I'm having an outdoor wedding for close friends and family - and - I want everyone to wear formal / black tie clothing. How do I word this in the invitation? Is it proper to ask guests to do this?

I have seen invites worded with black tie or formal attire at the bottom. I think it is entirely appropriate to say this.

I would put formal attire in plan view so that EVERYONE sees it. Our friends who are getting married in May put it on the directions card. Pretty big letters and the first thing. Your wedding you can pick what people wear.

Just make sure you put it on the invite and there should no problem. And actually I'm sure there are people who are like me who have no idea what to wear. Because the dress code wasn't made known. I've already gone to wedding over dressed because it was casual but this was never known. So I'm sure people aren't gonna mind. I'm sure some will actually be relived when the dress code is known.

What would be the proper wording for me? Because I do want people to be comfortable and dress warm (outdoor wedding in october), but I also don't want people dressing so comfortable that they show up in jeans lol. How should I phrase that?
Semi-formal/casual?
I don't know. A bit clueless on this one.

i think guests really appreciate when there IS a dress code stated on the invitation. especially since proper etiquette isn't common knowledge these days.
i found this site from googling...

Guide to Wedding Dress from DressCodeGuide.com

i like "cocktail attire" or "evening attire" better than "semi-formal" etc. but that's just my word preference.

once you provide them with the dress code it's up to them to dress appropriately for the season.

You just have to make a note at the bottom about the dress code you want. :-)


And they will be guided. :-)





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There is no perfect wedding. We all need something to laugh back at 30 years later.

I put a link to a dress code web site on our wedding website. So when people got their save the dates the site was on there so when they got the invitations it wasn't a "oh I have to dress up." After going to many weddings and seeing some of the way too casual attire some people wore I had my one bridezilla moment were my wedding will be black tie. Id I have to dress up so does everyone else...lol

I like the idea of posting a link on your wedding website. I would also write it on the invitation or or the information card with the directions on it.