Page 3A • Thursday, April 22, 2004
iinii
W hite tie,
black tie,
black tie
optional, cocktail attire,
festive dress, creative
ress, casual attire: The
ptions are endless for
hat kind of wedding
ttire the bride and
oom envisions for
[heir special day. From
tonk themed to
arefoot on the beach,
o two weddings are
xactly alike.
As serial wedding
;uests, our heads are left
pinning by what to
ffliienflvear to all the up-and-
oming summer wed-
ra^ings, each with a differ-
nt attire suggestion.
Ithough you may not
'ink it matters that
liuch, you want to avoid
Iccidentally arriving late
if the church only to
Ind out you are the only
|ne in a tuxedo or stilet-
and pearls.
Weddings have
[volved from the old
ays of only cocktail
Jttire. It is not even a
guarantee anymore that
the bride will be wearing a long, lacy
iress in white.
I Kim Johnson Gross said in her
look “What Should I Wear?
Dressing for Occasions” that guests
fhould always echo the bride and
■oom’s look.
“The bride herself may be wearing a
ort dress or pant suit nowadays, so
ests have more options,” Johnson said.
Although there is no denying the
importance of staying
in the genre of the
bride and groom’s
■tire and times have
flanged, the age-old
debate of whether or
not it is passe to wear
White still exists.
■ The
WeddingChannel.com
said on the What to
■ear section of its
■eb site that if a
female guest does
(Bake the bold move
w i,!3!i> to wear a white dress,
she must be cautious.
“Be careful not to
select anything that
might cause anyone to
mistake you for the
bride,” the
feddingChannel.com
orted. “Since cur
rent bridal fashions
; sleeker than ever,
d many older and
Icond-time brides dress in wedding
suits, you might embarrass yourself in
fMvhite color.”
Rebecca Grinnals, owner of
• ^Engaging Concepts, a wedding and
honeymoon service in Orlando, Fla., as
reported in the Orlando Sentinel, dis-
rees about white not being accept
able for a wedding guest to wear.
~| “Twenty years ago, wedding
guests didn’t wear black, which was
considered too funeral. Ten years
ago. they didn’t wear white,”
i || Grinnals said. “Today, both colors are
■j acceptable, although black is pre-
JOHN C. LlVAS
Josh Harding, a freshman business major is dressing up his
casual khakis and open-toed shoes with black, a classic
color for dressy occasions such as weddings.
ferred for evening weddings, and
white outfits should never be more
elaborate than the bride’s ensemble.”
Some brides this summer are even
opting for black bridesmaid dresses,
a new trend that has just become pop
ular over the past few years. Danielle
Gonzales of San Marcos, Texas,
chose black for her bridesmaids to
wear in her May 21 evening wedding.
“I chose black because it is sure to
flatter every one of my bridesmaids,
and since my
wedding is after 6
p.m., everyone
will be more
dressed up. I am
using a lot of red
roses too, so the
black and red will
be a good con
trast to each
other,” Gonzales
said. “My guests
should be dressed
up, and the bride
should definitely
be the only one in
white that night.”
As the line for
women’s attire is
a thin one that is
easily crossed
between inappro
priate and accept
able, men’s wed
ding guest fash-
ion is more
straightforward.
Blissweddings.com’s guide to
male wedding guest fashion is broken
down into different sections for what
ever the invitation directs on attire.
For a very formal daytime wed
ding, a very dark, conservative three-
piece suit is best, and a dark, three-
piece suit is appropriate for both
semi-formal daytime and informal
daytime weddings, as reported on the
Web site. For a very formal evening,
men should wear black tuxedos, and
for semi-formal and informal evening
events a dark suit is also best.
u
Twenty years ago,
wedding guests didn't
wear black, which was
considered too funeral.
Ten years ago, they didn't
wear white. Today, both
colors are acceptable, al
though black is preferred
for evening weddings,
and white outfits should
never be more elaborate
than the bride's ensemble
— Rebecca Grinnals
owner of Engaging Concepts,
a Florida-based wedding service
Tim Scarborough, a senior recreation, parks and tourism sci
ences major, is not going to be on ‘Apprentice 2,’ but he is ready
John C. Livas • THE BATTALION
for the formal wedding that is not quite black tie. By wearing
bright colors under his suit, he spruces up his pin stripes.
pAMP! I
Lj r*\ 1VI 1 LJ
with Lauren Smith
t
ouiure
I f you are anything like me,
you are sadly always the
bridesmaid, never the bride.
Rather than sulk in your eternal sin
gleness and same frumpy black dress
or your dad’s old, off-black colored
suit, it is officially time to revamp
your wedding wardrobe while
remembering several dos and don’ts
for different occasions.
Despite what you may think, it is
not acceptable to try and pull off the
same outfit for every wedding you go
to, no matter what the invitations
says. Different occasions call for dis
tinct wardrobe changes.
Even if every other woman is
wearing a large, obnoxious spring hat
with a colored ribbon around it at an
outdoor morning wedding, you can
not jump on the bandwagon with
them. If you choose to do this when
you are older than 63, then that is up
to you. But, until then, steer clear of
the oversized donuts on your head.
Some brides are incredibly serious
about having the ultimate princess
wedding, so they will not be satisfied
until every man present has tails on
his tuxedo. This over-the-top affair is
called white-tie. If you are invited to
one of these, men must not take this
too literally and rent any sort of
white tuxedo.
In larger cities in particular,
bohemian couples are decorating their
wedding invitations with “creative
dress please.” What this means exact
ly, no one is quite sure.
But, everyone there will probably
be wearing something trendy, look
ing overaccessorized but
understated and talking
about politics and the
opening of an art exhibit.
It might be best to read
“The New Yorker”
before you attend and
throw on a scarf because
those always make peo
ple look more sophisti
cated somehow.
At the last wedding I
went to, there were sev
eral girls waltzing around
the dance floor in white
dresses. I could see con
tempt on the faces of
every grandmother pres
ent. Plus, this wedding
was before Easter, and
grandma always said,
“Never wear white
before Easter.” While
there may never be a
resolution to this
debate, I think white is
fine for summer wed
dings as long as you accessorize
with other colors and keep the dress
shorter in length.
But, because there are so many
other colors to choose from, a wed
ding guest wearing white really isn’t
necessary. Sorry, wannabe brides,
your day will come soon enough.
The most important rule for
female wedding guests is stay
classy. Modesty should be your first
priority as a wedding guest, even if
the wedding reception may be at
your friend’s uncle’s tropical-themed
Haley Gressett, a sophomore kinesiology major, is wear
ing the perfect ensemble for a semi-formal wedding in
the early evening.
bar. To you single ladies who go on
the prowl at weddings: Showing off
too much skin will not get you any
closer to making a trip down the
aisle yourself and something could
come out of place in your scan
dalous outfit when you are fighting-
for the bouquet.
Men do not always put much
thought into what they wear, and
this can be their biggest wedding
guest fashion mistake. You will defi
nitely feel out of place if you show
See Couture on page 8B