What to wear to Officiate my friend's wedding?

Hey all! I've been away for a long time but here I am again. I need advice!

I'm officiating a friend's wedding on September 5th. She's wearing a traditional white dress, he's wearing a navy blue suit, bridal party is wearing a variety of darker neutral-ish colors. I asked about wearing black, she said that sounded great. Which is good because I usually wear a lot of black! But I don't really have anything that is up to snuff for wearing to an occasion such as this. I'm not even sure what the dress code I'm looking for is, since a wedding guest could wear a party dress but I want to look... slightly more dignified?

I'm not sure whether to go with a dress, or a top/pant look, I'm thinking of getting Hasbeens/Lotta's because I want them and they would go with the bride's general aura...

Any advice? I'm looking for specific links if you have 'em!
I generally like looks that are slim fitting, like skinny pants, slim dresses, and with my particular body type whatever dress/top I wear needs to define the part of me right under my breasts otherwise I look wonky (I'm a 36E? I think...)

Thanks all!

10 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Fabulous, Laurel. And lovely to see you back on the forum.

Go dressy for sure. Dark dress or separates - either way. No need to look corporate - just pulled together, polished and dressy in your own arty and goth way. Think of the longevity of the photos - wear make-up too. We ALL look much better in pics with make-up.

I'd link to items if I had a better sense of where you like to shop these days - and how much you're comfortable spending.

Gwennie

Active Member

Laurel, Sorry, don't have any particular links, but just wanted to add to Angie's excellent advice. I do think that as the officiant, you should dress as a wedding guest but also as someone connected to the wedding party. I would get an idea from the wedding party of how traditional or formal the wedding party is, and go from there in terms of the style of what you'll wear. I think as the officiant I would look for an outfit that is wedding guest and dressy appropriate while at the same time being dignified and understated enough so that the the focus is on the bride and groom.

Adelfa

Veteran

I think it's so nice of you to put some thought into this. Black would be totally appropriate. I would add--modest. Many wedding-guest dresses these days are somewhat bare and that's fine. But for an officiant I'd say, covered shoulders, moderate necklines, nothing sheer or super snug, no minis. IMO any of that would be really distracting!

unfrumped

I like what Angie said about dressT and what Adelfa said. You don't need to look corporate or officious, but refined and trustworthy. Can still be dressy, elegant and celebratory. Whew -- tall order !

Anonymous

What an honor - how exciting!!
Would something like this appeal to you?
https://www.blissboutiques.com.....black.html

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Laurel Pederson

Angie! Thanks!

I'm not sure where I like to shop these days, because it's been a long time since I needed to look dressy and polished! Also I do like high quality so I tend to shop at consignment stores so I can get higher quality stuff for less.

A random survey of my closet reveals the following stores: Allsaints Spitalfields, Gap, Target, Madewell, various vintage, American Apparel, random t shirts, Paige, American Giant, H&M, Banana Republic & Ann Taylor Loft.

I'm open to suggestion. Any of the above stores or Nordstrom were were I thought to look. Although not Target... I want this outfit to be nicer than that.

At this point I could go with a fantastic LBD or a Black Maxi dress, but I'm leaning toward a nice pair of skinny black trousers, possibly just ankle length, or cropped, and some kind of top. The top is what's hard for me to figure out at the moment. And should it be a top and topper, or just a blouse...

My go to is a t shirt or tank and a hoodie so this is a stretch to figure out.

Shoes though, I think I'll go with my shiny flat oxfords, or the one pair of heals I have. (picture below)

Ryce,

I don't think that dress would work on me, because it would show a ridiculous amount of cleavage!

And also I don't tend to like 70s ish flowing sleeved bohemian looks.

Thank you though!

This is a tall order, isn't it?

Thanks so much for all the input, it's nice to have people to bounce ideas off of for something important like this.

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