Skip to content
Tommy John Blog
Wedding Day Undergarments Guide: Packing & Day of Tips

Wedding Day Undergarments Guide: Packing & Day of Tips

After months of meticulous wedding planning, your big day is just around the corner. You’ve selected beautiful floral designs, strategic seating arrangements, and set a delicious reception menu.

There’s just one more item to cross off your list: your wedding day packing list. Should you bring pajamas for the wedding night? Multiple pairs of flats? And what undergarments should you have on hand to stay comfortable and sweat-free? The packing questions can seem as endless as you expect your great-aunt’s reception speech to be.

Fortunately, we’re here to help. With this wedding checklist guide, we’ll walk you through how to create a wedding day packing list, plus our best tips for taking some pressure off your luggage so you can focus on the moment you say, “I do.”

How to Choose Your Wedding Day Undergarments

When it comes to wedding day attire, your clothes should dazzle like your venue. For brides, this typically means a wedding dress as fine-cut and elegant as a diamond. For grooms, this usually means a suit that would put James Bond to shame.

But your undergarments are the few pieces of clothing your guests should not see (whether they dazzle or not). What’s more, your undergarments are typically the clothes closest to your body—making them your first line of defense against moisture, heat, and sweat.

Because nuptial nerves are common, knowing how to choose the right wedding day underwear can be crucial for managing them (and their effects). Below, find two criteria for making your selections.1

#1 Your Wedding Outfit’s Fit

Wedding day outfits come in all shapes and sizes. While some celebrants want a more relaxed fit (all the better to twirl and celebrate on the dancefloor), others opt for a tighter cut. And the tighter your clothes, the likelier your underwear lines will show.

Fortunately, there are myriad styles and fabrics of underwear that can work for form-fitting and looser wedding garments alike. Here’s what to look for:

  • For form-fitting suits and dresses – Form-fitting outfits require thin, seamless undergarments that lay close enough to the skin to prevent panty lines (or boxer lines). If you wear women’s underwear, wearing a snug-fitting wedding dress is as good a time as any to embrace one barely-there design in particular: the thong.

  • For looser-cut suits and dresses – Dresses like ball gowns and more casual suits have enough drape and fabric to prevent underwear from showing. While form-fitting panties and briefs still work well here, you have plenty of room (literally) to go with nearly any underwear style.

    • #2 Your Wedding Outfit’s Color

    While wedding dresses were traditionally ivory or cream, more and more brides are opting for colors outside the lily-white range (think neutrals for beach-themed ceremonies, or autumnals for a Fall-inspired celebration).

    But if your wedding outfit is white or a lighter color, it’s essential to pick underwear in muted hues that complement your skin tone and won’t show beneath your outfit.

    Some sample colors include:

    • Dark brown
    • Light brown
    • Light gray
    • Beige
    • Black
    • Cream
    • White or off-white

    In short, any color that you’d feel comfortable wearing under a white shirt should work well for your outfit.

    The Best Underwear to Pack for Your Wedding Day

    From cake icing mispellings to perilously misplaced sparklers, there are plenty of reasons you may find yourself with your undies in a bunch on your wedding day.

    However, your actual undergarments shouldn’t be one of them. Which makes it crucial to know which styles can grant you maximum comfort on two accounts: style and material.

    The Best Wedding Underwear Styles

    When wedding day plans get complex, your best strategy for choosing undies is to simplify.

    This makes form-fitting styles the best choice of underwear style for newlyweds-to-be. Some go-to options include:

  • Briefs and bikinis – Briefs and bikinis are designed to conform to your body and provide support. These undergarments won’t extend down the wearer’s thighs like other underwear types, but what they lack in coverage they make up for in support. When selecting briefs and bikinis, be sure to choose designs that offer no-pinch waistbands.

  • Thongs – Thongs are the lowest-coverage underwear design on the market—and the least visible. As a result, they’re ideal for form-fitting gowns with minimal drapery. When selecting wedding day thongs, look for a pair that provides extra airflow to keep you feeling fresh as the daisy in your best man’s lapel.

  • Boxer briefs – Boxer briefs fuse the coverage of boxers with the supportive build of briefs. They’re also form-fitting, making them fantastic choices for sleek suits and wedding dresses alike.

    • The Best Wedding Underwear Materials

    Your underwear’s material is just as important as its fit. That’s because some materials are softer, cooler, and more breathable than others.

    Moreover, some materials are fantastic at wicking away moisture. Whether you tend to sweat when public speaking (or vow-exchanging) or are gearing up for a summer wedding, undies with moisture-wicking properties will help you stay cool (literally and figuratively) under nuptial pressure.

    Let’s look at the best fabric for breathable underwear for when you pick out a pair for your wedding day:2

  • Cotton – Many people value cotton for its softness and comfort. Additionally, cotton offers unrivaled breathability. That said, cotton typically isn’t the best choice for moisture-wicking (something to keep in mind if your beach wedding includes a dunk in the ocean!).

  • Polyester – Polyester fabrics have renowned moisture-wicking abilities, making them perfect for hot, humid days. However, some polyester fabrics won’t offer much in the way of odor protection. If you’re considering polyester for your wedding day, choose a polyester blend designed to offer anti-odor and anti-microbial properties.

  • Spandex – Spandex is an elastic fabric noted for its near-invisibility when worn beneath clothing. Many people also love spandex for its tight fit and compression, which can help refine the shape of your natural physique. However, spandex isn’t known for its breathability. As a result, it’s best to choose underwear designed with both spandex and another textile that can boost airflow naturally.

    • For ultimate breathability and moisture-wicking, your best course of action is to choose undergarments made from a blend of fabrics. Look for combinations that include nylon, cotton, and spandex to give you maximum comfort.

    Wedding Day Underwear Packing Tips

    Once you’ve selected your wedding day skivvies, it’s time to pack them with care.

    Learning to pack underwear properly can help save you time finding your unmentionables, preventing wrinkling and stretching, and (horror of horrors) preventing them from tearing before you exchange vows.

    To help avoid that dilemma, here are a few packing tips:

    • Separate your casual from dress underwear by using packing cubes
    • Fold or roll your underwear to prevent wrinkles
    • Use compression bags to increase storage space
    • Use laundry bags to keep your used underwear from fresh pairs
    • Brides, bring a lingerie bag for extra protection if you plan on machine-washing them

    Packing List for Wedding Day: What Else to Bring

    Unless you truly intend to bare all on your wedding day, you’ll want to pack more than just your skivvies in your overnight bag .

    Aside from the outfit, you’ll walk down the aisle in, three other necessities can help you relax into those precious pre-wedding and post-wedding moments: loungewear, sleepwear, and casual wear.

    #1 Loungewear

    Though your wedding day itinerary is sure to have a full roster of exciting events, you’ll probably have some downtime in between. This means that you’ll need to pack clothes built to help you unwind—namely, loungewear.

    Loungewear consists of clothing designed with comfort and casualness in mind. As a result, it’s the perfect clothing type for when you just want to kick off your heels or loafers to relax into post-reception connubial bliss.

    To that end, be sure to include the following on your wedding packing list:

    • Sweatpants
    • Sweatshirts
    • Joggers
    • Tank tops
    • Camisoles
    • Loose shirts

    #2 Sleepwear

    While loungewear can be worn inside and outside the home, sleepwear has one purpose, and one purpose only: to help you get some decent shut-eye. Fortunately, sleepwear can be just as comfortable—and just as stylish—as loungewear.

    To snooze soundly after such a rousing, excitement-filled occasion, be sure to include these sleepwear essentials:

    • Pajama pants
    • Pajama shirts
    • Pajama sets
    • Sleep tanks
    • Sleep v-necks
    • Sleep shorts

    #3 Casual Wear

    Whether your real wedding is elaborate and glamorous or you’re planning an affair with an intimate, casual vibe, you’ll want to pack clothes to wear during formal and informal moments.

    Here’s a wedding packing list of essential items to keep on hand for those stolen moments of repose between conjugal festivities:

    • Khaki pants
    • Oxford shirts
    • Polo shirts
    • Blouses
    • Cardigans
    • Belts
    • Loafers
    • Casual jackets

    And because most unsuspecting items are often the ones that don’t make it into the suitcase, we’ll offer one final recommendation: socks.

    Socks are ground-zero for staples for any occasion. And for this one, (like marriage itself) the foundation that’ll keep you dancing all night long, and forever after.

    Pack for Your Wedding Day with Tommy John

    You’ll make plenty of memories on your big day, but remembering how it felt to power through your vows with a wedgie shouldn’t be one of them.

    Make your wedding underwear selection feel seamless (in theory and practice) by inviting Tommy John to your wedding wardrobe. Our air underwear, loungewear, and sleepwear is designed to keep you cozy and confident, with breathable textiles and designs that help you keep cool under pressure.

    For undies that’ll keep you snug down the aisle and cutting a rug at the afterparty, choose Tommy John.


    Sources:

    1. The Knot. The Best Wedding Dress Underwear for Every Style and Silhouette. https://www.theknot.com/content/wedding-dress-underwear
    2. Silver Bobbin. Best Fabric For Underwear. https://silverbobbin.com/best-fabric-for-underwear/