Wedding/reception dressing norms

elpgal

I am attending a wedding in September. The wedding is in the morning and the reception is at 8 pm the same evening. The invite requests formal clothing - dresses/saris for women ( Indian groom, Greek bride). Is is ok to repeat the same outfit or should I plan on having two separate ones?

The venue is a Waldorf Astoria. Right now I don't have anything that fits and it is unlikely that I will be able to stay through the entire reception because of my toddlers bedtime which makes me somewhat reluctant to hunt down a second outfit. Skipping the reception is not an option (old family friends or my parents and we are part of the small contingent from the grooms's side who can attend the US wedding).

12 years ago

Dressing

6 replies

Latest reply was from elpgal

ramya

Veteran

I understand you elpgal. But is it a posdibility for you to switch into lehenga for reception. The new trend is to use long cotset like blouse for the sari. If you wear that then switching into s long skirt and wearing dupatta should be a breeze.
I think many would suggest switching accessories. But personslly I find sari extremely memorable.
But if you will not stay for the entire event may be it's not worth the hassle

12 years ago

Glory

Veteran

This is indeed a tricky one given the length of time between the 2 events and that you will only stay for a short while. I think it is possible to find something that will work with both and then perhaps change the shoes and accessories for the evening to glam it up a bit.

12 years ago

Diana

Veteran

Hmm, is the ceremony a church ceremony, an Indian ceremony, or something else? And, relatedly, will you be wearing Indian or western clothes?

With morning church ceremonies I feel like its appropriate to wear a "Sunday best" sort of outfit (I.e. chanel suit, a nice day dress with jacket,nothing glitzy or too bare), and then you'd switch into evening wear for reception later on. you definitely would not wear the evening dress to the ceremony, although possibly you could get away with a very plain cocktail dress and put a blazer over it for the morning part, then switch to dressier shoes, jewelry, and wrap for evening. Or maybe a suit or dress w/jacket for the ceremony and Indian outfit for the reception if you have it?

For an Indian ceremony I have no idea!

12 years ago

donnat

Veteran

What Diana said.

12 years ago

crazyone

Veteran

For whatever reason, I am guessing, given that it's a morning wedding, and at a hotel, that the wedding is an Indian ceremony, with a reception in the evening, since this is a fairly normal state of affairs. Generally people do wear different things for that kind of scenario, but I've also seen people wear the same thing. Generally what ends up happening (Indian-wear wise) is saree in the morning, some sort of more dance-able clothing in the evening. But I think with a toddler afoot you should be able to get away with just wearing the same nice thing throughout the same day.

12 years ago

elpgal

Veteran

Thanks for weighing in. I have only been to ceremonies where the events are on two separate days or they are closely spaced together with a cocktail and snacks interlude. The invites say it is a 'blended' ceremony. I was hoping to wear a dress to it. If other Indian weddings are any indication, I think the crowd will be dressed a notch above their Sunday best. A lot of bling and shine won't be out of place.

12 years ago

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