WATERFRONT WEDDING

So on Saturday my mother and I were invited to a backyard wedding, held at the groom's mother's riverfront home. He's Sri Lankan and the bride is American. Unlike most Sri Lankan weddings, which are quite formal and held in hotel ballrooms, this was a barbecue reception overlooking the river, and the dress code was the mysterious "semi-formal" or "dressy-casual", which might seem easy but ... isn't. It's very hard to figure out where to draw the line between "kind of dressy" and "casual".

I'd have worn a sari, but the groom's grandmother told my mother that no-one else would be in saris. Sooo, we figured people must be wearing dressy separates, as they do for other functions like dinner-dances.

We both chose dress slacks and nice tops, but it was 104 degrees outside and we practically passed out from the heat, despite the river being right there. Who on earth got the bright idea to have an outdoor wedding during one of the hottest times of the year?!! You future brides and grooms out there: please, please consider the comfort of your guests a little when planning your nuptials.

Well, at least the food was good, and the setting was truly beautiful. We were dressed appropriately and well too, so despite the heat we were happy about that!

Here's what I wore:

My rayon-blend dress slacks fit well and are super-comfortable. I've never found another pair I like as much as these, even though I got them on clearance for something like $20, at Sears, about eight years ago! My top is a new one by Sunny Leigh, in a tie-dye patterned chiffon with gold sequins at the neckline, from Macy's.


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Here, you can see a closeup of the sequin detail:


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I wore all gold-colored jewelry to match. The jewelry is what took the look from dinner party dress to wedding reception attire.

All my gold sandals were that "champagne" color that didn't really go with the top, so instead I wore these bronze sandals from Steven by Steve Madden:



I also carried this darling little beaded bag from India (bought from an Indian school-parent who had got some there to sell here in California):


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I was very happy with my outfit, but I realized that I need a dress or something like that just for weddings. I'm kind of dreading looking for a "wedding outfit", as I've yet to find one I like, but like bathing suits I figure the perfect one is out there! ^__^