Is your dress white or ivory (or something else)?

luckya23 · August 2014

I went dress shopping for the first time yesterday at a sample sale, and I noticed that almost all of the dresses were ivory. I asked the saleslady about it, and she said they really only recommend ivory, and "nobody wants white because it looks too polyester-y". She also said ivory was right for my skin tone, and white would wash me out (but I was on my way back from the beach, so probably wouldn't be so tan next year).

Maybe I can't really tell the difference between ivory and white as well as I thought I could, but I think the weddings I have been to recently the brides were in white.

If you are, for instance, having all white tablecloths, wouldn't it become obvious that your dress is not white?

So what did you all do? Is white not "in"?

(Truth be told I've been drawn to dresses with darker silver or gold details and it was freaking me out that those details only come in the ivory option, so if that's what everyone is doing and it doesn't look weird with the white decor, great!)

JennyColada · August 2014

While I have trouble imagining myself in ANY wedding dress, I could not imagine seeing myself get married in a non-white-ish dress (I was considering a pastel, but even that just didn't feel quite right). I was originally thinking of a dress with a lot of blush accents and I was even looking at one with black accents, but the dress that I ultimately went with is just white (I think? It's listed as "white" online, but I guess that doesn't mean much). I am bringing in some gold/blush accents with my sash and my hairpiece though.

Inkdancer · August 2014

Mine is diamond white with silver embroidery. If you want white, go somewhere else and try it on, and see if it works for you. My skin is very pale, so ivory matches my skin tone. White was the only way to make me not look corpse-like.

WinstonsGirl · August 2014

Mine was champagne, mostly cos it was the closest to gold I could find. I really wanted a gold dress. I can see the difference between white and ivory though. White wouldn't look good on me. Try a different shop and try on both colours so you see what you prefer

manateehugger · August 2014

You're overthinking. Most bridal gowns are some shade of cream or white.

I don't think there are tons of true paper white gowns out there because it can tend to bleach a lot of people out. No one will hold up a tablecloth to you and gasp that you aren't wearing white.

Mine was a color called "cafe" with overlay of ivory lace. If you look at pictures - it pretty much just looks white. Don't worry about the color name - just find a dress you like and makes you feel beautiful.

theartistformerlyknownas · August 2014

Most ivory dresses look white to most people, especially in daylight. It's just a softer, more natural white.

Mine, though, is champagne with an ivory lace overlay. Looks WAY better with my skin than the lighter dresses did.

cupcait927 · August 2014

Mine is ivory, in a deep enough tone that it definitely doesn't look "white" in pictures. I went with ivory because I am just SO pale that white would've made me look sickly.

pinkcow13 · August 2014

I think mine is alabaster white, which is pretty much "off white." Honestly, unless the dress is blush or champagne, they all look white to me. The consultants did tell me that not many brides wear pure white anymore, only the really traditional brides do. Most gowns are ivory or an off shade of white. Again though, no one will really notice. At all weddings I think the dress is always white lol.

lkristenj · August 2014

Mine is an Allure in their "café" color, I guess to look like coffee creamer. It's got a slight brown tone but is only a shade or two darker than ivory. My dress is café underneath with ivory lace. I love the contrast of the light lace on a slightly darker background. Makes it pop. Plus, I'm super pale and thought ivory looked better on me than white. So, mine's not white or ivory, but does have ivory elements. I think my Granny was upset about me not wearing white, but to be honest, I didn't really want white. She can get over it. I wear what I want.

KatieinBkln · August 2014

Mine is more of a champagne, with gold detailing overlaid. I have warm skintone, so it looks much nicer on me than some of the cooler, more "pure" whites did. No one will be comparing your dress to the tablecloths, or to your FI's/groomsmen's shirts (if your FI is a man/has groomsmen!). All they'll be able to see is how beautiful you look.

lurkergirl · August 2014

Mine is cafe with an ivory overlay and still looks pretty white. I think the off-white shades look better on most skin tones, but that's just me

sarawifenow · August 2014

My dress is ivory. When I was trying on veils, I tried one that had white satin running along the edge. The difference between the white and the ivory was really noticable to me. I ended up going with a rhinestone edge because bling.

Peaseblossom55 · August 2014

My dress was ivory, it looked really antique like almost yellowish in person, in pictures it looked closer to white. H and his groomsmen had white dress shirts with their tuxes and we had white table linens, I wasn't concerned about everything matching up so closely.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

I think the reason a lot of bridal shops carry off-white to more ivory colored gowns rather then bright white is 1) an off-white/cream/ivory look much better on most individuals and 2) since the samples are tried on so much having a creamier colored dress will help to hide dirt/oil a bit better then a super white dress.

As for me I wore a diamond white dress (basically and off-white dress). I never even considered a bright/pure white dress. Also, no matter what dress I picked I was going to go with the color that I tried on because I didn't want to take a chance on changing that color and the dress not looking as nice in it.

ElcaB · August 2014

My dress is ivory, but looks like a soft white to me. We are getting ivory tablecloths because I hate white tablecloths & I'm not a big fan of colored ones.

RebeccaFlower · August 2014

Real white looked terrible on me. My dressy was ivory satin.

chibiyui · August 2014

Mine was ivory. The average person saw white. Bright white/diamond white looks good on very few people. Definitely try one on if you want to, but don't worry about people looking at an ivory dress and thinking it's dirty or anything like that.

lkristenj · August 2014

Maggie0829 said:

Also, no matter what dress I picked I was going to go with the color that I tried on because I didn't want to take a chance on changing that color and the dress not looking as nice in it.

I did this too. I thought about going ivory/ivory instead of café/ivory, but because the sample was café/ivory and I loved it, I figured why mess with it? I know what it looks like and I know I like it. If I went with ivory/ivory I know I would have been worrying about that color choice the whole time I was waiting for the dress to arrive (mine still hasn't gotten here - this month, though!).

kat1114 · August 2014

My dress is light gold. I never considered it being an issue that it wasn't truly white. Worry about what looks good and what you feel good in, and you will be fine.

PineapplePopsicles · August 2014

My dress is "ivory" and if you asked anyone what color it was, they'd probably say "white".

manateehugger · August 2014

Just pulled up pictures of me sitting at our table covered in white table cloth. Yes, if you look, there's a difference in the color, but I doubt anyone was staring at me that hard to notice. Or if they did, why the hell did they care???

mysticl · August 2014

My dress was ivory with navy blue details. If you take a flash photo of me wearing white I look like a corpse. My flower girls wore white. You cannot see an obvious different in the photos and they are right next to me in some of them. I contemplated ivory table clothes until I saw the sample, they had an obviously yellow tone to them. The white tablecloths worked much better.

smalfrie19 · August 2014

mine is a soft white, but it has a watercolor blue organza split on it. That's really what people's eyes are drawn to on my dress..

LadyMillil · August 2014

The dress I ended up getting was ivory. I tried on dresses in white and ivory and both were fine on me, but the ivory dress was better and cheaper. I did notice the colour difference at the time, but I'm pretty sure everyone would say I wore a white dress. The dress with no veil is ivory and the dress with veil is white.

luckya23 · August 2014

Thanks everyone! I suspected that she was just trying to sell me a dress since they pretty much only had ivory, but it seems like she spoke the truth about white-white!

So then I'm assuming veils come in ivory as well? Or do you just get the plain white and it looks ok?

I was hoping to go with something from ebay or whatever, because I know my sister got her veil from the dress shop and that alone was like $400!

manateehugger · August 2014

Veils come in all sorts of colors - including ivory.

My cathedral veil was like a $10 project. Tulle from JoAnne's when it was on sale and a comb.

mysticl · August 2014

alucky23 said:

Thanks everyone! I suspected that she was just trying to sell me a dress since they pretty much only had ivory, but it seems like she spoke the truth about white-white!
So then I'm assuming veils come in ivory as well? Or do you just get the plain white and it looks ok?
I was hoping to go with something from ebay or whatever, because I know my sister got her veil from the dress shop and that alone was like $400!

They don't have to be that expensive. I don't remember what mine cost but it was no where near that.

Maggie0829 · August 2014

Veils can come in ivory but I would only suggest that if you have a true ivory/champagne dress. Most times for off-white dresses you can get away with a white veil, especially if there are only one or two tiers to it. The dress and veil will just all blend together and the color difference won't be noticeable.

thisismynickname2 · August 2014

I have to laugh and leave this here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q2hTL2DNfY (It's the old "what color are my teeth?" commercial: beige, ecru, mother of pearl...) I agree with the PP who said pretty much everything looks "white" to the naked eye, unless you intentionally choose another color family (gold, blush, silver, etc.). My challenge was that the beading on my dress looked silver when I got it, but definitely doesn't match my silver headband or any silver jewelry. I can't quite figure it out but am thinking the beading is like.... champagne. The dress is very light ivory.

Bubblegum5586 · August 2014

lolo883 said:

Most ivory dresses look white to most people, especially in daylight. It's just a softer, more natural white.

Mine, though, is champagne with an ivory lace overlay. Looks WAY better with my skin than the lighter dresses did.

Me too!

ashleyep · August 2014

Mine was called "natural" or something. It's basically ivory, but it still definitely looks like a white dress. It's just not bright white, which looks terrible on my skin tone

Is your dress white or ivory (or something else)?

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