What to Wear to a May Wedding

May weddings are the start of the busiest part of the wedding season. If you're wondering what to wear to a wedding in May, this post will help!

Over 70 Dress Ideas For A May Wedding

Are you wondering what to wear to a May wedding? A lovely spring dress should work! Here, we will show you some outfit ideas and dress options for day, afternoon, and evening weddings.

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Shopping sources and image credits: 1. Pink Strappy Square Neck Volume Midi Dress from Club L London 2. Bells of Spring Strapless Maxi Dress Fortunate One 3. Whitley Pleated Green Floral Maxi Dress from Lulus 4 Smocked Floral Midi Dress from Astr the Label

Our Top Picks for May Wedding Guest Dresses

May is a great time to start wearing pastels, florals, and flowy maxi dresses to weddings. Garden-party styles always look great. Here are 90 more dresses we've seen lately that are perfect for May weddings! These are the newest colors and top styles for the current wedding season.

More Ideas for Springtime Wedding Attire

One of the most common questions wedding guests ask is how to dress for the specific dress code on the invitation.

May weddings can range from a casual backyard gathering to a semi-formal outdoor garden party, all the way to full black-tie, so it helps to know what each dress code actually calls for — and which styles are the best choices for each.

As always, check the invitation and wedding website for any dress code directives. The venue, time of day, and general theme or style of the wedding can give you a lot of guidance. Usually, morning and afternoon weddings are more casual, while late-afternoon and evening weddings move into semi-formal territory.

Once you know the formality of the dress you're looking for, you can narrow it down to your favorite colors to wear. Spring is a great time to wear colors like lavender, sky blue, pink, sage green, and buttery yellow.

As always, avoid wearing white, cream, off-white, or anything too close to the bridal party's colors — that's always a bad idea regardless of dress code. If you're still unsure, here's a quick visual guide.

Casual Wedding Attire

A breezy floral midi dress in a soft pastel color is a perfect choice. Look for lightweight fabrics like chiffon or cotton that move beautifully outdoors and keep you cool in the May sunshine.

If the dress code calls for casual wedding attire, obviously, that doesn't mean your best leggings, jeans, and a t-shirt! Causal just means more relaxed than semi-formal, but not as casual as your daily casual style.

For a May wedding, the easy way to ace a casual dress code is to reach for a pretty sundress, a floral midi dress, or a relaxed maxi dress in bright colors or pastel colors.

Think brunch or garden party in a semi-formal sundress style. Breathable fabrics are your friend here, especially for outdoor ceremonies and receptions where you'll want to feel comfortable on the dance floor all evening.

Polka dots, light florals, and soft watercolor prints are all great options for this season.

A midi-length dress in a chiffon or light fabric, with a fun spring pattern, hits the sweet spot between put-together and relaxed. If you prefer pants, a cute jumpsuit in a pastel or floral print is a standout style that works beautifully for a casual spring celebration.

Garden Wedding & Garden Party Attire

A floral maxi dress with a flowy skirt is the quintessential garden wedding look. A watercolor floral print in warm pinks and greens feels perfectly in keeping with the setting and the time of year.

A garden wedding in May practically calls for floral prints. This is the dress code where you can lean into spring wedding outfits with the most personality and personal style. Long, flowy maxi dresses with a floral motif are ideal since they photograph beautifully among blooms and greenery. Look for lightweight fabrics like chiffon, georgette, or flowy satin that move gracefully in an outdoor breeze.

If you prefer a more monochromatic look, you can opt for a dress with a big floral pattern, or you can also opt for a layered skirt with volume. Just keep the color bright and cheery. Vibrant pinks, yellows, and all shades of spring greens and blues are great to consider. Check out our garden party dress code tips in this LTK Post.

May wedding guest dresses for garden settings should feel relaxed but polished. A tiered maxi in a pastel shade, a floral-print dress, or a lace cocktail dress in a pretty spring color all work beautifully. Just keep your heel choice in mind — a low block heel, or a wedge will fare much better on grass than a stiletto. For a personal touch, add a delicate floral hair clip or a pretty clutch or basket-style bag to complete the garden party look.

Cocktail Attire for May Weddings

A beaded or embroidered cocktail dress in a rich, vibrant spring color is a stunning choice for afternoon and evening weddings. These timeless classics are elegant without being overdressed.

Cocktail attire is one of the most common dress codes you'll see for any wedding, and it's a great opportunity to wear something truly beautiful. This dress code is generally a semi-formal style that calls for a knee-length to midi-length dress, so a chic midi or tea-length dress is ideal. Cocktail dresses for May weddings can be elegant and simple or bold and colorful — both are completely appropriate.

For daytime cocktail weddings, bright colors and floral prints are lovely. For afternoon and evening weddings, you might lean toward richer hues: jewel tones, deep florals, or classic dark neutral.

A lace cocktail dress is a timeless choice that never goes out of style and works for any venue.

A little black dress is also another reliable go-to; just dress it up either by choosing a floral print or adding some colorful accessories and statement earrings to keep it feeling spring-appropriate rather than too somber.

A suit, a semi-formal skirt with a dressy top, or a wedding-appropriate jumpsuit is another great option for cocktail attire — it can look polished and give you more freedom of movement throughout the evening.

Formal & Black Tie Wedding Attire

A floor-length gown in a spring fabric is the perfect choice for a formal May celebration. Look for beautiful, brightly colored gowns or a long, floral-print gown to feel both glamorous and seasonally appropriate.
When the invitation says black tie, it's time to reach for those floor-length gowns, which are the standard for black-tie attire. May is a wonderful time of year for this look, with so many gorgeous options in spring colors.

Black tie is the more formal of the two dress codes, while formal denotes a step up from semi-formal. For formal, the dress should be longer and in a formal fabric, but doesn't have to be a floor-length gown.

A beautiful, brightly colored gown or a pastel dress makes a stunning impression at both outdoor and indoor venues such as hotel ballrooms, historic homes, or elegant resorts.

Full-length hemlines are the safest bet for a black-tie wedding, though a sophisticated maxi dress can sometimes work, depending on the venue's formality. When in doubt, go longer and pick the more formal fabric. While there are a few formal dresses shown in this post, a better idea is to see all the spring formal dresses we've picked to get more ideas

If you're still confused about dress code guidance, see more wedding guest dress code guidelines.

More Ideas for Spring Wedding Guest Attire

If you're still unsure what to wear to a May wedding, it's generally a good idea to opt for a pretty floral dress, a pastel maxi dress, or a lace cocktail dress for a daytime wedding. Try a lace cocktail dress or a pretty beaded or colorful cocktail dress for the afternoon and evening in spring colors. A beautiful, bright-colored gown or a pastel dress is the perfect choice for formal May weddings.

What Colors Work Best for May Weddings?

Color is one of the most fun parts of dressing as a wedding guest in May. The time of year offers a wide range of gorgeous options:

Pastels are always a winning choice in May, like soft pink, lavender, mint, peach, and baby blue. These pastel colors feel fresh and seasonally appropriate and photograph beautifully in the golden spring light. A word of caution, some pastels like the palest lavenders, blues, and yellows can read as too light and look almost white - especially if it's a satin fabric, so be sure to choose a pastel that has some depth tot he color.

Bright colors are another great option, especially for casual and garden wedding dress codes. A bold coral, a vivid bright green, or a cheerful butter yellow can make you stand out in the right way as a stylishly dressed guest at the celebration.

Multicolor prints, as we mentioned, are a staple of this season. It's a great time to break out the floral dresses for wedding guests in any of the beautiful colors we've mentioned above.

What to avoid: While floral prints and color are encouraged, there are a few shades to steer clear of as a wedding guest. As always, avoid wearing white, off-white, ivory, or champagne (unless the dress code specifically says white-tie or the couple has indicated it's okay).

Also, avoid anything that closely matches the bridal party's colors — it's just good manners to let the wedding party stand out.

Floral dresses with a white background are popular during this season, and they are ok with us; just read our guidelines on how to choose a wedding-appropriate floral dress with a white background.

What Fabrics Are Best for a May Wedding?

May weather can be unpredictable, especially on the East Coast where we live, where it can be warm and sunny one day, breezy and cool the next. The right fabric choice can make a big difference in your comfort level throughout the big day.

If the weather is unpredictable or you'll be outdoors, bring a light wrap or a cute dressy cardigan or jacket in a complementary color so you're prepared for any temperature changes as the evening goes on. If you know it's likely to be chilly, then it's also a good idea to plan on a long-sleeved wedding guest dress in a pretty spring color as a backup.

Past Dress Ideas

This post was originally published on May 4, 2015, but it has been updated with new dresses for May 2026. These are past picks, but some may still be in stock.

Image credits and shopping sources: 1. Pink Multi Floral Maxi Dress from Petal + Pup 2. Peach Tiered Maxi Dress with cutouts from Lulus 3. Green polka dot 'Maeve' midi dress from Astr the Label 4. Blue Cowl Neck Satin Maxi Dress from Anthropologie

Colors of the season and styles made their way into our latest picks; here's where we'd wear these dresses! Garden party dress codes are very popular for spring weddings. To that end, we love the look of our first dress; this floral watercolor maxi dress is suitable for day or night weddings and perfectly represents garden formal attire.

Our second dress is a gorgeous peach dress with a tiered skirt and cutout bodice. This dress can go anywhere from a semi-formal to a formal spring event. The fun color and maxi dress style work for outdoor garden weddings, beach weddings, all the way to formal indoor venues.

The midi dress style is an ideal look for anything from daytime informal weddings to a semi-formal wedding dress code. Just adjust the formality of your accessories to take this dress from day to night.

For a formal or black-tie wedding in a venue like a hotel ballroom, historic home, or elegant resort, this long satin maxi dress is perfect for such occasions. The fabric's beautiful drape and sky-blue color make it perfect for the transitional weather of May.

This section shows older May wedding suggestions that are now out of stock. We keep some of the listings here, in case you've reached this page from a pin of a dress. Unfortunately, if the dress no longer appears on this page, it is out of stock.