Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Wearing Hats to Weddings

I realised the other day that's been blogging for 6 years. My posts have gone from rambling text to random photos as technology has moved on, and it's easier to just show pictures that say anything.

Some of my most popular posts are reposts of other blogs on wearing hats at weddings, and postings of the essays I wrote for A Level Dance when I was 17 and 18.

When I was doing A Level Dance I remember to difficulty of finding any academic writing on dance, so I hope the people who are finding them are finding them useful!

In that vein, I'm going to use my internet credibility on the wearing of hats to weddings to talk about hats and weddings and so on. So I give you.

The Alex Tarling Guide to Hats and Weddings.
Note, I am not an etiquette expert or a hat expert, but I do love the,

Should I wear a hat to a wedding?

The answer is always yes. It adds a sense of occasion and joy and formality that befits a wedding.



 

 

What kind of hat should I wear?
This depends on how formal the wedding is. You can usually judge this based on any dress codes included in the invites, or your take on the couple's level of formality.

For a traditional formal wedding, you can go for a proper hat, or a fascination. Pull out all the stops. Why not! For more masculine reader, if you know the groom (or grooms) are wearing top hats and tails, hire a top hat and join in the fun.


For a more informal wedding, fascinators, flower hairclips, decorative headbands, fresh flowers, trilbies and so on.

When do I take my hat off at a wedding?
Chaps, you take it off in the church, and when you're indoors, unless it's a very informal or theme wedding. Or if you're Toddy at our wedding and it's a fez. Because you can.

Ladies, if wearing a proper hat that covers the crown of your head, you keep it on until the mother of the bride removes her, or when you sit down to eat at the reception.

If you're wearing a fascinator, you can follow the hat rule if you want to take it off, but people do wear them all day as they dont get in the way!

Help, I don't want hat hair when I take my hat off at the recepton.
If it's a big hat, consider putting some of the hair in curlers under the hat, then nip off to the loo pre sitting down for dinner, take out the curlers, brush through and voila.

How do I wear my hair with a hat?
Short hair makes this much easier. With longer hair, pull a few strands down around the face to stop the bald head under hat look. With longer hair, a side pony tail or bun under a large hat can sometimes look better than just leaving it down.

With smaller hat or fascinators, make sure you have lots of volume at the crown to help keep it in place.

What do I do with my hat at a wedding when I take it off?

Here's one for those planning the do to address. Create a hat hanging point at your party, or do as we did, and string up ribbons with pegs for people to peg their hats to.

I want to encourage people to wear hats to my wedding.
Do! So much fun. The photos are so much more colourful. We asked people politely in the invites, and nearly everyone obliged, male and female.

Can I wear hats to other parties other than weddings?
Yes, any excuse is a good excuse, Christenings, Parties, Day to Day because it just makes you look awesome are all good reasons.

Hats are expensive. How can I afford one?

Cheap hats for weddings are easy to come by. Look in sales, charity shops and so on. Hats are also easily adaptable, so you can get a cheap charity shop hat, and customise with with scarves, fake flowers or feathers. Fascinators are also easy to make your self using a comb or alice band and then glueing on flowers and feathers and ribbons. Unleash your creativitiy.

Here are the facinators I made for my bridesmaids:

 

If you have a hat related question, send me an email and I'll try to answer it.

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