Wedding Nail Ideas: Bridal Nails & Wedding Guest Nails

2021 wedding season is underway — and we've rounded up the top wedding nails that give off the perfect wedding vibes! Get inspired whether you're a bride, a groom, a part of the entourage, or a wedding guest.

If you're not going to have your wedding day manicure done professionally — like the real DIY queen that you are — we encourage you to check out these dip mani inspo before working on your wedding day nails yourself.

Wedding Pro Tip: Choose the wedding nail design that complements or matches your outfit, shoes, or accessories.

1. French Wedding Nails

At the top of the list is the classic bridal favorite: the French manicure.

It's elegant, timeless, and most importantly, nothing overstated — because we want your wedding glow to still be the showstopper, of course!

Here's the tutorial on How To Apply A Dip French Mani, featuring French White and Sheer Pink dip nail powders from Dipwell's French Essential Collection.

If you want a sophisticated French wedding mani with an added oomph, apply a sparkly white dip color to create the French tips instead of the classic white.

Check out these shades from Dipwell's Glitter Dip Powder Collection:

• GL 11 (sparkly white)
• GL 28 (sparkly white with a tad of turquoise)
• GL 44 (ultra-sparkly white & silver)

Now, if you want to try French nails for a wedding, but you're not a fan of the drastic change in color along the smile line, the next kind of wedding nails is perfect for you.

2. Boomer Wedding Nails

What are baby boomer or boomer nails?

This gorgeous take on the French Mani comes in different names: French Fade or French Ombré.

It's inspired by the Baby Boomer era (1946 - 1964) when the most popular nail colors were red and frosted pinks & whites. Frosted pink and white? Sounds similar to the current boomer nail trend.

Basically, you select your preferred shades of pink and white dip powder, but instead of creating a straight smile line, you blend the colors together with a fluffy eyeshadow brush using the "scrub" or "tap" method. Meaning, you either scrub or tap the dip powder onto your nails to create an ombré effect where the pink fades to white.

It looks just as classy and non-distracting as the traditional French Mani.

Here's one way to do it:

Dip Nail Tutorial: Pink & White Ombre Dip Nails — featuring translucent pink dip powder with subtle, medium-grain glitter (PA 09) and natural dip nail powder.

And here are more boomer wedding nails — in various shades and shapes — from the Dipper Club members.

Natural Pink and French White dip colors makes for such a seamless boomer nails. Image by Chelsea Deview of @sip_and_dip.

An absolutely stunning spin on the traditional French Mani, featuring Milky White (MK 01) and Midnight Pink dip powders. Image by Debra A. Tucker.

Why stick to one shade of pink nail dipping powder when you can have two? This is a French Ombré featuring a mix of Sheer Pink and Midnight Pink and French White. Image by Katie Law.

French Fade, but make it sparkle — with Sparkly White (GL 28) and Natural Pink dip colors and some added glitter. Image by Barb Gilroy.

Want an alternative to pink and white dipping powders? Create a flawless boomer nails effect with a blend of light peachy sand (NA 02) and oyster gray milk (NA 16) shades. Image by Ashley Christiano.

Another option is the French Ombré featuring shimmery shades of ultra-soft white (NA 01) and mauvey-raspberry (NA 11) dip powders. Image by Ra'Chelle Pickard.

The French Fade with a pretty natural look. Image by Hiba Issa.

3. Natural-toned Wedding Nails

Nothing wrong with going all natural. Natural doesn't mean boring. You can definitely keep things simple by pushing your cuticles back with a Jelly Pusher, shaping and smoothing the free edge, and buffing your nails to a shine.

Or if you don't want to go totally bare, you can choose an almost transparent pink shade to make your nail beds appear healthy and bright. Think Midnight Pink, Natural Pink, or Sheer Pink dip powder.

But if you want to add a subtle color, head over to Dipwell's Naturale Dip Powder Collection page for many au naturel options. Apply a natural-looking, solid-colored dip manicure for an understated but still stylish wedding look.

Dip into a jar of light peachy sand powder (NA 02) for an always-in-style wedding nails. Image by Afton Vigue.

Rose-tinted taupe (NA 18) dip mani that goes with every wedding ensemble. Image by Mari Guzman-Laurean.

Another look at this gorgeous mid-tone neutral dip color (NA 18). Image by Michelle Coté.

4. Sparkly Wedding Mani

A little glitter never hurts!

Add dazzle to your digits in two ways. You can have a full set of wedding nails with glitter or you can do a glitter accent nail on your ring finger to highlight your wedding band. If you want to further glam it up, it's all in the details. You can add some rhinestones or nail sequins for maximum sparkling impact.

Here's your glittery wedding dip mani inspiration, featuring colors from Dipwell's Glitter Dip Powder Collection.

Make your wedding nails sparkle with Base & Finish dip nail powder, dusted with iridescent, large-grain glitter dip powder (GL 27). Image by Ashlee Gioimo.

If you're a wedding guest, you can match your dip mani with your best guess dress. Image by Lindsey Fixler Donatelli of @Linlou.d.

If you want a subtle glitter accent nail, pair light peachy sand dip color (NA 02) and true rose gold with fine-grain and chunky glitter dip powder (GL 46). Image by Elisha Hall.

5. Something Blue Wedding Nails

You already know the wedding tradition: "something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue, and a sixpence in her shoe" — so goes the original rhyme from the Victorian era.

Why something blue?

Its meaning varies depending on the source. But it could represent love, purity, faithfulness, hope, optimism, continuity, and they say it could even ward off the 'Evil Eye'.

If you're the bride, your "something blue" can be the garter, shoes, purse, jewelries — and your nails, of course! An entourage outfitted in blue can also be your good luck charm.

If you're a wedding guest who wants a stunning pop of color, then blue dip powder is definitely for you.

Dip Nail Tutorial: How To Apply Multi Color Negative Space Nails — featuring True Light Blue (PA 05) and Blue - Lilac (PA 19) dip powders.

Dip Nail Tutorial: Pink & Blue Color Block Nail Art With Dip Powder — featuring Pink Neutral (PA 14) and Sparkly Medium Blue (GL 42) dip powders.

Something blue wedding mani that resembles the bright golden sun and vivid blue skies of summer. To recreate this nail design that's perfect for a summer wedding, apply a muted Robin's egg shade (PA 21) and medium-grain metallic true gold glitter (GL 12) dip powders.

6. Pretty in Pink Wedding Nails

If you definitely want beautiful color and love the light shades of the French Mani or Boomer Mani, but you also prefer a much simpler nail design, go for a solid light blush or pale pink dip mani. It's just enough color to show, but it's not so bold that it distracts from the beauty of your wedding outfit.

Check out Dipwell's Pastel Dip Powder Collection or Milky Dip Powder Collection for your perfect shade of pink.

Here's a quick and easy nail accessory tip for an oh-so-pretty pink wedding mani: add some silver glitter to mimic the look of tiny diamonds — they sure pop against the light pink dip color! Image by Danielle Wand.

Translucent pink with subtle, medium-grain glitter dip powder (PA 09) is a less-obvious choice for pink nails and makes a great bridal manicure. Image by Kristen Eberhardt.

If you want the pretty-in-pink vibes, and you're also feeling much bolder, this is the glittery rose dip color (NA 13) for brides, bridesmaids, and wedding guests alike. Image by Casi Mott.

7. White Wedding Nails

For brides, white doesn't just have to be the color of your gown. Complete your ethereal look with an elegant white wedding dip mani.

For everybody else attending a wedding, unless you're specifically told to wear white (say, for an all-white wedding), and even if some says it's no longer taboo for a non-bride to wear white, it's probably best to avoid any drama and limit the color white (or anything even close to white) to your dip nails.

White wedding manicure with a hint of pink, featuring the following dip powders: French White, Milky White (MK 01), and Midnight Pink. Image by Baylee Keplinger.

If you're not going to wear a pair of closed-toe wedding shoes, you absolutely need to make sure you're pedicure-ready. Here's the tutorial on Dip Pedicure: How to Create Dip Powder Toes, featuring French White dip color.

8. Marble Wedding Mani

Don't get intimidated with the swirly style — a minimalist's favorite that's perfect for brides, bridesmaids, and wedding guests who love classic nail art. This uber-romantic look is pretty easy to DIY at home from 45 minutes to 1 hour only.

Check out these tutorials on how to create a marbleized mani. There are two options for anybody who's about to be in a wedding: a super sweet white and pink marble mani or an elegant with an edge white and black marble mani.

Dip Nail Tutorial: Milky White Marble Nails Easy Nail Art with Milky White Dip Powder — featuring Milky White (MK 01) and French White dip colors.

Dip Nail Tutorial: How To Get Rose Quartz Nails With Dip Powder — featuring cool pink shade with fine-grain glitter (PA 01), classic bubblegum pink (NA 15), and French White dip color. (Did you know that rose quartz is The Love Stone? How fitting for a wedding!)

Dip Nail Tutorial: How To Do Marble Nail Art, featuring French White and true black onyx (CL 64) dip powders.

BONUS LOOK: Wedding Anniversary Nails

Here's another dip nail design that can go from wedding day to wedding anniversary.

This is the ultra-soft white dip powder with the lightest bit of sparkle (NA 01) paired with pine green dip powder (CL 71) from Dipwell's  Classic Dip Powder Collection . Image by Florida Harris.

Wedding Pro Tips:

For your wedding, replace the dark shade with a blue dip color, so you'll have something blue in your ensemble.

For your anniversary, replace the dark shade with the traditional wedding anniversary color of the year you're celebrating.

And there you have it! A versatile wedding nail design that would look gorgeous for any wedding-related celebrations.

For more recommendations on The Perfect Shades For Wedding Season, read this article on what dip colors to wear at engagement parties, bridal showers, and weddings.

Perfect your at-home wedding mani (and wedding pedi) by practicing before the big day

When you are feeling crafty and have decided to do your own wedding nails, try these wedding nail ideas until you find your perfect match, and then do a test run.

• Practice, practice, practice.
• Check out our dip nail tutorials page for more how-to guides. We have tons of dip nail designs that you might be able to adapt for your own wedding nails.
• Bookmark Coffee Filter Nail Repair Without Glue - How To Fix Nails At Home and Troubleshooting Dip Powder Nails, so you're always prepared in case of a dip mani emergency. (Here's hoping you won't need to refer to them!)
• But why stop there? After all, you can never be too overprepared when it comes to occasions as special as weddings. Make your own Wedding Day Emergency Kit that should include dip nails essentials that'll help you fix any mani mishaps.
• You can also reach out to the Dipper Club on Facebook to help you perfect your wedding nails before the wedding day.

Then after all is said and done (and the I Dos exchanged), show off your wedding look by tagging us on Instagram (@dipwellnails | #DoYouDipWell). Best wishes!