Weddings - whats appropriate and whats not

[Glamourcide]

I agree, some people seem to have forgotten the concept of 'appropriate' attire, for any occasion - I see it a lot amongst girls my age, they seem to assume that 'clubwear' is appropriate for things like weddings, days at the races, etc etc. If I see one more girl stumble past my house (I live just up the street from the local racecourse) on race day wearing a crotch-duster with a cowl neck, I will start throwing rocks

I think if the bride and groom specified on the invites what they expected from their guests on the day, then yes, any guest who didn't try hard to meet those expectations was being disrespectful. I still feel awful about going to a friend's wedding in what I describe as 'smart casual' - I was 36 weeks pregnant, but would have made more effort if a dress code had been specified... I wrongly made an assumption (based on the venue, time of day and my knowledge of the couple) that it would be a somewhat casual affair, and was embarrassed upon arrival to find all the other guests dolled up in formal gear... I apologised to my friend but she didn't seem phased at all, I still wanted to go and hide as I felt like the biggest frump in the room
So yes, if one asks that guests wear 'semi-formal' stuff, then I would say it's a bit slack to turn up in jeans or 'clubbing' gear - have some decorum, kwim? It's a wedding, a celebration of the binding of two people, not a bikini contest at your local... I always think, 'there are probably going to be some oldies there', and dress accordingly - besides that, you want to blend into the background and let the bride shine, not have everyone staring at you because you're flashing your undies every time you cross your ankles! Dress jeans can pass in some situations, but I think they need dress shoes and a blazer/jacket to 'formal' it up a bit

But yeah, I think the problem is that as society moves away from 'class systems' and rejects the formal social events that we used to have - like deb balls etc - we seem to be losing our knowledge of what constitutes appropriate attire at certain events. Maybe I'm just old-fashioned but I think a lot of 'ladies' (lol 'ladettes', actually) need a few etiquette classes on dressing for certain events.