What to wear to a quinceañera as a guest

By Rosa Medina Garza, Su Quince's planning guide

Rosa Medina Garza is Su Quince's planning guide. Su Quince researches every guide and lists its sources at the bottom.

Dress the way you would for an evening wedding: a dress for women, a suit or a collared shirt and tie for men, and church clothes for kids. Skip white, ivory and her colors, and cover your shoulders if there's a Mass.

What should you wear to a quinceañera?

Dress the way you would for an evening wedding. Women wear a dress or a dressy skirt and top, men wear a suit or at least slacks with a collared shirt and a tie, and kids wear their church clothes. Skip white, ivory and the colors she and her court are wearing. If there's a Mass, cover your shoulders in church.

A quince is often two places in one day: a Mass in the afternoon and a party that runs late into the night. You're dressing for both, so pick something you can sit through a church service in and still dance in at 11.

If the invitation names a dress code or a color, follow it first. It's the family's call, and it outranks anything I tell you here.

What do women wear to a quinceañera?

• A cocktail dress or a dressy midi is right for most quinces, and it's what I'd reach for. Jovani, a company that makes quince and party dresses, puts knee-length and midi dresses at semi-formal events and saves floor-length gowns for formal or black-tie ones.
• A dressy jumpsuit or a skirt and blouse works too, as long as it looks like you dressed up for her.
• Wear shoes you can stand and dance in for hours. I'd pick a block heel or a strappy sandal over a stiletto, and a pair of flats in your bag saves the last hour of dancing.
• If your dress is sleeveless or strapless, bring a wrap, a shawl or a light jacket for the church.

What do men wear to a quinceañera?

A suit is the safe choice, and it's what I'd tell any man to wear. Generation Tux, a suit rental company, suggests light gray, tan or blue for a daytime event and navy, charcoal or black at night, with a tie. Keep the jacket on during the Mass.

If you don't own a suit, dark slacks, a collared dress shirt and a tie are fine at most quinces.

You can pick up her theme color in a tie or a pocket square, but don't match the chambelanes, the young men in her court. A guest in the court's exact colors gets mistaken for the court in the photos.

What do kids wear to a quinceañera?

Kids wear what they'd wear to church on a holiday. For boys that's slacks, a collared shirt and real shoes. For girls it's a party dress that isn't white and isn't a small copy of the quinceañera's gown.

I'd skip the big princess dress for a little girl. Next to the quinceañera, it's the one outfit everybody notices. Pack a change of shoes for the little ones, because the dance floor is where they'll spend the night.

What do you wear to the Mass?

Cover your shoulders and keep your hemline near the knee. Church of the Resurrection, a Catholic parish in Houston, posts dress rules for its quinceañera Masses. It asks photographers, guests and especially the court to skip spaghetti straps unless a jacket or shawl covers the shoulders. Skirts can be no more than three inches above the knee, and low-cut tops, shorts and exercise pants are out.

Every parish sets its own rules. The Archdiocese of San Antonio, in its written guidance for quinceañeras, asks its parishes to tell families and friends ahead of time what to wear in church. If you're not sure, I'd ask the family what their parish expects.

The strictest rules are usually for the quinceañera and her court. St. Isidore, a parish in Yuba City, California, doesn't allow sleeveless or strapless dresses for her or her damas, and a dama in a strapless dress has to cover up with a shawl. Guests are held to less, but I'd follow the same idea. If you'd need a wrap to sit in the front pew, bring one.

Which colors should a guest avoid?

• White, ivory and champagne. Jovani, the dress company, says these can be saved for the quinceañera or her damas.
• Her dress color. Ask the family or a close relative what she's wearing before you buy anything.
• The court's colors. The damas and chambelanes usually match each other, and a guest in the same color looks like part of the court.

Everything else is open. Bright colors and florals fit a spring or summer quince, and jewel tones fit fall and winter. For men at an evening party, Generation Tux, the suit rental company, lists navy, charcoal and black.

The mistake I see most

Dressing for the party and forgetting the Mass. A strapless dress looks great at the hall at 9 o'clock, but at 2 o'clock in the church it means a borrowed shawl or a seat in the back. If the day has both, dress for the church and add the party touches later: take off the wrap, change your shoes, put on the earrings.

Rosa's tip: this week, text the family one question: "What colors are she and the court wearing?" Then pick anything else. It's a 30-second text, and it keeps you out of the court's photos by mistake.

How Su Quince helps

• If you're the family hosting, her free page at suquince.com/her-name shows guests the date, the Mass, the party and the map, so nobody guesses where they're going.
• The free guest list keeps separate counts for the Mass and the party, and you can see who's confirmed and who you're still waiting on.
• Each guest's RSVP link lives on her page, so the count updates on its own as people answer.