Is it okay for wedding guests to wear black?

Ive never heard of black... Ive only heard of not wearing white. All weddings Ive been too, theres many guest that wear black... White is the only color that SHOULDNT be worn to a wedding, other then the Bride.

Traditionally its not okay to wear black at a wedding because its the color of mourning. But a lot of people wear black as an every day staple. Generally people who don't like black at a wedding are sticklers for etiquette.

I guess I must be a stickler for etiquette, or perhaps just a bit old fashioned, but I would never wear black to a wedding. I've always heard that you shouldn't wear black or white to a wedding. It would be okay for a man to wear a black suit, especially at a formal, evening wedding, but women shouldn't wear black dresses.

It's incredibly outdated and old fashioned to say you can't wear black to a wedding. Hell, many brides even have the bridesmaids in black as a timeless classic and elegant look. There was a show on Glamour's 20 Do's and Don'ts for wedding style the other day and even on there they said that black is great to wear to weddings, especially evening weddings. That was a million years ago that you could only wear back if you were in mourning. Pssttt...another secret...you can even wear a white wedding dress if you're not a virgin these days! haha, hose old rules are so silly now. The only important rules for guests' clothes is that they be appropriate for the formality of the event, whatever that may be. NO WHITE, off white or anything close to it! And nothing overly sexy

That rule is insanely old fashion! If you go to any better dress department the majority of the dresses are BLACK! Black is a formal attire color. What about the basic little black dress & pearls that just about everone owns?! Plus everyone knows black is slimming LOL

White on the otherhand is totally off limits the color is for the bride & only the bride. I happen to love black!

I always wear black to weddings sometimes black and white dress mainly because i prefer the way i look in it better then anything else....and most the people at the weddings i've gone to have done that. I think the black thing is mainly for the bride and grooms parents not to wear black

I say it's definitely fine to wear black to a wedding. I wouldn't even think twice about it......now white or off-white dress is another subject, but black is fine and very classy.

My dress for my sister's Wedding was black and I'm wearing the same dress for my BIL's wedding this summer since it's appropriate for a picnic style reception after. I also wore a black dress to my cousin's wedding given I was 6 months pregnant and didn't want to show. I've never heard anything where you can't wear black to a Wedding.

My mom even wore black to my sister's Wedding since that was the color of the tuxes and the color the bridesmaids wore, and my sister requested she wore black. The whole black, white, and champagne look was extremely elegant. My dress was tea legnth and that was the purpose of my sister's wanting us to wear black so all of us had a "Little Black Dress" for multiple uses after her wedding.

Come to think of it a lot of guests wore black to my sister's Wedding. My hubby even went with a black suit and now has a suit for multiple purposes too. Practically the whole head table at my sister's wedding wore black in one way or another except for one of my sister's FBILs. I'll post a pic of my sis, mom, and I on my inspiration boards for our whole black look except my sister.

Actually the groom (my BIL's mom) even wore a black tank top and black pants to their semi-formal wedding (she doesn't follow ettiquete for Weddings). She was the most underdressed person at their wedding and that was the talk of their wedding, not because black was the trend color.

Check with the bridal party first. You can wear what ever colour you like for a wedding as long as it does not clash with the wedding party. There are so many rules on what colours to wear and when, that it's being on the borderline of ridiculous. Here are all the colour rules society have us believing, and this is just some.

1) You cannot wear white after Labour day

2) You should only wear black for a funeral

3) Pink is only for girls

4) Blue is only for Boys

5) Red is considered as Danger, a warning sign. Beware. Then..... on the end of that red colour it means good luck in the Chinese culture. Same colour completely different meaning.

I don't believe in luck or superstitious. I believe in myself.

So check first and wear what ever makes you look and feel great. Have fun.

As long as you don't mind and it's classy --Rock it!

Im glad you asked this because I wanted to Incourage my guests to wear black on my day. My wedding dress is solid red and I have seen pictures of brides who had red dresses and had everyone in black -- it looked AWESOME! My GM are in black tuxes with black shirts and gold ties for a pop of color. I saw a wedding once where everyone was in either black or a dark color. It looked fine and it was for an outdoor summer wedding. Rock what you like and like what you rock!

Soon2b - Of course, if you WANT people to wear something specific to your wedding, then whatever you like is great. When my sister got married, she wore white jeans and a white blouse and requested (or required might be a better word!) that guests wear jeans and NO ties. We all went along with it, because it was a VERY casual wedding, with pizza and beer reception. BUT, I would never wear jeans to someone else's wedding! When this same sister heard that my wedding was going to be "casual" she asked me if they could wear jeans, and I made it clear to her that MY wedding was not going to be THAT casual! I wouldn't kick her out if she showed up in jeans, but I wouldn't be happy.

As for black, I guess it's a matter of what you learned growing up. I wouldn't wear black to a wedding, but won't be terribly offended if someone wears black to mine... but it's unlikely since it's a summer wedding and at 11 AM.

Well.....if it's not appropriate, then I guess I offended a coupe of brides!

I personally don't see anything wrong with it. I wore a black and white dress to my friend's wedding 2 weekends ago. When I was doing some research on Spanish customs I read that a while back, Spanish brides used to wear black wedding dresses to signify their devotion till death. I thought that was interesting, it doesn't make me want to go out and dye my wedding dress!

I personally think black is a classic color and looks great on everyone... If someone wears black to my wedding I am pretty sure it wouldnt even cross my mind that it was not appropriate... I have worn black to a wedding and have seen many others do the same... This day in age like Laura said you really should be more concerned with your guest's attire being appropriate for the TYPE of wedding you are having... black is just a color...

REALLY????

what does gown preservation have to do with guests wearing black to a wedding????

NOTHING!!!!

I'm having a theme wedding. And, I'm actually requesting that all the guests wear black. I want everyone in black except for me. I think it's a classy setting and is going to look great for pictures. Not being able to wear black is about as outdated as only being allowed to get married in a church. Honestly, it's your wedding, and you can make everyone wear a chicken suit if you want.