sparkly heels. For a separate event, she
paired the pants with another top and shoes.

Voilà! as they say in France.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-.....1460651297 Page 2 of 7

A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ 4/28/16, 4:27 PM

There is truly no need for your wedding-guest hashtag to be
#neverworethisbefore. Your goal: Find a few mileage performers that
serve multiple purposes and can survive the crush of the overhead bin.

Dexterous Details »
Extras that offer more mileage for your buck.

1 of 5

Go ahead and buy a posh frock, but choose one that’s dress-code-
flexible: a tea-length number that can morph “from black-tie formal
to beach casual, depending on the shoes you wear,” as Brian Bolke,
president and co-founder of the Dallas store Forty Five Ten, put it. Or
invest in an adaptable coatdress: In shimmery lamé, it can be belted as
a dress for a formal wedding or worn open over silky separates for one
in a garden. Solved: the outfit for that confounding 1930s-themed New
England ceremony.

And if the happy couple can break from tradition, why can’t you?
Dressy pants are fine, said Marlo Sutton, a personal shopper at Holt
Renfrew in Toronto, who singles out new flowy black pairs as utility
players. “Try them with an off-shoulder top or a beaded tank,” she
said.

Now be a good guest and don’t upstage the bride.

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A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ 4/28/16, 4:27 PM

Strategy One: Go from ballroom to beach in a tea-length

With accessory tweaks, a mid-calf frock can be dress-code-appropriate for a variety of
affairs. Refine it with satin shoes, take it outdoors with gingham details or give it
oceanfront properties by adding metallic flats.

3
8

F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY REBECCA MALINKSKY, (MODEL); STYLING
BY ANNE CARDENAS (5); JOSHUA SCOTT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (CLUTCH)

 Back Next 

1. For a Black Tie Wedding
Dress, $2,495, lelarose.com

6
9

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A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ 4/28/16, 4:27 PM

Strategy Two: Don a coatdress alone or layer it over casual pieces

An icy, lightweight coatdress can be a posh outfit on its own—or, worn open, as a chic
overlay on top of more informal elements.

7
4

F. MARTIN RAMIN/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, STYLING BY REBECCA MALINKSKY (MODEL); JOSHUA
SCOTT FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (BELT)

 Back Next 

1. For a Garden Wedding
Theory Camisole, $190, net-a-porter.com

Strategy Three: Top off a pair of black pants in sundry ways

Tuxedo trousers or graceful wide pants can have the elegance of a long gown—and offer
great scope for diversification. Wear them with a beaded vest for an outdoor ceremony
at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, a strappy silk cami for a formal Pierre Hotel wedding or a
striped, off-the-shoulder top for a Malibu union.

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A Sane Guide to Wedding-Guest Attire - WSJ 4/28/16, 4:27 PM

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