Wedding Strategies

Choosing Formal, Semi Formal or an Informal Wedding Style

It’s all about style. In this case, your wedding is the topic of discussion. You definitely want to be in style and have a style for your wedding day. It’s not just the decorations that dictate the style of your wedding but also the clothing, food, transportation, wedding gown and the clothing of the wedding party. Once there is a mutual agreement on each, then the guests need to decide how they will dress for this all important occasion.

Of course, venue and time of day play a big role in choosing whether the style should be labeled as formal, semi formal or informal. Here are some ideas as to dress code for each one. Decide what you prefer as a couple and if either label fits you. If not, it’s your wedding and you can mix a component from each and make your own label.

First, we have a formal style wedding. This wedding can be held in any choice of venue such as a place of worship, large home or garden. The groom and groomsmen should be wearing tailcoats and the women should be dressed in long gowns. Most of the time, a formal wedding has at least four or more attendants. The dress code for the guests should be elegant and more formal in appearance. If it is an evening wedding, the woman can wear a floor length gown or cocktail dress while the men dress in tuxedos. A formal wedding can also be earlier in the day if you wish. If this is the case, the dress code can be slightly less extravagant. For instance, women could wear street length dresses and the men could wear dark suits. The bride and groom and perhaps the wedding party and family would arrive to the spot in a horse drawn carriage, limousine or another elaborate form of transportation. A sit down meal would be ideal for serving food at the reception.

A second choice would be a semi formal wedding. This style is somewhere in the middle of the formal and the informal. Perhaps this option is an appropriate compromise for the bride and groom who may have different tastes in style. Unlike the formal wedding, this one seems a little less rigid. The semi formal and the informal have more similarities. For instance, there are fewer attendants. The bride and bridesmaid dresses would be made from simple fabric. The fabric itself changes the entire look of a dress and being made of a simple fabric, the dress would look less formal. The groom could choose to wear a gray suit or a formal suit as opposed to having to wear a black tuxedo as with a more formal style. Therefore, the guests may be more comfortable in dresses that are street length or cocktail dresses. The men would likely choose to wear a dark suit on this occasion. Dressing this way would be appropriate for either daytime or evening semi formal wedding. The food would be more of a buffet style which many find more relaxing.

Lastly, an informal style wedding is just as it sounds. Of course, a wedding is the most important day in your life and you are sure to go all out. However, with an informal wedding you can save some money as well as make your guests a bit more comfortable as well as yourselves. This style has one to three attendants as well which is a similarity to the semi formal style. The bride would probably choose to wear a simple, white floor length dress. The bridal party could each wear a street length or floor length dress in a pastel color. Women guests would want to wear a street length dress or a dressy pant .

Posted in: Style & Seating