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How To Dress For A Black Tie Wedding

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dressing for a black tie wedding

This past Memorial Day weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing one of my military buddies marrying a wonderful woman. Congratulations Mike and Vanessa! While we had an absolute blast during the wedding, I had been panicking for weeks over what to wear. It was my very first black tie wedding, so I was sweating buckets over it. I even asked you to help me pick a dress. Well, all of that planning fell through as I received the dress from Rent The Runway and it did not fit. Lucky for me, the Captain of my shop down at the base let me borrow a few dresses as back-ups. She was my fairy Godmother! Now that I have gone through it all, I have a few tips on how to dress for a black tie wedding.

black tie wedding, how to dress for black tie event

When it comes to the dress, go long
I created a bit of a battle on Facebook when I asked what color to wear to this wedding. It was a black tie event that was on a saturday night and after 6pm. In New York City. At Cipriani, one of the most well known restaurants and wedding venues in the city. Some said that since the couple is younger, you can go bold, and others said that black was best. The one thing they all agreed upon was the the dress should be long. I ended up in a long, black, one shoulder dress with a beautiful ruffle detail. When I arrived, I noticed that women in long dresses felt a big more comfortable and regal (and the dresses were all different colors). The ladies in shorter dresses did quite a bit of fidgeting, especially is that dress was too short. So, long is the way to go. If you do go short, make sure it’s as close to your knee as possible, and tailored in at the bottom, so it gives you a great silhouette.

black tie clutches

 

Keep the clutch fat
As we started dinner, I noticed that our servers would offer to place our clutches in the middle of the table so we could eat and move about at our leisure without having to put it on our chair or in our laps. Some ladies had those big envelope clutches, while others had a box type clutch. The box clutches were key. They fit perfectly in the middle of the table and didn’t disrupt the beautiful table setting and centerpiece. Plus, a box clutch will fit your cell phone, small camera and all of your beauty items. It’s also a classic shape of clutch so you can use it over and over again. Bonus points if it has a strap tucked inside that you can use when you’re dragging yourself back to your hotel room…or the after party.

Don’t go overboard with the shoes
You will dance. You will. Even at a big black tie event, people love to get down on the dance floor. While it was May, and open toe shoes are the default in spring, try to go with a closed toe shoe or a strappy shoe that closes at the toe. The straps will move to grow with your feet as the night progresses, and you won’t have the issue of your toes falling out when you dance to Will.i.am and Britney Spears. You don’t want a Julianne Moore incident on your hands, do you?

black tie wedding, how to dress for black tie event

Prom hair is OK
Women pair elegant with up-dos. That’s just want we do. After seeing all the great hair and outfits at the wedding, I noticed that the ladies who came in with their hair down, had it up or braided to the side before we reached the entree. Going with an up-do, even if it’s just a loose bun, is essential to you feeling comfortable. So, if you ever wanted to try one of those prom up-dos, now’s the time! I decided to go with a short wig since I couldn’t decide what to do with my natural hair.

black tie wedding, how to dress for a black tie event

Well, those are my tips on how to dress for a black tie wedding. Do you have any tips to add? I’d love for you to leave them in the comments!

Linking up with Monday Bloom this week.

Comments

    • Aww thank you Dede. I was told that formal events are like riding a bike, so I bet you’ll be popping wheelies at your next one 😀

      Reply

  5. You look amazing!! We are going to a wedding this weekend and I am writing some fashion tips next week. Great minds is all I can say. I’m pinning this to my mom fashion board.

    Reply

  7. You are beautiful! What a lovely dress! I appreciate these tips. I was actually looking at clutches and so forth today at The Bay here for a blogger event. I am so not fashionable right now. Mom clothes don’t do it for these kinds of occasions.

    Reply

    • They sure don’t! I have plenty of “mom clothes” but knew that none of them wouldn’t cut it.

      Reply

  10. I love box clutches, I picked a few at tjmaxx on clearance; the flat clutches are horrible to hold your things in, they become bulky and if you have luck like mine, you’ll spend the night picking your stuff up off the floor because the clasp wasn’t able to close completely because of the bulk of your items :( You guys look awesome! I always thought of using rent the runway, what happens if something you get doesn’t fit? Do you get some of your money back?

    Reply

    • Yup, Arelis, you get SOME of the money back. They have to take money out for shipping and whatnot, so I ended up losing 20 bucks. I guess it’s better than losing the whole 75, so that’s good. I now have a 55 dollar credit on the site that I can use on my next rental.

      Reply

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