Wedding

Let’s face it: Getting married can be super expensive. I’ve been through the whole thing, and in my experience, besides the catering bill, the next big expense is the frock. However, wedding dresses don’t have to cost crazy amounts of money now, with plenty of high-street stores offering up a more affordable bridal selection. But what if you’ve got your eye on something designer and just don’t have the budget? One word: rental. The bridal-rental market is currently booming. Eshita Kabra-Davies, the founder of peer-to-peer rental platform By Rotation, told me that “By Rotation‘s bridal selection grew during lockdown with searches for bridal and wedding wear up by 1200% since March 2020. The number of...

I won’t be the first or the last person to ever panic about what to wear to a wedding. The truth is that it’s difficult because we’ve all been hard-wired into buying something new for the occasion. I imagine this is something to do with the psychology behind getting dressed–a new dress will make us feel and look better so we’re always striving for the next dress to give us that confidence boost. I get it because I’ve been there but there are two major problems with this thinking: One, it’s not ethical to continue buying a new dress every time there’s a fancy event on, only to never wear it again. Two, it’s not a financial option for most of us.  But what if I were to tell you that you can wear a new dress to every upcomin...

Deciding what to wear to a wedding is difficult enough, but a summer wedding? It requires even more consideration. While you can’t bank on sunny skies for the big day, if recent weather is anything to go by, you can assume it’s going to be a muggy affair. So to strike the perfect balance on what to wear to a summer wedding, you need to be sure of a few things: 1) that your ensemble won’t make you overheat, 2) that it feels comfortable to spend the day in, and 3) that it still feels fancy enough for a special occasion.  Ticking all these boxes is no small feat, but we’ve cracked it with a bit of help from some of our stylishly blessed friends. From the fabrics to look for to the new silhouettes to try, scroll on to see seven chic suggestions on what to wear...

“I definitely think it’s appropriate to wear black to a wedding, especially if the attire is black-tie. I also think it depends on the location/aesthetic of the wedding,” says Who What Wear U.S.’s Lauren Eggertsen. “For example, I attended a black-tie wedding where the reception took place in a gorgeous ballroom, so a black dress seemed more than appropriate. If I were attending a summertime outdoor wedding, black might seem out of place.” On the other hand, her colleague Erin Fitzpatrick would steer clear of turning to the dark side. “I definitely don’t think it’s a universal rule anymore, but I personally prefer to skip black dresses for weddings,” she says. “Since every wedding I’ve been to has been in the summ...

When we find ourselves in a style rut, we can always rely on French women to help us out of it. With an effortless approach to styling and the ability to make even the most basic of pieces look premium, we’re constantly inspired by their wares. Which got us thinking, How do French women tackle what’s arguably the hardest occasion to dress for in the summer? Naturally, we’re talking about weddings. Deciding on a wedding-guest outfit is never easy—even after years spent writing on the subject, we too can find it overwhelming. So we turned to six of our favourite French women to see how they dress for seasonal nuptials. From breezy dresses and quintessential accessories to the hue us Brits are often too tentative to wear, keep scrolling to see what French women wear to summe...

Wedding guest outfits can often feel repetitive. Lace, pastel tones and midi dresses are commonplace on the ceremony circuit. Even we find it hard to catch a break from the monotony, and it’s literally our job to hunt down the most interesting alternatives. So imagine how difficult it can be to navigate the nuptial style waters when you’re a minimalist to boot. Dressing for summer with a simplistic aesthetic is no small feat (it is the season of statement prints and fanciful silhouettes, after all), but throw occasionwear into the equation and it’s even more of a minefield. Finding the perfect look isn’t impossible. It does, however, require a bit of ingenuity. For inspiration, we turned to some of our favourite influencers to find the best minimalist wedding guest ...

There are various factors to consider when choosing an outfit for an important event: the venue, the dress code, the weather and even how long the ceremony lasts. Then there’s the sheer number of dress options to choose from (not to mention the tailored and jumpsuit alternatives—but that’s a whole other article). From lace and chiffon to silk and organza, we really are spoilt for choice.  More than anything else, we’re just excited about getting dressed up again, putting on heels (never thought we’d hear ourselves saying that) and painting the town red. So really, we’d be happy in anything that doesn’t come with a matching knitted top. However, we want to make sure we don’t merely get distracted, magpie-like, by a...

As an editor at Who What Wear, I spend a considerable amount of my week looking for new dresses, so this time of year, I also have an accidental side hustle as a “dress hunter” for my friends. My WhatsApp conversations have been dominated by talk of wedding-guest dresses. The most common question I receive is “What do I wear when the ceremony is going to be at a hot destination?” In this case, I’d recommend you avoid polyester and anything that will exacerbate the stickiness. In fact, I’ve been asked this question five times this month already. As I said, the first thing I’d look out for is the material. Avoid anything too synthetic; instead, opt for cotton, linens and silks. It can be tempting to think you have to wear as little fabric as possible...

Due to the reduced nature of weddings, one trend that designers and retailers have repeatedly told me about is the shift to more pared-back looks. Marisa Rooney who owns Beautiful Brides Liverpool, a curvy bridal boutique, said how she pivoted her business when the pandemic hit: “I was receiving enquiries from brides looking for a more casual approach to their day, and created my own small in-house  collection of dresses with modern and simplistic designs. These styles have been appealing to those who are having micro weddings.”  Designer Kate Halfpenny has said similar: “we have seen an interesting thing. What’s happened is brides have held their hero dress for their big party but then bought more pared-back looks for smaller ceremonies.”  Senior fashion ma...