Women Wedding Suits

Black Tie or very formal wedding?

How do you let guests know that it is a black tie or very formal wedding? My friend is having one and what should they put on the invites? She wants the men to wear at least a nice suit and women in nice attire. The wedding starts at 6 and the reception will have a cocktail hour and then the reception which we plan on lasting pasted 1am. How do we express to the guests that this is a formal wedding?

Public Comments

1. you might want to put an extra note on the invite and rvsp card or something to say please note.. the wedding is a black tie affair.... thank you..
2. Have a really nice formal looking invitation and then state right on there that it's a black tie event, please come looking nice. It won't look bad and people should respect their wishes if they put that right on the invitation.
3. If you put "black tie optional" people should get the hint that it's a dressy occasion. Although, here unless people say it's a casual affair, everyone knows that weddings are formal , dress-up occasions.
4. It is actually considered poor etiquette to mention the type of attire a guest should wear on a wedding invitation. However, if you have a wedding website, that would be a good place to put that information. As a general rule of thumb, it is usually implied that any evening wedding that takes place on a Friday or Saturday night at 6:00 PM or later is considered a formal event, and people will probably dress accordingly, whether you specifically mention it or not.
5. To me, Black Tie, and Very Formal, denotes tuxes and ball gowns, not suits and dresses. I would say something like "Formal Adult Reception to follow" - cringe (I HATE adult only receptions). This will let the guests know that it's more formal than not.
6. At the bottom of the invitation, state "black tie, evening" in slightly smaller letters than the rest of the script.
7. Emily Post says you are not supposed to put something directly on the invite itself, but I believe it is okay to say something on one of the cards in the invite. Black tie is different from nice suit and cocktail attire. That is semi-formal. We are including it on our website, which will be printed on the invitation info.
8. In days of yore, this was easy: people knew what dress codes meant. Unfortunately, too many people today read "Formal" and think "Business suit." The invitations, therefore, should say "Black tie optional" or, better yet, "Black tie preferred." This indicates that the wedding is formal, and that men should wear at least dark suits. With either one, men can feel free to break out the tuxedos without feeling burdened to rent one. "Black tie optional," however, creates the problem of men not knowing what other men will wear. I would advise against simply putting "Formal" on the invitations, as that can be interpreted as anything from a simple business suit to full dress tails.
9. Putting "Black tie" on the invitations means the men must wear tuxedos, and the women wear long gowns. Otherwise, leave it to guests to know to dress appropriately. Usually men do wear suits, and women wear lovely dresses.