Wedding Guest Asked to Leave for Wearing Dress That Appeared White Under Black Lights, Not 'Respecting Etiquette'

Mar. 15, 2025

A bride stands next to a wedding guest wearing a yellow dress (stock image).Photo:Getty

Getty

A wedding guest was left feeling “incredibly embarrassed” when she was asked to leave for disregarding etiquette and wearing a white dress — only, her dress was actually yellow.

In a post onReddit’s “Am I the A——?” forum, the guest explained that she recently attended a close friend’s wedding and wore a yellow dress for the occasion. “Think Belle inBeauty of the Beastyellow. Bumble bee yellow. So yellow that I did not question if it was appropriate or not to wear to a wedding and neither did my friends nor family,” she wrote.

At first, her dress was a hit. The guest said she received quite a few compliments on it, including from the bride who said “several times” that she loved the look. But later into the night, when the main lights were dimmed in the reception venue and black lights were turned on, the guest’s dress suddenly appeared white in color.

A wedding guest wears a yellow dress (stock image).Getty

“I stated that the dress was yellow but the black lights were making it appear white. The member of the wedding party stated that if I didn’t leave she would ‘make me,’ " the guest recalled, explaining that the conversation soon grew “tense” and “heated.”

“I stated I’m here to celebrate my friend, repeated that the dress was yellow and said I will not be leaving early,” she continued. “The wedding party member walked off and I watched as they immediately went to talk to the groom, angrily pointing in my direction. The groom shrugged and continued to dance.”

While the guest thought that was the end of the matter, she later got flak from a friend over her refusal to leave the wedding. “They stated that they heard what happened and that I should have left when asked because it made people ‘uncomfortable’ and that I made it about me ‘partying’ rather than ‘respecting wedding etiquette,’ " she wrote.

Now, the guest is wondering if she was wrong to stand her ground and stay at the reception. “Am I the a—— for not leaving the wedding when asked?” she concluded her post, inviting people to share their opinions on the dress dustup.

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Most of the commenters assured the guest that she did not break any etiquette rules and that the wedding party member was “out of line” for asking her to leave.

“Who checks their attire under black lights to see if it ‘passes?’ Ridiculousness,” one person wrote. “I understand if it appeared white under normal lights but c’mon, this was an unusual situation at the end of the reception. You are fine and whomever approached you was completely and utterly out of line. Some people have nothing better to do than look for problems that don’t exist.”

People dancing at a wedding reception (stock image).Getty Images

Getty Images

Someone else chimed in: “Pro tip: When they turn the lights down and put a black light on, the ‘wedding etiquette’ portion of the evening is over and it’s about partying.”

“The bride liked the dress and told you several times. When told your dress was white under the black lights, the groom shrugged and kept dancing. Next time someone says something, laugh…and if they say something again, laugh louder and longer,” someone wrote.

One commenter blamed the whole thing on the venue. “Who has blacklight at a wedding reception? Anyone wearing so many types of appropriate colors would appear white. If anything, this is on the venue or whoever decided on the black lights.”

source: people.com