Can a wedding guest wear a bow tie?

No. Formal means some kind of tie for the men. You could wear a button front shirt with the neck button and one or two other buttons undone and use a skinny silk scarf at the neck as an ascot type of "tie".

Not binding at all and meets the formal tie requirement but only if you wear a matching jacket with your dress pants. Otherwise, it just looks like you're dodging the tie requirement. Https://www.etsy.com/listing/241430751/m... Here is a photo of how an ascot looks.

You could use any silky long skinny scarf for the same effect. No one will see how long the tails are under your shirt so it would look the same as an actual ascot but cost a lot less.

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