Muslim wedding guest - sorry if this has been asked before

kaederose

My FI and I were invited to a Muslim wedding (FI's friend's sister), and the family of the bride is very traditional (arranged marriages, parties where men and women are always segregated at their home, etc).  I have already been told that wearing red is a bad idea since no one wants to upstage the bride, but I'm having concerns about other parts of the attire.

Is black an acceptable color in Muslim tradition?  Would I need to wear something longer than knee-length?  What about bare arms, since my cocktail dresses are all sleeveless?  I asked FI to ask his friend about this, but he thinks I'm being goofy and worrying too much.  I'm not opposed to going out and getting a new dress to wear (I'm guessing pants are out) if that would be easier than wearing 4 different layers to try and make what I already have acceptable.

Hinaj

Hi Kaederose,

My family is not as traditional, so I have seen guests in dresses that are sleeveless.  I don't know being traditional, if they would mind or not, I would just double check with FI's friend just to be sure and yes you can wear black, but usually weddings for us are pretty colorful, so you should definitely take advantage of that.  I think if your are worried, then you should def. ask his friend, and you are just taking time to make sure you don't offend anyone and there is nothing wrong with that.  Also, if you do the sleeveless dress, you can also keep a light sweater with that and I don't see the problem with that. But it all depends on the family and how traditional they are. 

kaederose

Thanks!  Your answer was really helpful.

taitai

Just keep it modest and don't stress.  If you would like to go very dressy that is fine.

kpwedkk

I agree with the colorfulness in these kind of weddings - be modest, and go for it

shawwal6

Just be modest.  I would say the best example is the orthodox jewish dresscode at least.  That one is easy (although this is an oversimplification):

A dress or skirt that hits at the knee
About a 3/4 sleeve (or a cap in your case)
No plunging neckline

You can wear pants.  The religious rules are not applicable to you, unless you are muslim.  Just dont come in the parties with a miniskirt and a dress with the back out and a plunging v-neck.