Getting Married in White / No White for Guests?

Dear users, dear designers,
what do you think of classic white for wedding dresses?
Is it still absolutely frowned upon for a guest to wear white at a wedding?

Personally, I’m totally relaxed about it!
If I ever get married, I can’t imagine wearing a white dress or having a big, pompous wedding at all. I’m just not enough of a “princess” for that. But I can totally understand if a woman has been dreaming practically her whole life of celebrating her wedding in a white dress, and that it’s then super important to her.
At my wedding, all the guests could wear any colors they wanted—and as far as I’m concerned, even sweatpants ;)

Guests and colors... Yes...
Almost everyone agrees that you shouldn’t wear white, and I’ve also never seen anyone wear (pure) white to a wedding! 
Well—with one exception: At a colleague’s wedding, she wore something colorful as the bride, and all her daughters and granddaughters wore white dresses. It was somehow nice :)

Apart from that, there are even more colors you’re “supposed to avoid” if you read too much into the topic.

These would be:
-Anything that is too similar to white. So cream, nude, all light pastel shades,...
-Black (that goes without saying—color of mourning and all that)
-Red is also often advised against. Red is a signal color; it’s considered too obtrusive, too “sexy,”...
-You’re not supposed to wear anything too colorful or with patterns either

Yes... I think that’s about it.

So far, though, all the colors mentioned have been present at every wedding I’ve attended. And nobody was bothered by it. 

But then there’s somehow not much “left” for the guests, is there? 😁
My wedding dress was burgundy—more of a ball gown than a traditional wedding dress. My sister also had a church wedding, and she got married in white.... She looked so happy and beautiful.
In hindsight, I would have liked to get married in white too... I think. 

I’ve actually gotten married twice—the first time as a bride in white at a church, and the second time I sewed myself a light blue suit and got married at the civil registry office. The first wedding was with the whole family clan; the second time, only my daughters, my husband’s favorite sister, and the witnesses were there—it was small but absolutely lovely.

Best regards, Inge

My first dress for the civil ceremony was bright red; the second time, I wore silver-gray. I never had a church wedding, but I never missed it either.
My husband had been married once before; we found her white wedding dress while clearing out the attic, and we gave it to my niece to play princess with at preschool—she was the absolute top princess in it! 🤣
But that showed me what a wedding dress means to so many people: worn once for the big day and then never looked at again. I was able to wear both of my civil ceremony dresses on several other occasions afterward, and both were passed on and worn many more times.

My white wedding dress became my youngest daughter’s First Communion dress, and the outfit is still hanging in the closet.

Best regards, Inge

For a “green” wedding, I actually think it’s nice to get married in white.

At my first wedding, I didn’t even have a wedding dress. It was more like a skirt with a matching top (the fabric was thin and white with silver threads woven in), and the ruffled collar could be removed. I’d never want to wear that again today. I got rid of it at some point.

For my second wedding, I picked out a long, cream-champagne-colored dress. I was alone in the bridal shop in Norway, where I chose and bought my own wedding dress (it was on sale), and then took the train home wearing it—of course, everyone was staring. It was kind of weird, but I was happy.

It even had little rhinestones glued or sewn on, sheer elastic lace at the back, and a softly draping flounce. I also got a thin shawl made of the same fabric for free. Great. They even had an in-house alteration service, which I used. The nice man altered it beautifully—it was too long. I also had to go for a fitting—they even had shoes there because of the dress length.

My husband really hadn’t seen the dress until the wedding. I’m superstitious about that.
And I managed it all in Norwegian. I was so proud of myself. I still have that dress. If I have it shortened, I can still wear it for special occasions.
That dress somehow brought me luck.

I wore a real wedding dress for the church ceremony—not pure white, but a very light champagne shade, with a corset-style bodice, a wide, floor-length skirt with many layers, and a hoop skirt underneath. The skirt was gathered just a little bit on one side, and there was a single dark red rose attached to it. And I had a veil, too ❤️
(In the morning at the civil ceremony, I wore a dark green pantsuit with a natural-white turtleneck underneath)

And I even wore my dress again: to a performance of the Rocky Horror Show—in true style, with knee-high red plaid punk boots underneath 😁
I was THE center of attention right next to the couple in garter belts and panties/bras 😜👍🏻

Oh, and to address Josefa’s original question: In my opinion, guests—especially the women—shouldn’t wear white, cream, or champagne at a wedding. Unless, of course, the bride and groom specifically ask everyone to wear white. And in that case, you have to follow that dress code.

By the way, my husband wore a tailcoat to our wedding. We looked great ❤️😁❤️

At our church wedding, one of our employees (we had invited all our employees) wore a white dress. She was from Serbia, where it’s supposedly customary for female guests to wear white—it’s supposed to symbolize approval of the couple’s choice of partner.
The old gossips (sorry for the term, but I can’t describe them any other way) were talking their heads off. Until that moment, I didn’t even know that it wasn’t “proper.” I just thought she looked pretty—it was a gorgeous cocktail dress, and she had the perfect figure for it.