Wedding suits for women

As a guest, no, unless the couple has said otherwise. The same goes for ivory and cream, and for anything that photographs as white from across a room. That still leaves plenty: champagne, oyster, soft gold, pale grey and stone all read as celebratory without reading as bridal. Some couples now ask for an all white dress code, which flips the rule entirely, so tell us if yours has. If you are unsure, err a shade or two away from the bride and nobody will think about it twice.

Formal evening dress, and in tailoring terms that means a dinner suit: black or midnight blue, satin or grosgrain on the lapel, worn with a silk top or a fine shirt. A long skirt with a tailored evening jacket does the same job. Invitations spell this out for men and almost never for women, which is why it causes so much confusion. Send us the exact wording, including anything like "black tie optional" or "creative black tie", and we will tell you what it means in practice at that particular venue.

Something you would be glad to be photographed in and happy to wear again. Small civil ceremonies are where tailoring makes the most sense, because a full gown can overwhelm a room of twenty people and a register office desk. A sharp two piece in ivory, a trouser suit in a colour you love, or a jacket over a silk slip all work. The photographs from these days tend to be close up rather than wide, so the fit through the shoulders and across the front matters more than anything dramatic.

A silk camisole, a bodysuit, a fine shirt, a lace top, a bralette, or nothing at all under a fitted waistcoat. Whichever you choose, bring it to the fitting and wear it. Underwear shape changes both the bust measurement and where the fullest point sits, so a jacket cut over a soft bralette will not sit the same way over a structured bra. It is the single most common reason a first fitting needs adjusting. If you want to wear the jacket open with nothing beneath it, say so, and we will build it to close cleanly and stay put.

Yes. Bring a photo, a swatch or the name of the cloth and we will match it or find a shade that sits beside it. An exact match is not always the best answer: two suits in the identical cloth can look flat side by side in photographs, so we often pick the same tone in a different texture instead. We make the menswear too, so both sides can be built together from the same cloth book. See wedding suits for men.

Yes, and we do this regularly. We handle both sets of fittings and keep the two looks sitting well together without making them identical, which is usually the thing couples are most anxious about. In practice that tends to mean one cloth family with two different cuts, or two colours that share a detail such as the lining, the buttons or the lapel shape. If you would rather be seen separately so the finished pieces are a surprise on the day, we can arrange that too.

Tell us at the first appointment and we plan around it. Extra cloth is left in the seams so the piece can be let out or taken in, and the final fitting is held close to the date, usually two to three weeks before. That is late enough to catch a change and early enough that nothing is rushed. This is entirely normal, whether you are on a fitness plan, coming off one, or pregnant on the day. What causes problems is silence, not the change itself.

Yes. Pencil, A line, midi and full length skirts are all made in the same cloth as the jacket, and plenty of clients order both a skirt and trousers so they can change without changing the whole look. A waistcoat and skirt is a good answer if you do not want to wear a jacket all day in summer. As with trousers, bring the shoes, because hem length on a skirt is set to the heel just as it is on a trouser.

Linen, silk blends and open weave wools in the lighter weights. They breathe in heat and recover better than heavy cloth. Pure linen creases, which some people love and others cannot live with, so a linen and wool mix is the safer choice if you want the relaxed look without deep creases in the photographs. For travel, carry it on rather than checking it, use a proper garment bag, and hang it up the moment you arrive. Most creases drop overnight, and a hot shower in a closed bathroom speeds that up. Steam it, do not iron it.

Yes, and it is one of the nicest parts of the job. The usual requests are a monogram, the date, a line from your vows, or a piece of cloth from a relative's dress worked into the lining, which is a quiet way to cover something old or something blue without wearing it on the outside. Mention it at the first appointment rather than at the fitting, because the right thread has to be ordered and inherited fabric needs to be seen before we can plan where it goes.