Girly Advice for what to wear to family wedding

Hello fashionistas

Going to a family wedding in June and have bought a lovely dress to wear. What's the etiquette re. co-ordinating jacket, shoes etc.?

Dress is a sleeveless white linen dress from Hobbs with a geometric pattern in black and green. I was thinking of buying a white linen jacket to wear with it, do I need to buy white shoes and bag as well or could these be in a different colour? Also I'm not into heels, are flat shoes OK for this type of thing? I'm going with my Grandad so not looking to wow anyone. Haven't been to a wedding in ages, don't want to make a faux-pas!

Cheers

Take your dress to somewhere like John Lewis/Debenhams/Selfridges and get one of their personal shoppers to put something together for you.

You don't have to buy anything they show you and its free

I'd go for black shoes rather than green  - unless you think you'd wear green shoes again. 

As for heels, wear what you're comfortable in - you'll probably be standing a lot.

Thanks, everyone!

I got a bit browbeaten by a friend earlier who said that everything had to match and kept getting me to try on really expensive stuff. At least now I can have a look at different colours and I can fall back on black shoes which I already have if I don't find anything. Green shoes won't be a problem as it's my favourite colour anyway.

John Lewis is a nice idea as well.

I'm going for understated elegance so I'm sure I won't outshine the bride

and now I am on the blinking Hobbs website looking at clothes I can't afford!

I was sitting on a train recently, hearing the woman next to me talking to her mate about her wedding.

The whole tone of her (very one-sided) conversation was about how she expected everyone to dress up for her upcoming wedding, that she was insisting that everyone wore hats, and what a mess Tanya had looked at the last one (yes, her last wedding!), because she wore a blue dress and black shoes, and carried a straw bag, and had her hair in a pony tail, if you could imagine, and she'd refused to by one of the pictures because Tanya was in it too, and she spoiled the picture, and on and on and on.

I thought is was pretty sad that she was so obsessed with how everyone looked, and didn't seem to care about anything else.

In the end I stuck my nose in and said "don't you just want your friends to come and see you be married, and have a good time?"

Which at least had the result of getting her to shut up about it

I like the green pumps it goes with, and you could easily get some sort of wrap in that colour.

Or the green pumps and the white jacket.  The only thing with a jacket is, the dress has a lovely detail around the neck and it would be a shame not to see that,

or the 3/4 Paley Jacket would look nice.

Ooh yes, I've seen the shoes and they're gorgeous but a bit dear. Might have to do some overtime to justify them...

I thought I might need a jacket just to cover up in the church as I've got a tattoo on my shoulder and I know some people find them a bit offputting. Also the wedding is in N. Ireland so even though it's June the weather could be iffy.

If you are bothered about your tattoo have you tried Jane Iredale cover up.  I had my two lasered for my wedding but they didn't go completely and this was the only thing decent enough to cover them up.  If its on your shoulder a wrap would be a cheaper option that would still keep it under wraps (so to speak).

I have just searched on Hobbs for apple and there are loads of things (that I now want grrr) LOL

That's a good option. I'm trying to remember if my Grandad knows about my tattoo - don't want to give him a heart attack!

So much lovely stuff - I might find myself popping in on my way home just to check out the shoes

OK that's decided it - will definitely get a jacket. Not sure I can keep control of a pashmina.

Thanks for that tip, IronMin

A great way to use a pashmina as a jacket is to put it over your shoulders, pull it under your arms and tie it under the shawl part covering your back.  That way you get the shoulder covering 'jacket' effect and its not hard to control.  It looks fab!

You can also drape it backwards over your neck when sipping champers at the reception and loose it completely when the dancing starts!!

Avoid any clothing with writing on it.

And wearing plaid and spots together is rarely a positive fashion statement.

Personally I always wear black leather to weddings but that's just me.

Wardrobe update - I'm sure you're all dying to know

I've tried the dress on with a white linen jacket (M&S - £35) and black shoes and it looks fine. I did have a look at the green shoes at Hobbs (£65!!!) but luckily they weren't quite the right green so I wasn't tempted to splurge. I've got a little black bag already so I think I'm all sorted now. I'll just be keeping an eye open for any green jewellry to finish it off.

I look so ladylike - it's a miracle