Would You Wear a Short Wedding Dress? Here are 7 Stunners…

I wore a $99 short dress to my wedding at a family pond. I was getting married in July in Iowa, and the thought of a long, heavy dress made me sweat imagining it. A beloved friend squeezed the sample dress over my bum in the first shop of the day, and we called off the rest of the appointments. I wore a birdcage veil and green heels from Payless. We saved most of our budget for a live band and barbecue. No regrets.

When I was sixteen years old, a store near my house was having a closing-down sale. Most of the clothes were dowdy, but on one of the racks a delicate knee-length lilac dress trimmed with lace caught my eye. It was too ‘dressy’ for everyday wear, too odd for parties in my late teens, but I bought it on a whim and for some reason schlepped it around with me over the next decade whenever I moved, even though I never wore it. I enjoyed it as a beautiful object hanging in successive closets through undergraduate, postgraduate and early-career life. ‘Its day will come!’ I told myself. When I eventually met my now-husband, and we planned a casual wedding, I knew I didn’t want to wear a white dress (the symbolism always jarred with me). I found the prospect of wedding dress shopping totally daunting… and then remembered my lilac dress, faithful if neglected companion of many years! Its time had come! I bought a length of lilac ribbon from a haberdashery shop to make a sash, tied it around my waist and that was that. The lace felt suitably bridal, the colour was pale enough not to be a Very Statement Look, and my short wedding dress felt perfectly serendipitous :)

Well, after having a look at these beautiful brides and their lovely short dresses…the answer is clearly YES!

Just the perfect post to start the week in which I am secretly getting married (although my dress is not short but not white either and I picked it with my mum without telling her it was for my wedding).

I got married last Labor Day in our church with 40 adults & 18 kids under 10. We’re in our thirties & didn’t want to do things the way you’re “supposed to”. I hate shopping, so i ordered a dress from Lulus for $250 & it was PERFECT. I could’ve worn plenty of dresses, but I felt comfortable & beautiful. I even got to kayak because we had our reception at our local boathouse. Don’t get sucked into doing your wedding the way “everyone else” does it! Ours was affordable, very us, & not stressful!

I love these pictures! What sweet stories! We got engaged just before COVID hit and ended up having a tiny, backyard wedding in the fall. I ordered a white, knee-length summer dress (eyelet, spaghetti strap, fit and flare style) and these shoes, a splurge from many, many years earlier, (https://www.chicvegan.com/mohop-shoes-the-infinity-sandal/) tied with blue ribbons. It wasn’t what my younger self would have imagined, but it was still perfect.

I was already engaged to my husband when his mom’s health declined so we hastily planned a next-day bedside ICU ceremony. (It was real; my sister-in-law is ordained!) We got married on Black Friday so stores were open early & I was able to snag a $37 short, cream-colored dress with bell sleeves that is memorialized in her last photos. I wore it to our “rehearsal dinner” at a taco joint the night before our originally planned wedding & reception, and now it lives in my closet forever!

I did! We got married in Sedona, just the two of us. I wish I could post a pic here, it was the perfect wedding and my $40 dress from Lulu stole the show.

Yes, I absolutely went for the short dress for my wedding! Long dresses just didn’t fel like me at all, I also like my legs so why not showing them off ony our big day? We had a small wedding at a local botanical garden and it was magical. I ended up creating my dress from scratch but had inspiration from a French bridal brand who has stunning short options (Rime Arodaky)

Love all the featured brides and esp their veils! My friend is a veil designer, if you’re interested, have a look at her insta https://www.instagram.com/harriettfalvey?igsh=cW54MjlmNmd1Yzhs Our 7th anniversary is this Sunday! I wore a short dress that I picked out with my mum.

How sweet. Delightful couples. I am not a sucker for weddings but these really warmed my heart.

I love the short dresses, but what really shines through to me here is that I love these small weddings that you featured!

Emphatic YES to a short wedding dress!! Mine was long but I love the automatic joy and excitement a short dress conveys. I love all of these brides’ stories and their dresses. Brava.

When I first met my now husband, I was in my second year of teaching and we dated for 4 months before he moved to India for 2 years. My coworker, who I barely knew, had a dream that I would get married in a short dress and she told me her dreams often come true. I did not believe her and laughed it off. Well, 2 years later he moved back, asked me to marry him and we got hitched at the courthouse so we could move together to Abu Dhabi. And wouldn’t you know, I was wearing a short dress! We had a formal wedding a couple years later and I got the long dress of MY dreams, too.

I love this post, and read the whole thing without realizing I *did* wear a short wedding dress. It was a $13 maroon Old Navy maternity dress and I was not showing at all :) I was just excited to be getting married after a year long engagement (with no wedding planning traction because of complicated family dynamics), and the absolute thrill of knowing we were having a baby.

Aaaah these brides are all so CUTE! I am totally sold on a short wedding dress, should I ever get married. I think it was your feature on Reagan’s wedding last year that really brought my attention to how show-stopping a short wedding dress can be. The floofy skirt was everything!

I love Erika and Christian’s When-You-Know-You-Know story. I’m 6 months into one of those. I became a 37 year old widow last year. My husband, Benjamin, was 36; it was a mountain biking accident. I have two children, 5 and 9. So for my grieving family, (and my grief too, I’m being careful with myself, don’t worry) all of our official steps are very slow. From every outside angle, we’re just dating, and he’s the same level of presence for my children as any other close, grownup friend. (They adore him. He can roughhouse on the trampoline, so he passed the One Good Test.) But a month in, we both knew. It was a wild surprise. I only started dating as a way to take small breaks from the crushing constant of grief life. But then: the most surreal miracle. We are eerily perfect for each other. A less-rational part of me thinks that maybe my beloved husband found him for us. There are some silly-spooky reasons for this. I got married the first time (in 2013) in a dress I made, and the lining of it was a vintage silk slip that I attached the rest of the fabric to with a simple stitch along the top. The other day, I dug it out, and carefully extracted the slip with a seam picker. I cried, and talked to Benjamin about my new love, and how much he’d like him, and how sad I am that they don’t know each other. I had made it so I could take the slip out without damaging the rest of the dress, because I had wanted to put it back into regular rotation after the wedding, but I’d forgotten. I found an ivory, silk, flat sheet from Quince on eBay to make the next one. (I always use 2nd hand or deadstock textiles.) I don’t know what shape it’ll be exactly, but probably tea length. It’s folded with the slip in a box in my closet, and it feels like a beacon. At the risk of sounding… parasocial? I’ve been avoiding mentioning it here, but I guess the thing that prompts is the thing that prompts: My husband died. Benjamin died. I’ve been a commenter here for years. I’ve had the honor of being featured a few times (Bedtime Cheese, post-orgasm blush application, party host/enthusiastic guest, home is a book with many chapters, let your neighbor help when you’re depressed even though you feel feral, shopping carts are too loud for my Autism, etc…) Those are all from me. This is such an important place on the internet for me, and y’all are the last group of people I waited to tell. I got to love him for his entire adult life. We met when we were 21. I put him in a transport ambulance for organ donation (he saved 5 people), and then later, into the earth of Oregon’s high desert, at 36. It wasn’t enough. But it was also a cosmically improbable gift to be alive at the same time, and to know him at all. It’s a gift to raise his children. It was a gift to love him, and be loved by him.

I wore a short white dress to my wedding thanks to my very first editor at my very first newsroom job. He came over to my desk at about 2pm the day before my Boston courthouse wedding and said, “Now, remembering the time my wife took getting ready for our wedding 35 years ago, I think she’d tell me to let you go a little early today so…off you go.” I wasn’t planning on wearing anything in particular but it gave me time to find the *meant to be* white, mod, above-the-knee dress off the JCrew sale rack. Only one left. In my size. With a price tag I could just about afford. We celebrate our 10-year anniversary next month. Me and journalism, me and my husband, me and that dress.

My sister was married at a vibrant mosaic wonderland, the Magic Gardens in Philadelphia, and the little white dress she picked out from the Bridesmaid Clearance section of the bridal boutique was perfect! With so much color and pattern going on in the background, the fun simplicity of her dress was spot-on and she was radiant.

I love the way this post is structured with all the really sweet headlines introducing each dress/wearer. Well done, Alex! :)

For my first wedding in the 90s I wanted to wear pants and my husband-to-be had a strong reaction to that. So I wore a white midi dress. A sign, perhaps…..My second “wedding” at City Hall was about 5 minutes long and I cannot remember what I wore AT ALL. He’s still my guy. But now, do people have feelings about wearing pants for weddings?

I really wanted to wear a short wedding dress – we got married outside and had a pretty informal wedding. But I let my mother go wedding dress shopping with me because that’s what you’re *supposed* to do, right? I let her talk me into a long, more traditional dress, even though she knew it wasn’t what I wanted. I said to her, “I don’t care, I’ll wear it if it will make you happy.” Now, of course, I wish I’d worn what I wanted to wear. When I look at my wedding photos, my dress is nice, but it isn’t ME, and all I can think of is how my mother bullied me into wearing it!

These weddings are exactly what I would have wanted. We ended up having a more traditional larger affair because it’s what our parents wanted… it’s ok that our wedding wasn’t completely about “us” but I really long for the wedding I never had (and maybe some $ saved!) after looking at these photos. I have a daughter and I will let her do whatever her heart desires – wedding or not!

I wore a short dress! A couple months before my wedding I was reading the weekend links when up popped a shopbop link with my Alice+Olivia dress!! Jo had picked it out if she were to get married again she said it’d be in that dress-my dress!! With COJ’s approval, pair of block heels and NARS firework lipstick my wedding day look was complete ☺️

I would love to know where Akai’s silver flats are from! Dream shoes.

I *love* short wedding dresses! There’s a photo of my grandmother looking so gorgeous in 1967, married in a short dress in her mother’s living room. Sadly, she passed away when I was a little girl. When it came time for my husband and I to get married, I opted for a traditional dress for the ceremony and bought a going away dress that looked just like hers. It felt so special. It was the sweetest way to have both.

I wore a white BCBG dress w ostrich feathers along the hem. 2007. Purchased on eBay for less $ than my wedding shoes. I rewore the dress to an Arcade Fire concert where the band had requested formal attire from the audience. It was epic!

Yes I wore a shorty vintage Zara dress bought off ebay. Still love it and my little sister wore it with a different skirt over it for her wedding too. https://nz.pinterest.com/pin/331085010084835142/

I love these! Also love the different shoe choices. I wore a short wedding dress and I was very pregnant with my now 16 year old. The other week we went to see Gracie Abrams and I wore my wedding dress there with a leather jacket and a bow in my hair (of course!). It felt so special wearing it again out with my daughter, us singing and dancing like I had at my wedding with her nestled inside and this time us holding hands and screaming lyrics among thousands of bow clad fans doing the same x

I love Sezane’s celebratory dresses… They have some white (among other colors) dresses that I think would be perfect for a wedding dress….

I’m in my 40s and don’t even want to get married (again). Yet, I still have a wedding dress all picked out (WHY). :) Wait. Is this just a fun post or is Jo engaged and I missed it???

I didn’t wear a short dress but I did wear an ivory jumpsuit and it was the best!! So comfortable, and only $180 CAD. It was the Wilfred Écoulement jumpsuit, and you can usually find them on Poshmark or eBay these days. I also have it in black, it’s that good! There are a few different variations – I’m partial to the square neck with one tie at the back of the bodice (linked below, in black) but there’s also a v-neck version, and one that has a tie around the waist, and a romper. https://ebay.us/m/oIvErh

I wore a short dress by Elizabeth Dye 15 years ago (!!!) for my wedding. (Ceremony was in the chapel of my Catholic high school, reception was at an organic farm.) the dress was a dream and my only regret was that I didn’t think through crossing my ankles during the kneeling parts because I look kind of like I’m going to milk a cow in the photos. Not very demure or ladylike but also not the end of the world!

My husband and I dated for years and years before planning a somewhat impromptu wedding to coincide with a trip to visit family. I envisioned a short off white dress and, because I don’t like to shop, all of my friends were on the hunt for one. Ultimately, my sister in law delivered the winner when she showed up days before our ceremony with the perfect cream and black tea length dress and faux fur jacket. It wasn’t her style, but she clearly got me when she chose it.

Love these dresses! Everyone looks great. I especially love Akai & Fennel’s looks!! Yes I wore a short dress too! It was very much not a wedding dress — a vintage 60s mod red & blue circles on a cream background knee length dress. I wear a lot of vintage so it felt right & fun to me. I never wanted to wear a white dress (to me, it’s a yucky purity thing, no way). I bought it on Etsy for about $70. It was a little too big but I really didn’t want to make a “big deal” of it 🙄 so I didn’t get it tailored. I would do that if I was to do it again.

Totally here for a short wedding dress! My husband and I had a tiny ceremony (literally no guests, just the officiant and photographer!) at a historic courthouse and a short dress was just the ticket. I found a short white Tahari dress I liked with lace bell sleeves at Belk but didn’t want to pay full price. So it was 100% meant to be when I found exactly one of that same dress in exactly my size at Ross for $40 even though it was current season ❤️

I got married twenty years ago, and wore a pink dress that my great aunt had from the 1950s: tight fitted lace top with short sleeves and a super fluffy tulle skirt that stopped at the knees. It was that perfect 1950s combination of structure on the top, cloud on the bottom. I felt so good in it! Like Grace Kelly crossed with a cupcake, but in the best way.

All of these lovely brides’ dresses suit them perfectly.

Short inexpensive wedding dress here too – lovely wedding on a very small budget. Passed the dress on to a gal for her quinceanera along with the shoes too which made it seem so right.

I am 5’2″ with a short-ish torso and long-ish legs (relatively speaking)…a long dress was NEVER going to be in the cards for this frame. A few months before my husband and I got married we went to visit my parents in Philadelphia, who took us both shopping for our wedding day outfits — for me, a sleeveless Max Mara dress with a slightly flared skirt that hit above the knee. I never wear long dresses on normal days, so a short wedding dress made me feel even more comfortable when it mattered most…and made sure everyone could see my something-blue heels!

Yes for short wedding dresses! I wore a white silk(ish) mini dress with big black polka dots for our city hall wedding. I think I got it from Madewell back in the day. Then about 10 months later we rented out a restaurant in Brooklyn had a big wedding party for 90 people. I wore an above-the-knee wedding dress from BHLDN and it was hands down the best night of my life.

My mom sewed her own wedding dress, a very basic long 70s style. She died when I was 21, so for our smaller Covid era reception about 10 years later, I had her dress altered into a still retro looking high low complete with horse hair in the hem and sleeves. I absolutely loved it and I hope my daughter will be able to use it in some way one day!

Short! Mine was a proper ballet costume – a bodice and tulle skirt. Like something from the snow scene in The Nutcracker. I now pair the bodice with jeans and the skirt with a long-sleeved black leotard. 16 years later, it’s still fab!!

My husband and I eloped in San Francisco in 2023. I knew I didn’t want a traditional wedding look and at first I was going for this very rock chic look- think sequin flare trousers and a silk halter top, and it would have been fabulous. But I was at my favorite local vintage and secondhand store and found this gorgeous 70s era A line crochet lace dress with pearl buttons and sheer pleated sleeves for $32 and I knew it was the one. It was an awkward length for me, I’m only 5’3″, so I had it tailored to a mini length and wore it with blue floral rhinestone boots and a pearl studded pink velvet headband I bought in Japantown. I looked fantastic if I do say so myself. And I love the dresses all these ladies wore. I especially love Caelan’s anecdote about being recognized as Filippina by another bride because of the style of her dress. How cool is that?

The short wedding dresses are very sixties! My mother and mother in law both got married in short dresses and looked amazing.

I couldn’t help but notice it was the same photographer for many of the photos, Kara McCurdy…how?! This was a fun post, thank you!

I wore a long dress for my wedding ceremony that I planned to wear all night. My husband was so excited that when they announced us to enter the reception he accidentally stomped HARD on the bustle and broke it! Luckily, I had brought a short white sparkly dress to change into for the afterparty. I put it on for the entire reception and it made me feel so free. Such a serendipitous accident!

I wore a one shoulder mini dress for my cocktail party wedding in 2011. I loved that dress!

Oh! I forgot until I saw someone else’s comment about being cold on their elopement. We got married in the park of the art museum where we had our first date and it was very cold. My mom talked me into getting a long cream cardigan to wear over the dress and it was perfect (plus came in handy for the ensuing cold snap!)

We eloped before my husband deployed & I found my dress the day before- a high/low white dress with a faux wrap waist. It’s not a style I’ve gone for before or worn since but I love my little mall dress and the memories it holds.

I tried on a thousand dresses and none felt like me…in the end I wore a linen vest and pant set, while my husband wore a more traditional suit. It was honestly perfect and I love every photo from that day- we managed to pull off looking like ourselves, but still elevated.

I love this feature! We had a small wedding in my parents’ backyard and I too had a short dress. I was lucky to find what I wanted right away but my mom was a bit disappointed that the shopping trip didn’t last longer. When my sister got married a few years later I told her “Look, even if you love the first dress you try on, you have to go to more stores for Mom.”

My mom was a hippie who wore a dark green mini with long puffed shouldered sleeves for her courthouse wedding, paired with the cutest asymmetrical Vidal Sassoon style bob. It is still my favorite wedding look of all time.

Back in 1968 I got married in a cream silk slub dress that hit just above the knee. It was a-line, had a bateau neck and three-quarter sleeves. It came with a silk rose headpiece with a nose tip veil. We got married in a tiny chapel and had four guests. Looking back, I think it was the prettiest, most comfortable wedding dress ever! And we are still married. Simple is better.

I wore a short wedding dress and also it wasn’t white. It did evoke a wedding dress in other ways e.g. with lace and ivory ombré. Not-white dresses would be a cool future feature here!

I wore a short dress that I first saw on Cup of Jo! I saw you wear it to an anniversary date and then found it on eBay and love my dress so much: https://rachellaurenmarie.wordpress.com/2016/08/17/a-nearly-grand-anniversary/ I’ve worn it almost every anniversary since, but… phew… I don’t know if it’s gonna fit for the 10th anniversary, come August 2025. fingers crossed!

We got married by our local waterfall in October 2004 and I wore a knee length rust-coloured fitted dress made for me by my mum’s best friend, with silk material I’d bought in India 4 years earlier. I only had 2 meters of fabric, so it needed to be a small dress! I love that dress. I was pregnant 6 months later and the dress was so fitted, I couldn’t really wear it again since. But the same friend (thank you Anna, RIP) made me the same pattern in royal blue silk as bridesmaid for my sister’s wedding 2 babies later ;) I have always appreciated Cup of Jo for highlighting meangingful weddings that don’t meet the “wedding industrial complex” vibe. If you want this vibe and can afford it – awesome! And it’s so nice to see alternatives showcased here. Thank you!

I wore a minidress to my wedding in the mid 2000s and was so happy with my choice. Both my mother and mother-in-law wore mini-dresses to their weddings in the late early 70s and it was fun to include pictures of them at our own celebration. Wear what you’re comfortable in – I knew myself well enough to understand pulling around a train and/or a long gown wasn’t my joy.

I wore a £30 white mini-dress for my wedding and loved it! My friend said she’d been wondering if I’d go for showing off cleavage or legs and remarked that in the end I’d clearly decided to go for both 😂

Each dress looked like the style fit PERFECT for each person! (Dani !!!) O_O so pretty on her!

I had a small wedding in 2006 and wore a short dress. If I had a chance to do it all over again, I’d go with an even smaller and more casual wedding than the first. Hell, I’d probably even elope!

I went with a Topshop sweater dress I found on clearance for my courtroom wedding! It was perfect, I was warm and cozy on a wintry day with snow. My hair was letting me have a nice hair day. I had been single forever so I feel lucky I even got to look for a wedding dress. This is the same dress on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/144140274389?chn=ps&google_free_listing_action=view_item. Not mine though, I still wear mine during the winter!

i wore this dreamy short lace zimmerman dress, and i’ve gotten a few more wears out of it in the 10 years since! https://www.spotern.com/en/product/46470#google_vignette

I was married at Queensborough Hall on Queens Blvd in a knee length blue silk dress I bought at Macy’s…still married to the same cutie for 45 years….my friend just posted her wedding photo for their 55th anniversary and she is adorable in a short white dress with a little chin veil …I think short dresses maybe lucky!!

These dresses are gorgeous and everyone looks lovely! I also really liked the short dress from this Cup of Jo article, which is so elegant and pretty: https://cupofjo.com/2023/03/23/stoop-wedding-in-brooklyn/. Also it was fun to see Erika’s beautiful dress! I remember when COJ did the style article on her that she was wearing shorts described as being made from her wedding dress. I always wondered what the actual dress looked like and thought it was a cool thing to do with a dress afterwards!

These are all SO effortlessly cool.

I wore a short dress that I had an etsy maker make – we planned a wedding in 3 months and go married in Brooklyn Bridge Park, so something big and formal felt both like it would have been hard to find and like it wouldn’t have really fit the vibe of the wedding. My photographer described it as an a elopement we invited 100 people too.

I wore a short, shimmering dress from lirika matoshi. it was a very fun dress

I made my own short wedding dress for my wedding in my grandparents backyard. I have always received compliments on my legs (thanks mom, rest of my figure be damned), so I wanted to show them off.

I did! It was a vintage 50s dress that I got from a specialist vintage bridal shop. It fit like a glove, and was so fun to wear. I got a huge underskirt to go with it so whenever I spun round on the dancefloor it looked amazing. I remember saying to a friend that I might go short for my dress and her blurting out “no don’t do that” and then immediately apologising :D (it didn’t put me off and we’re still friends). I did try on a few long ones but they just didn’t feel like me.