What does Semi formal mean to you?

I didn't put a dress code on my invitations. People that are adults should be able to "adult" and figure out what is appropriate for a wedding without having to be told, unless it is a black tie affair, then by all means specify that on the invites.

Well I was going to say cocktail dress, but now that you said daytime in July, I'd totally wear a floral/summer dress and sandals, regardless of what your 'dress code' said. My FH (who makes me decide these things) would wear khakis and a nice dress shirt.

Khakis and dress shirts is NOT semi-formal to me at all. That is more like business casual or smart casual to me.

I would most definitely be wearing a cocktail dress and my husband would be in a suit if I saw "semi-formal" on the website. He would never wear khakis. If is during the day, it would be a light colored suit.

That is why it's confusing. Everyone has a different idea of what these terms mean.

I am doing semi-formal/ dressy casual for my wedding. So i'm thinking like casual/ sun dresses or a nice blousse for the ladies and nice pants and a button up shirt for the guys.

I've never seen attire listed on an invite or website. Regardless of what you put, people are going to dress how they want . But most people know how to dress when they go to weddings.

@Mrs.Smith I put it on our website as well. We are having our reception at a BBQ place that is known to be very, very casual. We want people to, at the very least, wear dress pants/dress shirt/tie and ladies in cocktail dress/top & shirt. We're just afraid that people will show up in jeans because the venue is typically a very casual place. (the upstairs event area is nicer than the downstairs restaurant, but not everyone knows that). If it were at a more typical reception location, I would probably not list attire and just hope that people know how to dress (though I can assure you that they don't....*sigh*)

FH's cousin is getting married in September and they listed "black tie optional" on their website. We weren't quite sure what that would entail so we googled it...

"Semi-formal" to me is a fun, summery cocktail dress with cool shoes.

We put "cocktail formal" on our website because we had so many people asking if it was black tie...it will have all the trappings of a black-tie wedding, but we didn't want to request that people wear tuxes and gowns (and "optional" feels kinda condescending to me). We figured that phrasing communicates that it's a cocktail dress/dark suit occasion, which is exactly what we meant by it.

Cocktail dress and heels!

Semi formal means suits for the guys and dresses with heels for the ladies - no jeans or shorts. Formal would be tuxes and gowns.

edit:

Emily Post:

Here's what Emily Post says: http://emilypost.com/advice/attire-guide-dress-codes-from-casual-to-white-tie/

Awesome InfoGraphic: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/398709373234911019/

My wedding is also semi-formal. Beach ceremony at 6 pm, toes in the sand, cocktail hour on the 2nd floor deck, dinner and dancing until 11:30 p.