Guest Attire

Yeah if I read that description I might wear more of a sundress than a cocktail dress. No jeans, but I wouldn't be dressing necessarily "elegant."

Thank you so much for the responses! I totally agree that I can't fully control what people wear, and I'm hoping they'll have enough common sense based off of the venue. The main reason I'm asking is on our wedding website, (which I'm in the process of making) in the section that has the wedding details it says "attire," and I'm trying to come up with what to put there. Does "dressy casual" make sense? Or "semi-formal?"

You can't tell them how to dress, but you can tell them about the event and hope they make the right choices. "Our ceremony will be in the barn and the party in a tent! We'll have lawn games and horseshoes!"

I'm personally confused by 'rustic elegant with horseshoes". I have no idea what I'd wear...

First you can suggest but you cant "tell" people what to wear. If someone shows up in jeans are you gong to kick them out? Sounds like heels & cocktail dress would be a bad idea.... if you have a wedding web site you should suggest business casual. I would personally want to know that i will be walking in grass and playing yard games.

The only time I think it is okay to tell people how to dress is for a DW, because sometimes resorts have dress codes, or if you know it will be hot and want to let people wear certain attire, it is nice to let them know via email with the itinerary. For yours, on your website and when talking to people you could try and spread the word that khakis and sundresses are perfect for your event, or whatever. But I wouldn't put it everywhere, or make a big deal about it. It will all work out, the people in your framed photos will know how you want them to dress, and the rest will hopefully be comfortable in what they are wearing. IF people ask, I think you could say like "oh no more dressy than slacks, no tie necessary!" or whatever, but I wouldn't say it too strongly either, because it can come off real rude real fast.

Let adults adult and decide what to wear. The only time it is acceptable is if it truley is a black tie event.

I think it's okay to tell the the dress attire on your website. My friend got married on the beach but didn't want too casual so she wrote on her website that men should not be in shorts and have a tie( or something like that, I don't know how it was worded) we found it helpful to know the feel of what she wanted. Would she kick people out if they were in short? Probably not, but it did help those who were unsure of what to wear and wanted to dress appropriately.

What is rustic elegant?

You can just delete the attire section and avoid the confusion!

It depends on people's interpretation of dressy casual. To me it means I can wear a nice dark pair of jeans with a nice top.

Maybe you can put it in a FAQ section and put "suggested attire:..."

We put something like "Cocktail attire recommended" and then let the ladies know the reception was on grass, so wear heels with caution!

Dress code is often best handled under the FAQs on your website-- that way it doesn't feel like you're telling them what to wear, but just answering a question you assume they have. In this case you might try, "Avoid high heels as there will be some walking on grass involved." That way they know you're expecting somewhat dressy.

Thanks everyone!! I like the idea of putting it in the FAQs! I think that's what I'll do

I was invited to a farm wedding last year and everyone came in normal wedding attire. I just wore flats because I assumed I would be walking on grass.

Please change your avatar to something other than the rings! They are associated with spam/trolls. Its not appropriate to put dress code info on your invite unless its black tie. Your wedding website is the perfect place for it

You say the elegant level of your wedding by the look of your invitations and to a lesser amount the look of the website. If your invite looks like a bbq people are going to dress down if it looks dark and elegant people might over dress.

Don't say.."we are getting married in a barn" I've been to a lot of barn weddings and not once have I thought about showing up in jeans.

A friend of mine got married at a farm a couple years ago. The ceremony and reception were both outside in the grass (but they did have a dance floor). I wore a knee length dress, and all the other guests dressed up like it was a wedding. Girls wore dresses of all lengths, and guys wore slacks, dress shirts, and ties. Maybe there were a couple of polos? The only thing I can't remember are the shoes I wore. We were not warned ahead of time that we would be in the grass the whole evening, so I'm pretty sure I wore some kind of heels. Wedges or my strappy flat sandals would have been a better choice.

Most people will recognize that they're going to a wedding and they still need to dress up a bit.

Why are there so many threads about people telling others what to wear.... your guests are knowing adults and know how to dress at a wedding

Hmm okay yeah I guess keeping it on the website and word of mouth will be best! And that's a good point-Our save the dates, invites, and website will definitely have the same look/theme we'll be going for at the wedding..so hopefully our guests will be able to use their best judgement based off of that.