What is the restaurant? |
If you wear something that will bare shoulders or show cleavage (which is totally fine for an evening reception for a Bat Mitzvah) then bring and wear a shawl while in synagogue. If it is a Saturday night reception treat it as if it were formal, Saturday night implies dark suit or tux and semi formal/formal for a woman. If it is any other night then a nice cocktail dress is fine. For sat night you can even wear a cocktail dress and dress it up with accessories.
I have been to about a hundred of these in New York, so I have a little experience. I think LA is comparable. |
In LA people wear the same thing they wear to Bar/Bat Mitzvahs here:
for an a.m. service, with party at night: suit or simple day dress for service (with nice jewelry and shoes and a pretty top, so you look a little more dressed up than for work) and cocktail dress at night; for an evening service, followed by a party immediately after: suit with a dressy top underneath -- then take off the jacket for the party; cocktail dress with a simple wrap Tons of women wear black, of course, so that's fine if it works for you, but a pretty color is also perfectly appropriate -- e.g, just not too wild --deep green or cobalt blue, but not fire-engine red. |
I'm sorry to have offended you, bat mitzvah expert who can spell neither "religious" nor "synagogue." I wasn't the one looking for a fight, but am amused by your seriously defensive/offensive reply to my comment about how a "nice dress" would do, unless it said "black tie." I'm from NY and have been to two of these events, and have always been properly dressed. But maybe women like you mocked me behind my back, given the cute personality of yours that keeps coming through. |
Wear a dress. Wear heels. You can wear the same dress to both, and yes, it's fine if it's black. No boobs (you'll be in a temple for the service, which is the equivilent of being in a church). |