6 Hacks to Nailing Wedding Guest Outfits This Year

While most years involve a wedding or two for those of us in our 20s and 30s, after a two-year wedding hiatus, 2022’s number has climbed from an ordinary one to a highly stressful one for many of us. Of course we’re excited for our friends and family that finally have the green light to have the wedding of their dreams, but thinking about all the wedding outfits we need to plan is enough to give us a conniption. 

Even if you aren’t in the weddings you have coming up, as a wedding guest, it’s natural to want to look your best. After all, unless you’re frequenting galas, weddings are one of the few events of the year that you can dress to the nines and really feel and look your best, not to mention you’ll probably be seeing people you don’t see all that often, and the photos that will come out of the wedding will live much longer than the wedding will (there’s no worse fate than hating how you look in a photo on someone’s mantel for all of eternity).

Fear not: Looking your best at the weddings you have coming up isn’t as hard as it might seem. All it takes is a little forethought, a reasonable amount of planning, and knowing insider tips and tricks on how to survive a night of hugging, dancing, and sweating without coming out feeling like a wet dog. We’ve got you covered with six no-fail tips that’ll make you wonder how you ever lived without them.

1. Plan for what’s going under your outfit

If you’re anything like us, you spend all of your effort getting your dress and makeup look planned out, then when it’s time to actually put the dress on, you realize that you didn’t adequately prepare for the strapless detail or plunging back that made you fall in love with your look to begin with.

At long last, we found a solution for all of the undergarment woes of weddings past: NOOD. NOOD provides a bra alternative for all chest sizes—yes, even G/F zones—and skin tones that provides lift and support to keep you feeling comfortable and confident no matter what you’re wearing. Whether you need the support of their , the discreet coverage of their , or the versatility of their (which is designed extra-wide to work for both breasts and body), they have a solution for all of your needs.

NOOD’s bra alternatives give completely unmatched lift and support while also being completely waterproof and sweat-proof (which means that you can dance all night long without worrying your sticky bra is going to pop off mid-Cha Cha Slide). Remember the picture of Kim Kardashian’s duct-taped chest getting ready for a red carpet event? That’s the effect NOOD’s braless solutions give but without the hassle or, you know, pain from removal.

How you handle your chest shouldn’t be an afterthought or require a run to the store for a roll of tape that you haphazardly slap on your boobs before you sprint out the door. You deserve a solution that makes you truly look and feel your very best, and that’s what NOOD’s products deliver time and time again (and the results speak for themselves). 

2. Check the invitation for a dress code (and if it has one, follow it)

While some weddings won’t specify a dress code, many will, and if the bride and groom take the effort into guiding you to what you should wear, you should take it as a blessing. 

When you’re given a dress code, follow it, and make sure the attire you’re planning on wearing falls under it. The last thing you want is to show up in a black-tie dress while everyone else is super casual or, worse, show up super casual when everyone is dressed for a black-tie event.

If the invitation doesn’t give a dress code, double check the wedding website, and if that still turns up no information, reach out to a bridesmaid to ask (avoid bothering the bride with questions you can get answered elsewhere). If they still don’t know, dress for the location. 95% of the time, you aren’t going to show up to a ballroom in a sundress or wear a floor-length gown to a beach wedding.

3. Keep a lip gloss in your bag

When your makeup starts to go haywire after all the hugs and eating and drinking you’re going to take part in, your lipstick is going to be the first thing to go.

Rather than continually reapplying lipstick (and needing a mirror to know if you applied it well), keep a lip gloss in your bag that you can reapply with ease. Even if you’re sweaty and starting to get a bit disheveled, a glossy lip will make you look more put-together with no effort.

4. Pack an elevated hair clip

Let’s be honest: No matter what you do to your hair, after more than six hours of activity, you’re probably going to get to the point where you want to put it up.

Rather than resorting to a black hair tie, pack a special occasion-worthy clip in your bag that you can put your hair up into when you’re ready. Rather than looking like you just threw it up, it’ll trick everyone into thinking it was a part of the plan all along and will end up elevating your entire look mid-way through the night.

5. Don’t bring anything you don’t need

While it’s generally better to be over-prepared, the last thing you want at a wedding is to be lugging around stuff you don’t have to be. For example, don’t bring a jacket just on the off-chance you get chilly if you know you aren’t ever going to actually put it on (guilty).

Try to contain everything you’re bringing into a small clutch or crossbody, and avoid carrying around anything that doesn’t fit in it. If you feel like you have to bring a giant bag to carry what you’re planning on bringing, rework it to fit into something smaller. The last thing you want is to be caught in photos with a bag on your shoulder and a bunch of things in your hand (which should be holding a drink anyway!).

6. Avoid wearing the same color as the bridesmaids

Obviously, this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, and nobody is going to judge you if you happen to wear something that’s the same color as the bridesmaids’ dresses. But if you know what color they’re wearing and can help it, opt for a dress in a different hue. 

If you don’t know what color the bridesmaids are wearing, you can likely figure it out by the color scheme of the wedding website and invitations.

Best Dressed Guest: 30+ Dresses to Wear to a Spring Wedding

This post is sponsored by NOOD, but all of the opinions within are those of The Everygirl editorial board.