The Other Wedding Outfits
- Whitney Wisdom
- May 31
- 7 min read
As a bride in the 2020s, getting your wedding dress is only the beginning of your wedding shopping journey! Everyone does it a little differently but, 9 times out of 10, you’re shopping for more wedding events than just the “big day.” First there’s the engagement shoot, then the bridal shower, the bachelorette, rehearsal dinner and even the day after look. It’s a never ending circle of looking for white dresses, white tanks, white skirts, white shoes; that when your wedding is over it’s actually kind of sad to look at white. Enjoy this time because once you’re back to being a wedding guest you are never allowed to wear white again. Below I reflect on my white outfit selections as a summer bride and provide tips and tricks on what to wear to which event.
Bridal Shower: This look I planned from the ground up starting with…the shoes. Why, you ask? Because of the shoe game. Every shower for a bride in my generation has the groom come in a little later, making a grand entrance with the best bouquet of flowers he could find in the bride’s hometown for ladies young and old to swoon over. The bride and groom are then asked to sit back to back in front of the crowd, raising the shoe of the person who’s more likely to, or best at, based on the questions the host is reading. Being a fashion enthusiast, all I think of when I think about this game is this is a huge spotlight on shoes! You literally have to raise them above your head for all to see!
My mom told me the theme for my shower was pink but, as the bride, I am to wear a white. Wearing pink shoes with my little white dress was the perfect way for me to match into the pink theme as well. I went warehouse shopping to find a pink floral bow slip on with a resin pink kitten heel.
Since I rented most of the outfits for my bachelorette (We’ll get to it.) I knew I wanted to buy something really cool to wear to my shower. That way, I would have a dress to keep from this time period to always remind me of being the bride to be. I recommend getting a white dress for your shower but with a pattern on it because one you’re more likely to rewear it and two it's less expected. It's no fun wearing a dress on a special day that’s already been seen all over socials. I did the most me thing imaginable, leaned into a theme, and wore a shoe printed dress, in a loose summer-friendly silhouette. What people don’t know about showers these days, are they are in fact all about the shoes. My only regret is not cleaning my soles or angling the bow towards the audience more during the shoe game.
I dressed my man in a white, tan, and black striped button down that matched the colors on the pattern of my dress. He wore long pants even though it was summertime to make it nicer but black high top sneakers to make it casual.
Bachelorette: Not everyone does theme nights but let’s be honest for a sec and acknowledge that I love a good time and themes with borderline costumes add to the fun! We started off easy with a Dancing Queen theme which was code for all the bridesmaids to wear sequins and 70s attire in whatever color/print they wanted. This allowed me to wear an all white sequined dress like I’d always envisioned. I loved that in certain lighting the sequins picked up pink and it coincidentally matched the photoshoot background my maid of honor picked perfectly! (The house was Taylor Swift themed!) I added guitar earrings and white platforms that are comfy for heels. I went with a big white hair bow that gives a nod to “yeah I’m a bride” without being a full blown veil. I always vote for classy over corny.
The last theme night was 2000s Rom Coms and it was so hard to pick who from my fave genre and time in cinematic history I wanted to go as. Like I mentioned in my intro, this is the time to capitalize on wearing white so I was brainstorming on which leading lady I could dress as while still wearing white. Mia Thermopolis, prinCESS of Genoiva was truly the only answer. A strapless dress was the only thing I had to get. The tiara and long white gloves I had from pointe costumes and the headset I had from the DVD player we had in the back seat to probably watch the Princess Diaries. We had so much fun eating takeout with Cinderella Story on tv and jamming out to the Y2K soundtracks of our youth!
I have to admit that even before I was engaged I was eyeing some white bikinis. Both white bikinis I brought on my bach had patterns to make it easier to wear again. As someone who loves the challenge of putting together new looks, I never buy something for a one time use. For our boat day we did a Cherry Bomb theme where I wore a white string bikini with embroidered cherries and the girls wore red and pink. It looked so cute and coordinated but not overly matchy. It stormed while we were on the boat and so we had to take quick cover and didn’t get a group pic but we did get to sing/scream Umbrella as my MOH drove us safely to shore!
Rehearsal Dinner: The most popular choice for menswear at a formal wedding is a tuxedo. Which is exactly why I wanted to wear a floor-length white dress with black lapels - a deconstructed tuxedo made for a white tie affair. My engagement shoot, invitations, and choice of venue all exhibit an Old Hollywood ambiance. This was my last chance to lay a final Easter egg as to what guests could expect. My wedding was tomorrow.
Even though I was tempted to do hot rollers and some sort of pinup girl hairdo, I opted to keep my hair natural - straight and down. This was a strategic choice so that my hair could be fresh with no product and no dents from curls on the morning of my wedding. Also strategically, I wore makeup that was easy to remove at home so I wouldn’t have residual makeup for the next day. This means nothing waterproof. I went for a feathery mascara and a classic red lip because, why does no one wear lipstick anymore? And light but long, gold sparkly earrings with stars. Think of your rehearsal dinner as the red carpet before an awards show and you’re the favorite!
Reception: What I am about to type is my opinion on a very controversial topic so, what I am saying is controversial. Especially to my millennial friends. Don’t get a second wedding dress. Why would you get your dream, beautiful princess, possibly couture gown, and then take it off and change into something from Shein? Because it's more comfortable? You will be having so much fun you won’t want to leave the dance floor to go change and you won’t care or notice that you’re uncomfortable. I hate adding this element of casualness to a wedding. In a lot of the reception photos the bride is the only one in a mini dress and sneakers making the guest’s looks more elevated. It makes my skin itch.
I generally enjoy how casual our culture has become. I can’t imagine lounging around my apartment in jeans or wearing stockings on an airplane but, when it’s time to dress up, when it’s time for your wedding, get the ballgown and leave it on. You won’t be uncomfortable.
Day After: Day After wedding events are all about reliving the magic of the night before and are one last opportunity to wear white. (Unless you pack white for a honeymoon. Read about my honeymoon to Hawaii HERE.) After a long night, I knew I wanted to wear my recovery flip-flops (Oofos) for arch support and a comfy dress that was a step fancier than the grad party vibes we told the guests to dress to.
Though I did something old, something new, I didn’t do a “something blue” for my wedding day. I’m not a blue gal but my husband has the best ocean blue eyes so we joked that he was my something blue. The old tradition motivated me to go with a white dress accented with light blue bow and ribbons for the day after party. As the lightest color on the spectrum, white takes texture really well! I went with a ballet-inspired tulle tiered midi dress with bow straps because dance (and dance costumes!) will always be my first love. I wore a charm necklace with travel icons. Travel was a common thread throughout our full wedding day.
For whatever you do for your last hurrah event, I challenge you to really think through your outfit. What unique things in your life and in your relationship can you draw inspiration from when creating the look? For me that was travel, blue, and ballet. Be sure to plan out your day after looking well in advance so you aren’t tempted to just throw on sweats to wish your guests well. This will be the last impression of your wedding! As always, I am here to spread wisdom and would happily help you put together any of your bridal looks!
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