24 Short Wedding Party Dresses For Cool Brides
Whether you’re planning an understated registry office ceremony or just fancy breaking the rules, we’ve rounded up the coolest and chicest short wedding dresses for the rebellious bride. From high-street heroes under £50 to dream investment pieces worth eating into the budget – and versatile styles you’ll wear long after the big day –scroll to shop our ultimate edit.
There’s a time and a place for sweeping long trains and layers of taffeta, but for some, a short wedding dress just feels right. Good, then that they are having a total moment, from affordable high street options to mid-range pieces like Rotate and Reformation that should get more than one wear on the big day, to all-out designer options that will wow just as much as a traditional gown.
Let’s start with the high street. If you’re lucky enough to be getting hitched abroad but are sealing the deal at a UK registry office first, a high-street second dress is a brilliant way to keep budgets down. We have fallen hard for Mango’s minimalist shift, which features a dramatic scooped, open-back and romantic flower-like cuffs. Meanwhile, Coast’s long-sleeved, corset-style dress feels like a chic nod to Margot Robbie’s Wuthering Heights press wardrobe. We’d style it with platform heels and an encrusted headband.
If your style errs on the side of demure, a suit-inspired dress is impossibly chic and very Carrie Bradshaw. We love Self-Portrait’s bouclé styles paired with pointed court shoes and a classic pillbox hat.
And finally, for something totally show-stopping (it is your wedding day, after all), look to minis encrusted with crystals or detailed with embroidered florals and pearls. While Cult Gaia and Clio Peppiatt offer ultimate wish-list numbers, ASOS has a stunning little white dress dripping in jewels for under £200.
Shorter styles of that Vivienne Westwood dress have become a favourite with celeb brides, from Charli XCX to Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson.
Talk about a dupe. This ASOS number is very similar, but a fraction of the price of that celeb-favourite designer dress.
We love the juxtaposition of a short hemline with a long sleeve – it feels cool, understated, and classic all at once.
This Queens of Archive dress is the perfect nod to the ’60s. Wear it for the big day, and many more after.
There’s a time and a place for sweeping long trains and layers of taffeta, but for some, a short wedding dress just feels right.
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