White Dress Shirt & Ivory Dress?

[Iowa Lizzy]

FI and I went suit shopping today for the wedding. We decided just to buy suits for the groomsmen instead of doing tuxedo rental. I rarely see rented tuxes that fit correctly and the guy at Men''s Warehouse said that tux rental can run around $150/tux anyway so with MW''s ''buy one suit, get the second for $100,'' we''ll be getting them each for about $200.

Anyway.... the people at MW told us that since my gown is ivory, that FI shouldn''t wear a white shirt as it would make my dress look dirty. Has anyone heard this before? The ivory shirts they had all seemed REALLY yellow. I think bridal ivory is pretty dang white myself. Has anyone else heard this? He''s going to be wearing the jacket through pictures, the ceremony and first dance so it''s not like a lot of the shirt will be showing anyway.

I''d never heard of the groom wearing an ivory shirt if the bride''s dress isn''t white-white. Has anyone else?

 

[redfaerythinker]

There was a thread about this awhile back. And yes, the white shirt will probably make the dress look not dirty but dingy. I'll see if I can hunt up the old thread.

Here it is!

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

I''d recommend the white shirt over a yellow looking ivory. In photographs, your dress will show up white, and the ivory shirt could possibly look yellow. I wore an ivory dress, and my husband wore a WHITE Navy uniform. I don''t think I looked dingy. In some photos, I am brighter than him, and in others, he is bright. It all depends on light, and as you said, bridal ivory is not very yellow.

I am not trying to discount any concern you might have, but coming from someone who thought long and hard about wearing an ivory dress with a white uniformed groom... don''t worry about this decision. Pick one and be done with it.

 

[Gypsy]

My husband wore a white shirt and a cream vest and tie, and I wore an ivory gown. It looked great.

Seriously, NO ONE will notice. This is a completely nitpicky detail. Don''t let your photographer make you crazy.

 

[caribqueen]

Personally, I'm for the ivory. My dress is ivory and I brought a swatch to MW and compared it to their ivory shirts before FI and I settled on what we wanted. When we take pictures I want us to look like a matching pair. But that also means the GMs will also wear ivory (which I wasn't happy about) so that FI's shirt doesn't look dirty next to them.

 

[goldenstar]

I''ve never heard of needing a ivory shirt for a bride''s ivory gown. I wore ivory and DH wore a white shirt with an ivory tie. My dress didn''t look dingy at all. I''d imagine that an ivory dress shirt would look yellowish, and not in a good way. Then you get on the slippery slope of worrying about whether the shirt is the same ivory shade as the dress. A white shirt is fine!

 

[caribqueen]

I don''t know that there is a rule either way. I guess it comes down to personal preference.

I found a post from ''08 with a picture from Danielle''s wedding. Her dress was "diamond white" and her husband wore an ivory shirt and vest. The pic shows their diamond white & ivory shirt/vest/tie combo.

 

[meresal]

My DH wore a white tux shirt, that we bought at Nordstrom, with a rented MW Ivory Vest and Tie. The groomsmen wore white MW shirts.

The MW Ivory shirt is a yellow tint and is more polyester than anything... so I wanted DH in a nicer shirt anyway.

My dress was Ivory and it didn't look "dingy", "dirty", "etc".
The MW sales people are very very pushy about having Ivory shrts if you are wearing an Ivory dress... but surprisingly they don't ever have an Ivory shirt to *show* you. (I'm not sure if you have seen the shirts yet?) If you call one of their stores on a Thursday, they should have one in the store that someone is picking up for a wedding.

Here some pics from my reception and you can see what a white shirt looks like next to an Ivory dress:

 

[Clairitek]

Another ivory dress/white shirt bride... You can''t even really tell in the pictures that his shirt isn''t the exact shade of my dress. I wouldn''t worry about it.

 

[elrohwen]

DH wore a white shirt and my dress was ivory - it really didn''t matter and it certainly didn''t make my dress look dirty. I agree that the ivory shirts for men don''t look great. There''s nothing like a crisp white shirt!

 

[purselover]

Yes I''ve heard of this being a problem so we made sure DH''s shirt matched my ivory dress, he thought I was being crazy but it made me feel better!

 

[Prana]

My dress is ivory, FI shirt is white. I hope I don''t look like a big ''ol dingy bride next to him. To be honest, I never even thought about this because bridal Ivory is usually very white looking. I''m not going to worry about it.

 

[RaiKai]

Yeah, I heard the same thing from a saleswoman, who also told me to "make sure he did not wear white" (I was cringing at that statement!). So, I told her not only did I have no idea what my husband (fiance at time obviously!) was going to wear as he wanted to sew his own attire, I was not going to dictate what color choices he had either! I did end up going with him to fabric store after he said he wanted to show me the fabrics he was thinking of, however, I liked his first picks even though he chose to have WHITE pants (and a blue shirt)! He seemed more concerned about what color to choose to compliment my dress than I did to be honest.

In some pictures my dress looks darker, and in some it looks whiter. I think this had a LOT more to due with lighting than the colour of his pants and my dress never looks "dingy"! Part of why I went with an ivory dress was as I did not want bright white either, so that probably reduced my concerns about it.

Ivory wedding dresses in my experience are still very white, though I imagine it depends on the manufacturer.

 

[allycat0303]

I had an ivory dress. My husband had white shirt and cream tie. It was fine (at least I think it was fine....)

 

[Rock_of_Love]

Oh I love PS! I literally was having this exact question today and lo and behold!

I ordered an off-white shirt that is really yellowish so now I''m seriously considering white, which to me would be much better than yellow in this situation. I''m gonna wait for a swatch of my dress that is on its way. Glad to hear the feedback and I''ll keep you posted, too, with what I find out and go with.

 

[blueyes157]

For our wedding I had a white dress, FI (now DH) had a white shirt and ivory vest & tie. MW also recommend that he went with a ivory shirt, I just didn't like it, it looked too dingy. It is hard to tell in the pics, I tried messing with the contrast to help it stand out. I guess because it is so subtle, but it was actually a nice contrast.

ETA it won't let me attach the pic... I guess you will have to take my word for it, I will try again... just do whatever makes you happy

)

 

[PumpkinPie]

I''m with everyone else- don''t let this detail bother you!

 

[Iowa Lizzy]

Thanks everyone for the input! Seems like the decision is kind of split!

I''m having the hardest time finding a not-dingy, ivory shirt WITH french cuffs. FI is a big cufflink wearer so that''s a one of this main requests. Grrrrrr.

 

[parrot tulips]

Before our wedding, I searched high and low for a nice ivory dress shirt for my husband. My hopes ran high when I saw that Musey had managed to track down the perfect one for her husband. Alas, by the time I began my search (last year around this time), the store she purchased them from was no longer carrying them (Cafe Coton). So we settled for white. And you know what? I didn''t notice. Not even after we got our wedding photos back.

 

[Rock_of_Love]

Okay - got my dress swatch today (ivory fabric and lace) and held it up to the yellowish "off-white" or "ivory" shirt...NOT GOOD! So, I''m going with white...the ivory of my dress doesn''t look "dingy" at all. Not sure if that helps!

 

[lulu66]

Date: 3/15/2010 2:03:06 AM
Author: goldenstar
I''ve never heard of needing a ivory shirt for a bride''s ivory gown. I wore ivory and DH wore a white shirt with an ivory tie. My dress didn''t look dingy at all. I''d imagine that an ivory dress shirt would look yellowish, and not in a good way. Then you get on the slippery slope of worrying about whether the shirt is the same ivory shade as the dress. A white shirt is fine!

love this! [actually love everything about your wedding, goldenstar!] my dress is ivory & i plan on having FI wear a white shirt/ivory tie combo and GM in white shirt/black tie combo. i ain''t stressing over it---tying to achieve wedding zen!

i''m sure whatever you choose will be fine & honestly no one will notice one way or the other.

 

[Clairitek]

Here is a link to an old thread about this topic (not sure if it has already been linked here)

Ivory Dress/White Shirt/Ivory Shirt Debate

Musey found a nice ivory shirt for her husband here.