Im having a black and white wedding, can I ask my guests to wear black/white?

[zanderw]

Im having a white/black wedding and we are going for a classy feeling wedding. Is it ok if i ask all my guests to please follow a dress code and only wear black and white?

[ChristineLS]

You can ask your guests to do whatever you want. But that doesn't mean they will be happy with you or follow your request.

Good luck!

[sandy03]

Personally, if DH and I got invited to a wedding and were told we could only wear black and white, we probably wouldn't go because it would mean buying new clothes, and for someone else's wedding (and we're not in it) it's not worth it in my mind.

Plus, I know some people are still a little superstitious or cling to old etiquette rules that say not to wear black to a wedding (I'll wear black, but not ALL black) and nobody should wear all white but the bride.

I also think it could be seen as a little insulting to your guests because some people could read it like you don't think they know how to dress appropriately for a wedding!

[starsthrumysoul]

Hmm, I'm on the fence. I think it would be really cool to have everyone wear black and white, but I'm not sure about telling everyone that they should. Maybe instead you could send out the invite with a theme noted somewhere on there termed something like "black and white" and just hope that people get the idea. Because I bet that even if you did specifically ask everyone, you would get some people that wouldn't do it (for money reasons, or because they'd prefer to wear color).

[gwenshack]

I'm also on the fence. I have black and white clothing, but I don't know how happy I'd be to be told I have to wear it...

Another thing to consider is that a lot of the older generations don't consider black or white to be appropriate colors to wear to a wedding. Black, because that's supposed to be for funerals, and white, because it's supposed to be reserved for the bride.

Good luck!

[ChristineLS]

Why exactly do you want it to be black and white only? You mention classy, but you could do that with color too, and write "black tie" or something like that on the invite. Is it for the pictures? What is the reasoning further behind it being your theme?

[WebLady]

Yeah I think it is a little tough to try and dictate what color people wear to come to your wedding.

I would suggest making it a black tie event (assuming you are going for formal too); then it is more likely that people will wear black and white.

Good luck!

[mitch]

I wore Red to My Wedding. DH has Four Daughters who i made sure were not wearing anything remotely Red so i would stand out. (They were not BM's)

Then when i got to the Wedding venue. Everyone else was wearing Black, White or Red. I was a little bit peeved to say the least. I wanted a colourful event. Not everyone the same.

But at the end of the day it didn't really matter.

I personally associate dress codes to "Diva" Weddings. Most of the English Footballers have a dress code when they get Married or throw lavish Balls. And most pick Black and White.

If it's for the photos then just take Black and White pictures. Everyone looks good that way. :winktongue:

[gwenshack]

If it's for the photos then just take Black and White pictures. Everyone looks good that way. :winktongue:

Now there's a brilliant idea.

[EmmaM]

My FH's aunt got married a couple of weeks ago and she had a black/red/white dress code. I thought it was a bit weird, but once we were there with all the red, black and white decoration and everyone in the same colours, it looked really cool. But I would suggest if you're going to do that add an accent colour so people (like me!) who look really pale and ill in black and white can add colour if they want to?

[LadyMissKimber]

I was invited to a Wedding Shower where we were instructed to wear pink and gold.
Two colors I absolutely would never have in my closet. I finally bought a pink dress for 5 bucks off of ebay.

I wasn't too annoyed because I was lucky to find a good deal but if I had to pay more I would have been.

So generally my advice would be to say "black tie" if you want a really formal look in all your photos and have lots of black and white pictures taken.