These days, choosing a wardrobe for your wedding goes far beyond picking out just one dress. If you are hosting a welcome party, rehearsal dinner, after-party, or day-after brunch, you will have even more outfit choices to make—not to mention enhancing those garments with shoes, jewelry, and accessories to finish your looks. While shopping for your wedding celebrations can be an exciting opportunity to show off your style, there are a few mistakes that are often made along the way that might prevent you from evoking the bridal style you’ve always dreamed of.
Here, our favorite styling pros share the mistakes you don’t want to make when picking out your wedding weekend attire.
1. Letting Other Opinions Overshadow Your Own
A wedding is an opportunity to showcase your own sartorial vision. “One of the biggest and easiest mistakes to make when thinking about your wedding wardrobe is wearing anything that doesn’t feel 100-percent authentic to you and the person you want to be when you get married,” shares wedding stylist Gabrielle Hurwitz. “That could mean putting too much emphasis on the opinions of others—ahem, opinionated mothers, mother-in-laws, or maids of honor—and letting their own views sway yours.”
A great rule of thumb to follow? “Dress for yourself and trust your gut,” advises Over The Moon Styling Director Kelly Russell Potts. “It’s your day to feel the best version of yourself—not someone else’s! A lot of times I see too many cooks in the kitchen and it can confuse the vision the bride had for herself in the first place.”
2. Not Preparing for Terrain
While you might absolutely love a style for a particular wedding event, you have to consider where you will be walking. Hosting a welcome party on the beach? You may want to give those stilettos a second thought. Excited for an outdoor ceremony in the grass? Perhaps a long train trailing in the dirt isn’t the best choice.
3. Allowing Trends to Dictate Your Wardrobe
While it can be fun to tap into bridal fashion trends for your celebration—whether it’s dramatic veils, sweet bows, or drop waist silhouettes—you shouldn’t feel obligated to choose a look that’s of-the-moment over a style you love. “Don’t wear something simply because it’s trendy and of the moment if it feels like a major departure from your everyday style,” advises Hurwitz. Potts adds, “While Instagram can be a great source of inspiration, you’ll regret conforming to the fads years to come when looking back. Stay original.”
On the opposite end of things, if a certain look you’re obsessed with might be considered passé, trust your gut and wear what you want. Hurwitz says to not “pay too close attention to social media and say no to a dress you absolutely love because you feel like it’s been done before.”
4. Not Creating a Cohesive Fashion Story
Obviously your wedding weekend is a time to have fun with bold fashion pieces you might not normally wear. However, you should consider if those major style moments look entirely different from one another. “I like to think of a wedding wardrobe as a fashion story. By that, I mean it’s important that every outfit speaks to the greater narrative of the wedding,” says Hurwitz. “Each should have its own personality and stand out as an individual moment. You don’t want anything to feel too repetitive or out of left-field. Think of it like a magazine editorial: do all of these outfits make sense together but still work within the context of the event they’re being worn to?”
One easy way to create that story? “Pick a theme and stick to it,” recommends Russell. “You want your ensembles to tell a cohesive story—and have variety!” Consider having a through-line throughout your wedding weekend outfits like a hint of blue, lace detailing, or a certain silhouette.
5. Forgetting About Your Comfort.
We know high heels are fun and certain outfits look better without a jacket. But, a wedding is a marathon and not a sprint. You need to be equipped with the right fashion items to keep you going through the after-party.
“As women, we’ve been told our whole lives that ‘beauty is pain,’ but there’s nothing beautiful about being uncomfortable over the course of your wedding weekend. If the shoes are going to destroy your feet, don’t wear them,” says Hurwitz. “Avoid wearing anything where the discomfort is going to distract you from being able to be present at your wedding.” Because that, at the end of the day, is the most important thing.
