35 best wedding guest dresses, approved by a recent bride

I got married last year and, honestly, aside from saying “I do” to the love of my life, seeing all my friends and family in the best wedding guest dresses was the highlight of my day.

That said, having been to a fair few nuptials myself, I understand the pressure of finding an outfit. First, you need to nail the wedding dress code. Is it black tie? Casual? A garden-type affair? Next, is the dress in question too short? Is it versatile enough for you to want to wear it again? Is it too bold? And last of all, what time of year/where is the wedding taking place? If it's a destination ceremony you're attending, you might want to look at the best summer wedding guest dresses as opposed to the best winter wedding guest dresses.

Luckily, there is very little in the way of a wedding guest dress rule book – other than no white, obvs. My top tips are: don't outshine the bride or bridesmaids, and try not to opt for something you'd wear on a night out (i.e. anything too revealing) – grandparents will likely be present, remember.

If you're worried about budget, there are plenty of affordable wedding guest dresses on the high street that look endlessly more expensive than they actually are, so you needn't spend a fortune, and you should always shop your own wardrobe first. Don't stress about buying a wedding guest outfit on top of a wedding gift and hen party look when you probably already own exactly what you're looking for. That said, there's plenty of inspo below if you really can't find a thing.

This year, each member of the Glamour team has had at least two weddings to attend already – anyone else at that age where every friend seems to be tying the knot/buying a house/having babies? So while our expertise in finding the best wedding guest dresses is self-proclaimed, you could argue it's totally justified. We know exactly what's trending because we've been searching for it ourselves, and we know that budget is just as important as quality and style.

As consumers, we think it's ideal when you get to see what a dress looks like on a few different bodies before making a decision on purchasing. So that's exactly what we've done below. We've tried on our favourite new-in styles to show you how they sit/fit/move on us as well as the gorgeous models on the websites. You're welcome.

As mentioned, the Glamour team has got a handful of nuptials to RSVP to this year. So with that in mind, we've been testing styles from our favourite high-street brands, to some of the top designer labels.

We've ordered through the best online clothing stores as well as the best rental sites, taking things like colour variety, size range, material and price into consideration. We then took to the streets of London, styling each frock up to exactly how we'd wear it for someone's wedding, to demonstrate how the fabric moves and looks in genuine, unedited video clips and photos.

You can read more about how we test here, and get our full verdict on which frocks to shop ahead.

For more from Glamour UK's Senior Commerce Writer Georgia Trodd, follow her on Instagram @georgiatrodd.