The dress code of weddings

I once went to a wedding where a guest turned up in a wedding dress. No joke. Not just a white dress that looked a bit matchy to a wedding dress, but a full-on, white satin strapless dress with diamantes on it and bought from a bridal shop. Her hair was done up in 90s petals and she wore strappy bridal-esque shoes to top off the look.The guest - a not very welcome one at that, but one of those "had to" invite ones - sure made her presence felt as people whispered behind their hands "Can you BELIEVE she is wearing that?"Meanwhile, plenty of guests sprinted over to the park setting when they saw her, thinking they'd missed the all-important arrival of the bride - only to realise it was little-miss-attention-seeker's grand show of trickery.
The bride, thankfully, was in good spirits about it. Angry, yes. But not enough for it to ruin her day as she quickly realised we were all astonished and ashamed enough for this tragic girl on behalf of the bride, so she was free to get on with her day.How could anyone do that? I'm not sure. I can't even imagine the thought process behind it. "Hmm, what should I wear to this wedding? I KNOW!"But I'd like to think it occurs less frequently than I've seen it.People to make dresses for Little Dresses for Africa.One thing that's quite common these days is for guests to turn up to weddings in dresses the same as or similar to the bridesmaids', especially as brides lean more toward off-the-rack dresses for their attendants.
One high school friend did this when we attended another friend's wedding. The bridesmaids, all four of them, looked beautiful in their black and white bridesmaid dresses - and so did one of the guests. Thankfully, because everyone was such great friends, it was a laugh and probably a sign of how everyone was on the same wavelength.I'm off to a wedding of two friends this Friday in Christchurch and I've carefully planned what I'm going to wear. I checked with the groom on the bridesmaids' dress colour. "Green," he responded. (SUCH a boy response.)
Further questioning revealed it was green of the sage/avocado variety - so there goes that dress I was going to wear, which I'll save to wear the following day for St Pat's Day instead. Crisis averted.Do most weddings have dress codes these days? I can't think of the last one that had a note on the invite to say if it was expected that we dress a particular way. Even church weddings these days have somewhat eased in the sense that bare shoulders are OK and hats aren't a must for female guests. (Unless it's a royal wedding, daaah-link. In which case the more ridiculous the hat you wear, the more followers on Facebook it will get.)