Good Edicate Starts With Great Style

Spring is here. Ushering in longer days, allergies, lighter layers and you guessed it - wedding season.

Unlike Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers, being a guest comes with a certain amount of effort out of respect.

What does this mean? It means - dress the part.

Besides ensuring that you avoid major guest pitfalls, such as drinking too much and being ‘that’ girl, dressing the part is the least you can do.

Most weddings come with a hefty price tag and take hours of planning to provide the best experience for the guests. Show the bride and groom that you appreciate their thoughtfulness by appropriately dressing for the occasion.

Decoding the Dress Code

Admit it, weddings are fun and a true embodiment of celebrating the best things in life.

Just the mere act of receiving an invitation is a joyful experience - hello? snail mail that’s not a bill.

Those chubby envelopes push the boundaries of creative stationery with their many variations of foil stamped heavy stock and laser cut vellum inserts.

Hint - usually the number of pieces inside the invite directly correlates to the level of luxe the event will entail.

Most weddings have a theme and with a theme there invariably comes a dress code attached with it.

So unless it’s a direct theme like Harry Potter, it can sometimes be challenging to decipher what the dress code actually implies.

For instance, what’s the difference between semi-formal cocktail versus formal?

For visual purposes let’s use a sliding scale of interpretation.

The more formal the affair the more black and white your options are. Imagine what you would wear to the Oscars or to the Met Ball.

Remember the context that this is a wedding. Unless you’re Lady Gaga or Bjork who can get away with wearing a meat dress or a swan outfit, your ensemble should never try to take attention away from the bride.

As you get closer to a more casual event the interpretations get a little looser and the hemlines get a little shorter. That being said, keep it classy and don’t try to premiere your new ultra mini-skirt that could be mistaken for a belt.

While we’re at it, let me mention some other faux pas outfit choices to avoid. You’ll thank me later.

• Wearing all white - This should be staggeringly obvious. Let the bride have her day.

• Wearing a bridesmaid-like dress - Save yourself the endless explaining of why you’re not actually part of the bridal party all evening.

• Underdressing - Going back to the topic of respect, do your part and dress appropriately for the occasion.

• Dressing for the nightclub - Consider that the majority of the guests are family of the bride and groom. Save the sequin mini dress for your next girls night out.

To further decode the differences, I’ve compiled 12 outfit ideas that easily illustrate the distinction between the somewhat ambiguous lingo used to describe the dress codes.

12 looks for you to be inspired by and make your own. Shop each jewelry look simply by clicking on any image below.

Are You A Bride and Not A Guest?

Lucky lady! Because you define the rules. This YOUR big day.

So, whatever dress, theme or color palette you choose, I can customize jewelry to perfectly compliment every aspect of your special day.

Whether it’s just for you or your entire bridal party, we can work together to create memorable looks that will be immortalized in your wedding album forever.