Beach Weddings: What to Wear If You're the Guest

A destination wedding at the beach straddles the line between vacation attire and free-spirited elegance. You don't want to show up in Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian shirt (unless that's the couple's theme), but a thick chiffon gown doesn't feel appropriate either. What to do? When shopping for your next beach wedding guest look, make sure your pieces can pull double-duty as both festive party outfits and no-fuss vacation wear. Opt for breezy linen and cotton dresses that can be worn over a swimsuit at the pool or dressed up with kitten heels to the reception. Step it up with seaside-inspired accessories like shell earrings or a handbag. (The bag can hold sunblock and your sunglasses when you lounge by the pool post-wedding festivities.)

To show you what I mean, I've come up with five foolproof outfits that prove dressing for a beach wedding isn't hard, especially when you have the right pieces. Even better, you can stuff the looks into a carry-on for an arsenal of winning wedding guest ensembles. (After all, everyone knows packing for a warm-weather vacation/wedding offers more suitcase space when you don't have to include heavy wintery items.) The ensembles below pull double-duty in every sense of the word and will keep the compliments rolling in. You can now sit back and relax while daydreaming about sipping on that delicious mai tai. See? Dressing for beach weddings can be effortless.

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Sara Holzman is the Style Director at Marie Claire, where she oversees fashion coverage spanning seasonal trends, celebrity style, designers, Fashion Month, and shopping. With more than a decade of experience in fashion media, she has held roles at Condé Nast’s Lucky and Self and contributed style and travel coverage to Equinox’s Furthermore. A graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism, Sara is based in New York City, where she writes about fashion through both an industry and personal lens, including the realities of getting dressed as a working mom. Follow her on Instagram at @sarajonewyork.