A Whiter Shade of Pale

A Whiter Shade of Pale

December 10th, 2009 @ 3:25 pm by Mrs. Hamster
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Diamond White. Ivory. Eggshell. Cream.

I never knew of so many colors for white until I started shopping for The Dress. “Conventional” bridal wisdom has always suggested going with an ivory dress. In fact, in digging around for some stats on the ivory vs. white debate, I found this poll that was conducted on Weddingbee a few years ago. At least in the world of Weddingbee, 4 out of 5 brides choose ivory dresses.

When I first began my wedding gown search, I assumed that I would end up with an ivory gown (I also assumed that I would get an A-line, as they are universally flattering. I guess my body didn’t get the memo). Most of the dresses I tried were sampled in ivory, and the shade looked as expected - pleasant, complementary to my skin tone, etc. And then I found The One, which was sampled in a stark white - and I was shocked! I loved the white! It just popped with an intensity that was amazing. Actually, I had tried on the same exact dress in ivory another store, and I “loved” it, but in white I *looooved* it. I was sold. Or rather, the dress was.

Here are some common themes I found on choosing ivory vs. white:

Ivory:

Complementary to almost all skin tones and undertones
Along the spectrum of different types of ivories, avoid yellow ivory if you have an olive skin-tone

White:

Complementary to tanned or darker skin tones
To be avoided if you are very fair

Or you can just throw out the rule book, and pick whatever makes you feel fabulous, like I did.

What color is your wedding gown?

Tags: wedding-dress |

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25 Responses to “A Whiter Shade of Pale”

1 2 Last

Member

Beav1279 (message) 474 posts, Helper bee

I’m fair.. and my dress is white! Super, amazing, gorgeous white.
I actually never considered wearing any other color.. just didn’t seem right I guess.

12/10/09 @ 3:40 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Rainbow (message) 1,535 posts, Bumble bee

Mine is diamond white. It’s pretty freakin white, but up against start white, you can definitely see the difference.

12/10/09 @ 3:44 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss French Fries (message) 2,218 posts, Buzzing bee

I’m pretty pale (or…I guess the more complimentary term is “fair skinned”) so I chose ivory. I never knew there were so many different shades of white, either!

12/10/09 @ 3:44 pm (reply)

Member

Gilneas (message) 1,393 posts, Bumble bee

Champagne!

12/10/09 @ 3:47 pm (reply)

Bee

Miss Spaniel (message) 6,792 posts, Bee Keeper

I went with ivory and gold… but they all seem to photograph as white, anyway, so I’m not sure it matters much to me. I did look for ivory over white, though.

12/10/09 @ 3:49 pm (reply)

Member

lemondrop (message) 1,193 posts, Bumble bee

I never wear white, and this is the one time I plan to- so I picked out the whitest dress I could find. Plus it helps that the weather is nice here in the winter, so I tan when I go hiking.

12/10/09 @ 4:01 pm (reply)

Member

KlingonBride (message) 69 posts, Worker bee

Mine was white, white, white!

I found the dress I wanted online (really a bridesmaid dress with long sleeves and beading on the bodice). I liked the white satin, but the ivory satin looked dingy.

12/10/09 @ 4:34 pm (reply)

Member

littlemissmoo (message) 3,006 posts, Sugar bee

Mine is ivory. More to the white/cream side of the ivory scale. I love it.

12/10/09 @ 4:39 pm (reply)

Member

kamiie (message) 115 posts, Blushing bee

I almost had a color fiasco…I had always been told that white looks better on african american’s than off -white (ivory, eggshell) etc..As a very fair skinned african-american (they call me yellow), The sample dress I tried on was Ivory, and I didn’t know it ( I thought it was white!), until a store consultant called me 2 weeks after I ordered my dress to confirm the color. I raced to the store to see the “ivory” dress I had ordered - and found that it was indeed ivory, but decided it would probably look more fabulous in white! So I changed my color to white.

12/10/09 @ 4:53 pm (reply)

10.

Member

pmerr (message) 2,518 posts, Sugar bee

I’m fair & I chose white! I tried on ivory & didn’t really like the way it looked. It seemed too dark, and obviously not white. I just didn’t like it. I’m more of a traditionalist!

12/10/09 @ 4:58 pm (reply)

11.

Bee

Miss Nachos (message) 1,733 posts, Bumble bee

Mine is white and I actually never considered ivory for myself. I wonder if I had tried one on if I would have had a change of plans like you did. I do love my white dress though!

12/10/09 @ 5:03 pm (reply)

12.

Bee

Miss Pug (message) 3,753 posts, Honey bee

i actually thought i would really pay attention to this difference when i got my dress, but then i just bought it without even asking. looked fine to me at the time, so let’s hope i was right.

12/10/09 @ 5:35 pm (reply)

13.

Member

elisterine (message) 235 posts, Helper bee

I got a blush gown! I love that it’s a bit different but not too crazy.

12/10/09 @ 5:35 pm (reply)

14.

Bee

Miss Scissors (message) 7,343 posts, Bee Keeper

I’m ivory, but on the white side of ivory. My skin tone is blue blue blue white and fair, so there’s no way I could pull off white without looking like I was trying to flag down aircraft or blind people.

12/10/09 @ 6:27 pm (reply)

15.

Bee

Miss Frozen Yogurt (message) 2,685 posts, Sugar bee

It’s sort of champagne with an ivory overlay. Love it.

12/10/09 @ 7:27 pm (reply)

16.

Bee

Mrs. Mouse (message) 5,844 posts, Bee Keeper

My dress was/is white. And I’m pale. I love breaking the rules!

12/10/09 @ 8:14 pm (reply)

17.

Bee

Miss Cola (message) 2,868 posts, Sugar bee

Ohhh, I wanna see your dress! I’m too pale for diamond white, but really liked some of the ivory dresses I tried on. However nothing made my heart pitter-patter like the spun gold/champagne that I bought!

12/10/09 @ 9:00 pm (reply)

18.

Bee

Miss Hamster (message) 4,046 posts, Honey bee

Wow, a lot more white-dress gals than I thought!

@Gilneas: @Miss Spaniel: @elisterine: @Miss Frozen Yogurt: @Miss Cola: I looove these champagne/gold/blush dresses - I hadn’t seen them around too much until recently, but they are absolutely gorgeous.

12/11/09 @ 12:32 am (reply)

19.

Member

Ruby Slippers (message) 509 posts, Busy bee

I’m so fair I’m almost translucent, but I wore a white dress and looked - I think- great! I’m a pinky pale and the dress is white, so it wasn’t like we blended in to each other. By contrast, my sister, who has a yellowy-brown skin tone and dark hair and eyes, chose an ivory-champagne dress because she thought white would be too startlng. I say try them all on and decided then. No one’s skin is the same.

12/11/09 @ 9:11 am (reply)

20.