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How to Tell Wedding Guests What to Wear: Wedding Color Dress Code



When it comes to asking wedding guests to wear certain colors, you might be wondering if it’s appropriate to ask and how to tell wedding guests what to wear. This is something you’ll likely want to include on your wedding invitations, along with dietary restrictions, guest limitations, and whether you will allow kids to attend.


So, how to tell wedding guests what to wear? Your guests will be excited to attend your wedding, but they likely won’t like being told what to wear. If it’s important to you that your guests wear a certain color, you should ask politely and nicely. Don’t tell your guests what to wear but rather simply ask them if they would wear a certain color.


Here is more information that you might find useful when deciding if and how you should ask your guests to wear certain colors.



Should You Ask Wedding Guests to Wear a Certain Color?

You’ve probably seen those beautiful wedding photos where the wedding guests’ attire perfectly match the wedding theme and venue. It certainly would make for amazing wedding ceremony photos.


The tricky telling your guests that you want them to wear a certain color. Many guests won’t want to be told what color they have to wear. Here are some thoughts from other people regarding this.


I think if you have a theme of its “black tie” you can suggest that. But otherwise, unless the guest list is very small and intimate I would not feel it to be acceptable to be told what to wear to a wedding. If the guest list is all very close family then they are probably more a part of a weddng then say a wedding with a guest list of 100 would be. I could see how the matching look would be nice, but as a guest..I can’t afford to go out and buy a new outfit every occasion and don’t have a suitable wedding outfit in either of those colors. HRH Mags
You’re already asking these people to spend time and money to attend your destination wedding. I would be annoyed if I were told I also had to wear certain colors. There are only so many hoops I’m willing to jump through to attend someone’s wedding. When they’re totally arbitrary – I start to get cranky. Zhabeego
You could play on the rhyme, Something borrowed, something blue. … Something blue – all of you! Wear your favorite blah blah blah. I would outsource this to a writer friend, but that’s my first thought 🙂 Melissabegins

There are a lot of opinions either way, but generally, most people don’t think asking wedding guests to wear a certain color is a good idea.


However, if you have a fairly small wedding, you might be able to pull off asking your wedding guests to wear certain colors. This is especially helpful if you know your guests closely and know exactly how they will respond to such a request.


Looking for beautiful wedding invitations? Here are some great ideas and options that will help you find the best invitations for your wedding!




Requesting Wedding Guests to Wear Certain Colors

If you decide to ask your guests to wear certain colors, here are a few ways you can politely ask.


Add a card to the invitation. You could add a little card to your business card that states how you would like your guests to dress for your special day. This is a simple idea, although it may cost a little extra to make separate cards.


Add to your invitation. If you want a cheaper option, you can simply add something to your wedding invitation politely asking your guests to wear certain attire. This may be a much cheaper and more subtle way to go about asking this of your guests.


Put on your wedding website. Another great idea is to put on the wedding website that you wish for your guests to wear a certain color. That way your guests can simply look at your website for this information, instead of having to mail out separate invitations or flyers.


Spreading by word. If you are having a smaller wedding, consisting of 100 or fewer guests, you could spread the word by telling them face to face. If your wedding guests mostly consist of family and close friends, you could quickly spread the word.



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Hi, I’m Kristin. While I haven’t found my Prince Charming yet, I’ve been dreaming of getting married for a long long time. I started this site as a place to record all the things I’ve found and researched in preparation for my own wedding someday. I can’t wait to share it all with you!

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