I'm attending a wedding in June, and have just found out that it will be black tie. I am not in the wedding party, although my husband is; still, I will most likely be photographed a lot at this event.

So... I have my heart set on a navy dress, because I want to wear the hat in my avatar photo (I might remove the pink feathers, which were added by the hat shop to match a particular dress and did not come with the hat anyway). And as far as formal wear goes, navy is not too hard to come by. (I would consider something neutral or metallic like the gold dress below as well.)

Still, looking at the long dress options, most of them are so boring. They all say bridesmaid or prom dress or mother-of-the-bride to me. The other problem is that I'm 63.5" tall and at best will be wearing 2.5" heels. A 60" dress is not going to work for me, and a lot of formal dresses are not easily shortened. I pretty much am stuck with petites, and the selection there is even more dismal. (My wedding dress was an off-the-rack petite formal gown, so there are gems to be found for sure, but they're rare.)

So... can I wear a short dress to a black tie wedding if it's a dressy fabric and paired with dressy accessories (the hat, metallic strappy sandals, some kind of metallic clutch, and jewelry)? (I have in the past, but not one where I'm close to the wedding party.) Would any of the options I've attached below work? (Or if not these specific items, something in the same general silhouettes? The DKNY dress in particular is velvet and probably inappropriate for a summer event, but I love that silhouette.)

Please feel free to suggest any additional options! (Long and short dresses both!) I would like to keep the cost under $300 or so. I will probably not order anything just yet, as I have a few months, but I want to see what is available.