Hi Everyone!While planning it came to our attention that we need to set the tone for the dress code of our wedding.So far our wedding is not very traditional: it will be in a mansion (not a church), my dress is more whimsical(not a ballgown or typical bridal dress), reception will be brunch so we decided on buffet.The ceremony will take place outside in a courtyard. So its definitely not a black tie wedding, as I don't want ladies to struggle walking on cobblestone in heels.We both want to see people dress their best, even though some aspects of our wedding sound more casual than traditional weddings. The venue is a Victorian Mansion so we want to go with the theme of Southern Brunch.
In my culture and family, everyone dresses in their best suits and dresses for weddings. However, its not the case for my FH's family and he is concerned that his California family might dress too casual, like they did for his brother's wedding. Some wore bowling shirts and others wore jeans with dress shoes, someone even wore flip flops (the wedding was in Brooklyn...concrete everywhere lol). All because his brother didn't mention a dress code.So we would like to avoid that and give them some kind of direction. I saw on some threads that you are not supposed to put a dress code on the invitation unless its black tie.I am not sure if the California side of his family will look on the website. We are also planning on asking FH's mom to let them know by word of mouth.We are stumped on how to word the dress code, we want everyone to be comfortable. No need for evening gowns, its brunch after all. However, we don't want to say Garden Wedding either because (from what I've read) it connotes that jeans and polos are ok.
I think Semi formal might be too fancy and cocktail too evening? Or are we overthinking it?Please help lol!Attaching photos of the venue and the courtyard where ceremony will take place.
courtyard
the venue
example of what ceremony will look like
