The Best Dresses to Wear to a Wedding

Let’s talk wedding season. I mentioned it a little during Sunday Book Club, but now it’s time to talk about the clothes. It feels like there’s a never ending list for what you can/can’t/shouldn’t wear to weddings, so I thought I would help you out with the best dresses to wear to a wedding.

Ann Taylor Lace Dress / Sole Society T-Strap Heels / Clutch (old, similar)

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Ann Taylor Lace Dress / Sole Society T-Strap Heels / Clutch (old, similar)

While I tend to have a shopping problem, I tend to be a bit of an under-buyer when it comes to special occasion pieces. Because of that, I have a few key dresses that I can rotate around for most events. It’s also helped me figure out how to pick out a few key dresses so you have the best dresses to wear to a wedding.

1. What’s your color?
This isn’t your favorite color. This is the color that you know you look great in and always feel good wearing. It tends to work year round and wouldn’t be considered too flashy (sorry, this isn’t the time to pull out your flashy dress). For me, this color is navy. Maybe it’s boring, but I always feel great in it.

2. What did the invitation tell you?
I’ve talked about this in my wedding shoes post (which I’ll be updating for you soon), but the invitation can give you a lot of clues about what to wear.

The first and most obvious is the dress code (duh). Cocktail = Knee length, black tie = floor length. The second is location. Is it an outdoor wedding in a reclaimed barn? You can get away with a nicer sundress and wedges. Did they rent the ballroom at a hotel? Plan to break out your heels and a nicer dress.

3. Pick a chameleon.
You want to be able to look at your dress and see it at a few different events. For example, both this lace J.Crew Factory Dress and midi Banana Republic dress I dressed up and paired with heels. But, add some wedges and a jean jacket to the BR dress and it could work well with a more relaxed outdoor wedding. I could see my lace J.Crew Dress with some strappy sandals and pull over at another event. Seriously, it’s all about how you dress up and down what you pick.

My Ann Taylor Lace Dress above is the perfect example of that. I wore it a few weeks ago for my cousin’s Bat Mitzvah and for temple, I wore it like this with a long off white cardigan. Her party that evening was a little more relaxed, so I got rid of the cardigan and threw on a pair of flat sandals.

This dress is also my perfect fall back dress for most occasions. It’s a perfect neutral color. I can dress it up even more if I need to. I can wear it to any wedding that dress wise goes up to cocktail attire. The color isn’t off limits and navy is a great year round color.

Was this helpful? Do you still need some help finding a dress?

I searched through the internet to find some great options ranging from black tie to a little more casual. If you are looking for something a little more specific though, please let me know and I’d be more than happy to do a personalized search for you!

Best Dresses to Wear to a Wedding

Photography by Alex Good