Wedding Guest Dress Codes — Decoded

In today’s matrimonial landscape, the mantle of wedding guest-hood is not a simple one. There are presents to buy, tickets to book, and most dauntingly, dress codes to follow. As people who take sartorial choices with the utmost seriousness, it’s that final task that we find to be the most sweat-inducing — decoding directives like “black tie optional” and “beach formal” can be a minefield of confusion, indecision, and doubt for even the most assured and self-confident of dressers.

With this topical riddle in mind, we hit the internet, with a mission to determine the common dress codes you’ll encounter in your years of wedding attendance — and more importantly, how they’ll actually translate in your shopping cart and on your bod. Whether you’re going to an old-school white tie ceremony or a head-scratchingly-classified “festive” affair, we put together an exhaustive list of styles and silhouettes for every occasion, in price points from low to “special occasion.” So quit your perspiring, roll up your sleeves, and start clicking to find the look that’s going to earn you an A+ in following dress-code directions.