Wedding Guest wear

Our wedding is an ALL Black elegant affair !
Goes with our New Year theme
I say do what’s best for you !

Your guests normally wear what they want within your suggested dress code. That said, if you have a black tie formal dress code, most would agree the wedding services also need to be a black tie style event.

View Quoted Comment Good point on themes, I think you can get by with specific requests if there’s a specific theme.

I asked for semi formal if possible

I don't like the idea of telling people what they can wear to my wedding. I think it's rude. These are adults (presumably), and it's just disrespectful. I'm sure they know how to dress themselves.

Obviously, if you are planning a really formal event, then put that on your website, or on a detail card you include with your invitations. You can say "formal attire preferred" but not much beyond that.

All you can do is request that they dress up. You can't require it.

View Quoted Comment I love this!

There’s no way to politely tell guests that they must wear a certain color. We let our invitations and venue convey the formality of our wedding, everyone dressed appropriately.

View Quoted Comment It is people do it all the time!

View Quoted Comment Ok I like the sound of that!! Sounds good!!

In general you can’t tell people what to wear (like it’s tricky to tell people what color to wear) but I’d say most people own something black so I don’t think that’s super unreasonable. Maybe say something like: “formal attire required. To go along with our theme, it is requested (but not required) that you wear black.” This way it encourages them to do so (and I assume most people would) but doesn’t sound super controlling or make them feel pressured to buy a new outfit if they can’t afford it.

View Quoted Comment Thank You !

View Quoted Comment People also cough without covering their mouths, that doesn’t mean it’s not rude.

I’ve seen weddings where they put on the invite “the couple request you wear such & such color(s). It looks cool in pictures!

You can have a theme or a dress code (or both), but your dress code/theme should mirror the services provided. It would be inappropriate to ask everyone to dress up in formal wear for a backyard wedding with BBQ food and kegs for beer.