Wedding guests don’t have too many rules to follow but there are some things that have become non-negotiables: tell the bride she looks beautiful, don’t get drunk and have a fight with the best man, and don’t ever wear white. 

Or do you? One Mumsnet user has started a debate about whether it is still taboo to wear the same colour as the woman of the hour – will you be stealing her thunder or will she be too loved up to care about your outfit? 

The mum in question explained that she has bought a dress for a charity event but wanted to justify the cost and wear it to an upcoming wedding as well. There was just one hitch – it’s white. 

She tried to justify it, saying: “It will be paired with black shoes and a black bag and the bottom of the dress is like a taupe colour.” But lots of people still thought it was a dangerous move.

One said: “Someone wore a short white lace dress to my wedding which was almost exactly the same as my bridesmaids dresses. She hadn’t done it on purpose but it looked really odd in all the photos. She looked like some nuts person who had tried to tag on the end of the bridesmaids. Some older family members did have a bit of a grumble about it.” 

Another said: “If it was any other colour it would be fine. But white to somebody else’s wedding is a no IMO.” A third added: “Absolutely not. It’s lovely, but not for a wedding. Just don’t be that person.”

“It’s a nice dress but it looks too cream / ivory for a wedding. If you wore that to my wedding, I wouldn’t have said anything but would be a bit ,” said another.

A few people were more reassuring and thought she could get away with it if she styled it in the right way. “Oh, thats really unusual and lovely!” said one. “I think you could wear it to a wedding, with the right accessories. With something bold, like navy blue, the ivory colouring could be overlooked. Disclaimer: I am shite at this stuff!”

Another said: “Fine by me, the colour is OK in my book as it doesn’t look like a wedding dress at all. Unless you know the bride is especially uptight (and honestly, it would take a pretty uptight bride to be upset that someone’s wearing pale-not-wedding-dress) in which case maybe avoid.”  

It seems the jury is still out.