How To Dress for a Wedding

One of my favorite things to receive in the mall is wedding invitations. Every time I receive them I feel a wave of excitement hit me as I think about all the great food, celebration of love, and fun that comes along with it.
However, I often find myself debating what to wear to a wedding as a wedding guest. You never want to upstage a bride, match the color of the bridesmaids or look trashy. Your goal should be to follow the theme of the party, look classy and beautiful but how do you do that?

Dress Up

Unless the invitation strictly says that the wedding is themed and you have to wear a specific causal outfit like a bathing suit (beach bum wedding) or jeans and a cowboy hat (western wedding), you should always dress up.

If your invitation reads casual, you should still pull out a nice cocktail dress and a pair of heels. You should never walk into a wedding in shorts, jeans, a t-shirt, sneakers, or fashion emergency crocs and uggs. Those items are a no to a wedding, some a no to everyday life, and should not be worn at such a beautiful celebration.
So for casual go cocktail, semi-formal knee-length and formal means ball gown baby. It’s always better to overdress than underdress, just don’t overdo it with too many accessories and look like you want the attention on you.

Location & Colors

There are two very important clues on your invitation that will help you choose the correct outfit: the location and the color scheme. If the location is someplace like a beach you will know a short dress will work in your favor, where as if the location is a grand hall, you will be able to get away with a flowing gown.

Brides always show hints of their color scheme in the invitations, so play off of what you see. Do not match the colors exactly, because chances are the wedding party will be in those colors. Instead look for hues that go well with the color scheme, or wear something that is in the same color scheme family. For example, if the invitation is gold and navy blue wear a dress that is nude or twilight blue.
Do not wear white, do not think about white, and do not even look at white. That is off-limits and for the bride only. Don’t even wear silver, or anything too shimmery, because again the attention should be on the bride. Anything that screams “Look at me” should be avoided.
more tips at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_Dress_Well