It’s Wedding season so we’ve been blogging about wedding planning, wedding colors, and wedding invitations. You may not be planning a wedding but if you are attending one this summer, do you know what to wear to a wedding?

Many invitations will specify attire but if it’s not specified on the invitation look at the time of day, location, and the formality of the invitation as a guide.  Keep reading for our tips on what to wear to a wedding. 

INVITATION SPECIFIES ONE OF THE FOLLOWING:

“Black Tie, Black Tie Preferred, Black Tie Invited or Black Tie Optional”: 
•  Men should rent and wear a tux if possible.  If a tux is not accessible, men should wear a very dark suit with a white shirt and black tie.
•  Women should wear a formal dress, usually to the floor.  Accessories include beaded bags, fancy wraps, formal jewelry, and maybe gloves. 

“Formal or Cocktail Attire”:
•  Men should wear a Dark suit and a tie, day or evening.
•  Women should wear a long or short cocktail dress that could include beading, formal jewelry & a wrap.

“Semi Formal”:
•  Men should wear a suit – light colored for day, dark suit with a tie if evening.
•  Women could wear a cocktail dress or a skirt and top.

“Casual”:
•  Men should wear a dress shirt and pants, possibly a Blazer/sports jacket for day and a suit for an evening wedding. 
•  Women should wear a summer sundress, skirt, or pants with a nice blouse;   everyday jewelry and accessories. 
*** Jeans, shorts and tank tops are not recommended.

“Beach Formal”:
•  Men should wear a summer suite and sandals.
•  Women could wear a more formal summer sundress with flat sandals. 
***Men and Women should assume an elegant beach wedding and dress to impress but be mindful of the sun, sand and water. 

INVITATION DOES NOT SPECIFY ATTIRE:  

Daytime Wedding – Morning or Afternoon:
•  Men should not wear a tuxedo during the day time, regardless of the formality of the event.  A light colored suit for summer or if it’s winter, slacks with a shirt & tie under a sweater.  Dress it up more with a Blazer. 
•  Women could wear a fun floral dress, a skirt and sweater set or even a light colored suit.  Business attire is also okay for this type of setting.  Hats or gloves are optional if it’s on wedding is on the formal side.  No black or sequins during the day time.

Evening Wedding:
•  Men cannot go wrong wearing a dark suit with a tie.
•  Women cannot go wrong with a little black dress.  But, women have a lot of options with color of dresses and even a dressy suit.  Stick to a sophisticated look and avoid too many sequins or beads.  Carry a small evening bag rather than a purse.

Whatever you wear, keep in mind that your attire reflects your respect for the Bride and Groom and you can rarely be over dressed.  Please don’t show up in jeans, anything too sexy or revealing, or anything torn or with holes.  And it’s probably a good idea to avoid wearing all white no matter what trendy fashion magazines may advise.

According to Emily Post - who wrote the book on how to live a life filled with gratiousness, generosity and style - ”the “rules” for selecting wedding invitations have loosened.   Today, it is appropriate for invitations to have color, ribbons, lacy fold-overs and creative wording”.  Inside, you can insert meaningful quotations, lyrics from “your song”, a favorite poem or any other phrase that gives your guests a sense of the style of your wedding, says Realsimple.com. 

The wedding invitation can be as creative as you like as long as there are the customary elements  such as the host line, request line, bride and groom line, date and time lines, location line, and reception and RSVP lines.

The host line is the first part of the invitation that tells the invited guest who is hosting the wedding/issuing the invitation.  According to Martha Stewart Weddings, “evolving family structures and financial dynamics often make [The Host Line] the trickiest part of the process”.  A traditional invitation may look like this:

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Allen
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Jill Elizabeth
to
Mr. Jonathan Andrew Perkins
Saturday, the seventh of April
two thousand twelve
at two thirty
St. John Cathedral
Indianapolis, Indiana

The example above is of the bride’s parents issuing the invitation but these days it could be both the bride and groom’s parents, a single parent, divorced parents that are remarried, the bride and groom themselves, or another couple hosting the wedding. 

Here are a few examples of proper invitation etiquette should the individual(s) issuing the invitation be other than the bride’s parents:

Both the bride and groom’s parents are co-hosting:

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Allen
and
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perkins
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of
Jill Elizabeth Allen
and
Jonathan Andrew Perkins

You would like to mention the groom’s names but they are not co-hosting:

Mr. and Mrs. Michael Allen
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their daughter
Jill Elizabeth
to
Mr. Jonathan Andrew Perkins
son of
Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perkins

The groom’s parents are hosting:

Mr. and Mrs. Raymond Perkins
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of
Miss [Ms.] Jill Elizabeth Allen
to
their son
Mr. Jonathan Andrew Perkins 

A single parent is hosting:

Mr. [Mrs.] Michael Allen
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of his [her] daughter
Jill Elizabeth

Divorced parents, each remarried, are  hosting:

Mr. and Mrs. Betty Dickens
and
Mr. and Mrs. Michael Allen
request the honor of your presence
at the marriage of their daughter
Jill Elizabeth Allen

The couple is hosting:

Miss. [Ms.] Jill Elizabeth Allen
and
Mr. Jonathan Andrew Perkins
request the honor of your presence
at their marriage 

Another family member or friend is hosting:

Mr. and Mrs. Todd McIntyre
request the pleasure of your company
at the marriage of their niece
Miss. [Ms.] Jill Elizabeth Allen
to
Mr. Jonathan Andrew Perkins 

There are many more options outside of the guidelines listed above.  You will find examples of those by clicking the sources mentioned in our post.  Follow the format that best fits your situation.  You want to be socially correct but also comfortable with how the hosts are presented.  It’s better if you need to break the “rules” to spare feelings, keep the peace and have a memorable celebration.

We love weddings at Classic Cleaners because a large portion of our business is helping brides and grooms look their best and feel confident on their wedding day.  To learn more about why we are the only dry cleaning company in the Indianapolis area endorsed by the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, visit our bridal and heirloom services page.

If you’re planning a wedding this year, you’ve probably dedicated a chunk of your time thinking about your wedding colors, specifically, the color of the bridesmaid dresses.  Bridesmaid dresses typically set the mood and color scheme for an entire wedding. 

Brides today have so much to choose from when selecting a color palette for their wedding.  The top 10 colors of 2012 from Pantone, the world-renowned authority on color, range from neutral to bright so you have quite a bit of choice when it comes to your color palette.   

Options are endless but if you’d like to narrow it down, the popular summer colors of 2012 are bright, sophisticated hues.  Bold shades of cranberry, papaya, and fuchsia can add a pop to your pictures or centerpieces.  Brides.com says,  ”This season, the hottest [bridesmaid dress] styles appear in a dazzling spectrum of colors”.  

The lighter color scheme that includes blush, creamy off-whites, light silver, pale pinks and hints of blue is making a comeback according to The Wedding Fashion Files.   Basic beach or garden themes for flowers and table decor are also classic for the summer and would pair well with the 2012 collections.  Many designers such as  Alvina Valenta, Monique Lhullier, and Vera Wang have showcased colors of champagne, mint green, vanilla and pastel pinks in their 2012 collections. 

So how do you choose?   Think about your location, the time of day, the lighting available, and how formal of an event you’re planning.  Tap into your creativity and show your personality.  Visit your local paint store and pick up swatches of paint color samples and try different combinations.  And, check out the boards on Pinterest, one of the most popular resources for wedding planning. 

Wedding planning sites like the ones we mentioned last week are an amazing resources to view ideas from industry professionals and other brides.  For example, The Knot shares these four ”hot” wedding color combos for a summer 2012 wedding.

Have fun, show your personality, and be true to your style and you won’t go wrong picking the perfect colors for your special day.

Keep in mind, our bridal services keep gowns and bridesmaid dresses in ready-to-celebrate condition. As the only dry cleaning company in the Indianapolis area endorsed by the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, we take pride in staying on top of the latest trends in wedding dress design and we ensure that our team members are trained to properly care for even the most intricately designed gowns.

If you or someone you know is planning a wedding this summer or fall, this is the time frame in which many little, but BIG, decisions must be made.

Chances are the ceremony and reception location was secured months ago but there’s still the photographer, caterer, flowers, guest lists, invitations, entertainment, transportation, honeymoon location, dress fittings, hair.  The list is endless.  

To avoid running all over town, you can do quite a bit of your planning online.  Here are a few of our favorite online sources for planning a wedding.

Founded in 1996, The Knot was one of the first online planning sites.  Aside from their popular website, they offer a magazine, books, a digital magazine available on your iPad, Kindle or Nook as well as free iPhone apps that allow you to monitor your wedding to do lists and get advice from other brides.   On their website you can search local vendors by entering your zip code and download multiple planning tools such as “The Wedding Budgeter”.

Pinterest is extremely popular for planning weddings this year.  Pinterest lets you organize your wedding finds on the web via an image that links back to it’s originating site.  Once you download their “pin it” button to your browser’s toolbar, you can surf the web for ideas, advice, pictures and blogs and “pin” them to your Pinterest bulletin board.  Like Twitter and Facebook, you can “follow” others and browse their pinboards.  Or do a search for what you’re looking for and view pinboards of folks you do not know personally.  Here’s an article we found offering you 7 Tips for planning your wedding on Pinterest.  And, by the way, you can follow The Knot on Pinterest as well as other Wedding Planning sites.

Founded by a gentleman who felt it was difficult to research quality vendors while planning his wedding, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 100,000 reviewed wedding vendors.    Completely free and easily navigable, WeddingWire offers online planning tools to help you keep track of your spending and payment schedules, stay on top of RSVPs, store vendor information and checklists.  “WeddingWire is about helping brides and grooms execute efficiently and effectively on their weddings”.

While you’re busy with the details of planning the wedding, let us care for the details of your wedding attire.  Whether it’s before the wedding, or after, our bridal services keep dresses in ready-to-celebrate condition.  As the only dry cleaning company in the Indianapolis area endorsed by the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, we take pride in staying on top of the latest trends in wedding dress design and we ensure that our team members are trained to properly care for even the most intricately designed gowns . 

You can read our care tips for your dress before the wedding here and learn about our experienced alterations department here.  We’re experts in caring for your gown before the wedding and preserving the gown while you’re away on your honeymoon.