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Affordable Wedding Guest Dresses Under $50 For Spring & Summer

Want to skip ahead?

Affordable Wedding Guest Dresses Under $50: Informal Wedding Guest Dresses

Affordable Wedding Guest Dresses Under $50: Destination Wedding Guest Dresses

Affordable Wedding Guest Dresses Under $50: Semi-Formal Wedding Guest Dresses

Affordable Wedding Guest Dresses Under $50: Black-Tie Wedding Guest Dresses

Affordable Wedding Guest Dresses Under $50: Jumpsuits

It’s everyone’s favorite time of year: Wedding Season! AKA- time to start looking for affordable wedding guest dresses! And I’m here to help you find the perfect one!

(If you’re looking for Fall Wedding Guest Dresses click here !)

Okay maybe it’s not everyone’s favorite season, but maybe we can agree on most stressful?? Honestly, I was a bride two years ago, and being a guest sometimes was more stressful than being the bride. No joke! The expenses, traveling, picking out the perfect wedding guest dress to wear to a wedding. It can stress you out! I mean until you’re like actually at the wedding and one too many drinks in at the open bar. Then all of a sudden the stress just magically melts away…

But before you get to that point, it really can be stressful and EXPENSIVE! And since it costs an arm and a leg to attend a wedding between the travel, hotel room, bridal showers/bachelorette parties, and gifts— who really wants to spend a ton on a wedding guest dress? … NOBODY! That’s who. But you still want to look cute! (everyone is gonna post this wedding on Instagram!)

The struggle.

I literally have had years where I have been invited to close to 10 weddings! (I was also in the wedding party for a lot of these) But it totally wreaked havoc on my bank account. This year is a “light” year for us with only 4 weddings, but according to normal people this is still a pretty high number. Classic being in your early 30’s problems.

If you can relate with this problem and you have quite a few weddings to attend this Spring, and you’re worried if your wallet is going to survive it, then this list is certainly for you! I’m here to help you find the perfect dress to wear to a wedding without breaking the bank!

I sort of have a knack for finding affordable (but still cute) wedding guest dresses! A few of my favs from past weddings below:

Thankfully, I have compiled a running list of cute, trendy affordable wedding guest dresses (and even some jumpsuits!) for any and all weddings you may be attending this crazy 2020 wedding season! Which means you definitely won’t have to skimp on all the other costs involved! So basically you will be the best guest (because you’ll be able to afford a nice gift and attend all the pre-parties and after parties) AND the best dressed. You’re welcome.

All of these affordable wedding guest dresses are broken down by how formal or not-so-formal of a wedding you are attending. So basically I got you covered from the very casual beach wedding all the way up to the bougie black tie super formal weddings. Yes I found black tie wedding guest dresses for under $50. Miracles do exist. And whether you love Maxi dresses, midi dresses, mini dresses—I got you covered in every category!

Aside from this super extensive deep dive on the internet to find the perfect wedding appropriate dresses for you, I also have to give you some unsolicited advice on wedding guest attire. Because as much as I would love to tell you “express yourself!” “do you!” “no rules!!”

THERE ARE SOME VERY SERIOUS UNWRITTEN RULES. (Sorry my repressed ex-bride self just hopped out the cage)

First of all yes, there is such thing as too short of a dress. We are at the age now where our friends are getting married for God’s sake! This means we are adults now. Plus, Grandma is going to be there! And quite honestly nobody came here to see your vagina! They came here to see love. Pure, innocent love. Also one of my friend’s girlfriend’s (let’s call her Deb) wore a real short dress to a friend’s wedding and we STILL to this day talk about how short her dress was. (we are ass holes, yes) But don’t be Deb!!! Keep it classy. (Look, I mean Deb can werk it in the super short dress any other day (no shame in her game), but the bride is the star today, NOT DEB. Also sometimes there is a religious institution that must be attended for the ceremony so ya gotta show a little respect. There’s a time and a place ya know? We ain’t shaming a good revealing dress here!)

My other tactic I like to pull is to somehow find out what color the wedding party is wearing! Would really hate to show up to a wedding in a navy chiffon gown only to find out that’s what all the bridesmaids are wearing and now multiple old and confused relatives are coming up to me and telling me they loved my speech all night. Like ha ha thank you I’m actually here under duress as the groom’s coworker’s wife and I already forget the bride’s name TBH….

And last rule (I promise) and even though I KNOW you know this: PLEASE for the love of God do not wear white!!! Unless the invitation explicitly says to do so, assume it is not okay! You’d be surprised how many people ignore this obvious rule. Okay not many, but enough that it must be stated.

SO now that I’m done Again ALL of these wedding guest dresses are under $50 and on-trend for Spring 2020. Now let’s find you that amazing dress to wear to a wedding this year!

(If you are into weddings and planning your own in New Jersey, check out my wedding blog post from last year here for some great vendors I highly recommend!)

Less Formal/ Ceremony Only/ Bridal Shower Appropriate Wedding Guest Dresses

A lotttt of floral prints, spring / pastel colors, print maxi dresses and some great midi dresses and more modest pieces are the go-to for this category. All of these wedding guest dresses have serious Spring vibes and would work perfect for a very informal wedding, a church or off-site ceremony where the idea is to change into something more formal for the reception later on (some options you may have to wear a sweater/jacket over due to exposed shoulders and back), and would also be great options for a bridal (or even baby) shower! You could even dress a lot of these down and re-wear throughout the season! (Personally I am very into the floral dress + sneakers look this season!)

black off the shoulder casual midi dress

pink floral print square neck midi dress

Beach Wedding/ Destination Wedding Guest Dresses

I feel like this type of wedding needs its own category because it’s a totally different vibe than say a wedding in Pennsylvania in April. You definitely won’t catch me in any of these palm print halter maxi dresses on a 42 degree rainy day. But on a tropical island? Totally different story. So this is gonna be a lot of tropical flower prints, palm print, beachy attire that is more suitable for warmer weather. And all this is really doing for me is making me wish all the weddings I’m attending weren’t in the middle to end of May in New Jersey (not exactly tropical weather). So like if you’re invited to a destination wedding please have a frozen cocktail in my honor and rock your beach wedding guest dress with pride!

Cocktail/Semi-Formal Wedding Guest Dresses

This is the category I feel like most weddings I’ve ever attended fall under. And honestly it was the category I found the most options for! Picked out a lot of lace in some fun Spring colors, a few satin/slip numbers, some animal print, and most of these are a midi length!

I also tried to mix it up with the necklines and silhouettes because I know everyone prefers something different! Me being someone with NO curves I tend to prefer something that helps to give me a little shape, while I know some people have great curves and want to show them off in a more fitted option. Some of these are SO GOOD it’s hard to believe they are under $50! I hope you find the perfect match for you! Love the midi dress selection in this category!

More Formal/Black Tie Wedding Guest Dresses

This is probably both the most fun category but also the hardest to shop for at this price point of trying to stay under $50. Let’s just all clap it up for Amazon, Boohoo, and Nasty Gal for having alllll the black tie appropriate options! I was so impressed at just how good these dresses are compared with the price. Now to be totally honest, some of these I’m sure are not the BEST quality, but if you’re only going to wear it once, it fits, looks good, and isn’t like falling apart at the seams or see-through or something, then WORTH IT! You’re never going to wear it again. And if you do, well you probably should have just invested in something more quality or done Rent The Runway TBH. But yeah, VERY obsessed with a lot of these options and impressed that I was able to find a lot of fun color and variety! These are mostly maxi length, a midi dress can work sometimes, but the best bet for black tie is go maxi!

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Jumpsuits

Are jumpsuits ok to wear to a wedding? My answer is YES. (I’ve done it!) And there are so many great ones that are definitely formal enough to rock at a wedding. My suggestion would be to skip the jumpsuit move if the wedding is black tie, but if you find one that feels like it’s elevated enough and formal enough I say go for it!

The only downfall— you might struggle more than the bride does to pee. But like jumpsuits have been trendy for a few years now we all know the drill by now.

I found some really great jumpsuits that definitely look wedding appropriate (some even look like maxi dresses! You can’t even tell they are jumpsuits!) and will absolutely be conducive to high leg kicks or any other crazy dance move you may want to bust out now that you have the freedom of pants over a skirt.

Shoes

Ok yes I know you clicked over to this blog post to look at wedding guest dresses, but I couldn’t help myself!!! A solid wedding appropriate shoe is KEY to surviving wedding season, especially if you are rocking a midi dress or mini dress! Once you find your go-to pair it’s game over. All of these are super simple and elegant and I listed different heel options (super high for my short girls and some totally flat for my tall girls). Also if all else fails just go to Target or Marshall’s and it’s near impossible to not find something quality for an affordable price! These are great neutral options too if you’re in the wedding party of a lot of weddings and your dress color has been decided for you!

Bags

Ok last category I SWEAR, and honestly I am being a bit selfish because this is the category I always absolutely fail in when it comes to being a wedding guest. I have like 2 bags that I rotate and they for sure do not work with most outfits and then I last minute have to borrow someone’s bag. I am a terrible fashion blogger for this reason.

BUT after some online searching, come to realize there are some super cute, cheap, classic options that definitely are much more versatile than my two ratty ass bags I’ve been using for the past like 3 years (seriously what is wrong with me?).

I think the biggest thing from this blog post that I want you to takeaway is that YES you can absolutely find the perfect, cute, and on-trend wedding guest dresses for UNDER $50!

AND that if none of the ones I picked out here work for you, I highly highly HIGHLY recommend doing your own search on Amazon, ASOS, Nordstrom Rack (found sooooo many of these options there), Nasty Gal, and Boohoo !

All of these sites have TONS of options and the only sites I’d say you’d have to worry about the quality / you should definitely read the reviews would be Amazon! If you are new to shopping on Amazon, definitely check out my post on how to shop for clothes on Amazon here! Some really helpful tips and some highly recommended brands and pieces!

As for Nordstrom Rack, ASOS, Nasty Gal and Boohoo, their websites actually don’t have reviews! (Bummer, I know!)

However, I will say that Nordstrom Rack and ASOS I wouldn’t worry about the quality, I have ordered from both sites many times and I’ve never had an issue with the quality of the items. Nordstrom Rack especially because it’s usually well known brands. Definitely one of my go-to’s to find a dress to wear to wedding. And ASOS actually had a really great bridesmaid dresses line for if you’re in the wedding party!

NastyGal and Boohoo are like Forever 21 level quality (so like, not the best and then sometimes they surprise you with something being better quality than expected!) So it can be a bit of a crap shoot, but nearly as like scary as something that is bad quality from Amazon where like it doesn’t look like the photo and the material is about as thin as a tissue.

Anywhere else you like to shop for wedding guest dresses? Leave me a comment below!

ALSO if you liked this post and you’re just feelin alllll the Spring vibes right now, be sure to check out my post on Easter dress ideas too!

Happy Shopping!!