Wedding Attire Budget: Buy versus Rent

duggyald said:

Give the rental a shot by fittng a few garments..if you can't find what you're looking for then it would be best to just purchase a simple and classic tux (in lieu of the suit).

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I can almost guarantee the OP will not be able to find a proper tuxedo for rent, which is the main factor in my decision to buy vs. rent. Joseph A. Bank has a proper tuxedo available for $299 right now. It is the Signature Peak Lapel model, which is a 1-button peak lapel tuxedo with grosgrain facings. It was the only one I could find like that for under $1500.

They do not have a proper vest or a decent pique shirt through. Charles Thyrwitt has a nice marcella/pique shirt in either turndown or wing collar. A proper low-cut vest with lapels is going to be very tough to find. A cummerbund is the simple solution, though a vest is traditionally used with a peak lapel jacket and a cummerbund with a shawl lapel.

I'd buy one for my wedding, it's a special day in your life and you at least deserve the best.

TuxChick said:

The first question I ask is how formal do you want to be?
Do you want a real Tuxedo?
Or, you just want a really great looking suit?
Second:
How often are you going to use it?

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Thanks for the reply. My answers:

I want to be as formal as possible. I feel this is a singular opportunity for me. The grooms I've seen dressed in lounge suits did not look sufficiently dressed for the occasion in my opinion.

Notwithstanding the advice given*, I'm still leaning towards morning dress, so I'd like to go with a morning coat and trousers, four in hand tie, possibly a doubly breasted waistcoat and medium spread shirt.

I'm afraid I would not have the opportunity to use the morning coat again in any foreseeable way.




*After starting this thread I found a relevant blog entry on the black tie guide and posted an abbreviated question there about the timing and appropriate dress. Peter stated his opinion that evening dress would not be formally correct.

http://blog.blacktieguide.com/2012/04/03/afternoon-weddings-evening-receptions/

Rental morning attire is going to look like holy hell...in all probability. Just last night I was looking at some photos of me in rental morning attire at my second wedding. As I recently commented in another thread, I looked like a doofus-geek of the first water. Just don't do it!

Tuxedo? Do you anticipate having occasion to wear a tuxedo again in the future? If so, I would second the suggestion of buying one on sale from Joseph A. Bank. The styling on some of them is pretty correct. I'd suggest the double-breasted so you won't have to bother with a vest or cummerbund. You can get it tailored to you for a good fit, almost certainly better than what you will get from any rental.

Do you have a really good, dressy dark suit? That would be a third option. If you already have one, you might consider spiffing it up with a vest, say, a shawl lapel, double-breasted vest. A non-matching vest, say in dove gray, would elevate it above the mundane nature of the ordinary lounge/business suit. And if you don't have a good suit, it is certainly something you will get much more use from than a tuxedo.

You could also consider thrift stores for a tuxedo. A lot of good buys can be had in little-used tuxedos.

Any shoes you get for $125 are going to look awfully cheap, I suspect.

JLibourel said:

Rental morning attire is going to look like holy hell...in all probability. Just last night I was looking at some photos of me in rental morning attire at my second wedding. As I recently commented in another thread, I looked like a doofus-geek of the first water. Just don't do it!
Tuxedo? Do you anticipate having occasion to wear a tuxedo again in the future? If so, I would second the suggestion of buying one on sale from Joseph A. Bank. The styling on some of them is pretty correct. I'd suggest the double-breasted so you won't have to bother with a vest or cummerbund. You can get it tailored to you for a good fit, almost certainly better than what you will get from any rental.
Do you have a really good, dressy dark suit? That would be a third option. If you already have one, you might consider spiffing it up with a vest, say, a shawl lapel, double-breasted vest. A non-matching vest, say in dove gray, would elevate it above the mundane nature of the ordinary lounge/business suit. And if you don't have a good suit, it is certainly something you will get much more use from than a tuxedo.
You could also consider thrift stores for a tuxedo. A lot of good buys can be had in little-used tuxedos.
Any shoes you get for $125 are going to look awfully cheap, I suspect.

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I would only go double-breasted if that is fitting for the OP's body type (thin). Otherwise, a cummerbund is easy to find, though a proper vest is extremely difficult. Since you have a little time, you could probably find something.

I just saw this blog entry on Black Tie Guide regarding semi-formal morning dress that may be of interest:

http://blog.blacktieguide.com/2012/04/12/semi-formal-morning-dress/

After much deliberation, reading, and soul searching, I finally decided on the following attire for my upcoming wedding:

Pre-Ceremony and Ceremony (2PM - 6PM)
Black stroller jacket and separate gray pants for groom (me), groomsmen, and father of the bride. Buff vest, turndown collar, traditional wedding ties and white linen pocket squares. I chose this Cappelli for myself:


I chose four similar but unique wedding ties from Jaan J. for the three men in the party and the younger brother of the bride.

Houndstooth Black and White


Macclesfield Black and White


Large Glen Plaid Tie - Gray/Black




Classic Houndstooth Grey/Black



White linen pocket square from Kent Wang, one for each of the groom, groomsmen, and father of the bride.




This outfit respects the time of day adage/advice and norms. While not as formal as the full morning dress, it strikes a nice balance in formality given the venue and time of day.

Reception (6PM-2AM)
Shawl lapel tuxedo, black cummerbund, black bow tie, white pocket square above. I really couldn't pass up the opportunity to look my best. I like the look of the shawl lapel. I didn't really consider having the other guys be forced to get two outfits. It should be a quick change for me in the few minutes prior to the start of the dinner.

Your thoughts?

Thanks.

Congrats on the the wedding! Your chosen attire seems fine . Have fun on your wedding day.

dmourati said:

I believe it would be selfish of me to outspend or even equalize the bride. She has been gracious and concise in her budget and I feel I must do the same. She came up with the line item budget above and I feel it is a reasonable starting point and fairly represents what will end up spending in this category.

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I definitely spent more on my wedding clothes than my wife spent on her dress etc. But one thing to keep in mind is that a wedding dress is pretty much useless (unless you resell it) after it's been worn, whereas a good suit or evening wear will probably be quite useful / usable for a man in the future. We also paid for our own wedding clothes (that is, I paid for mine, and she paid for hers) rather than trying to take them out of the wedding budget.

I did wear a dinner jacket and vest (even worse, with a long tie) for my afternoon (pre-sundown) wedding / evening reception in May in California (see photo below). Knowing what I know now, I'd definitely do it differently, either morning dress of some sort, or just suit / tie (and I probably would have made the dinner jacket with peak lapels and single button, rather than 2). That said, I don't think most people these days (in the US, at any rate) would really spend a lot of time thinking about the fact that you're dressed "incorrectly".



I'm in a friend's wedding coming up soon, and he's chosen to do full evening dress (4:30 ceremony outdoors).

I do think that fit is really important, and that's one big advantage of buying over renting if you can afford it -- most rental places won't do much, if any, alteration, so you're stuck with a not-so-great fit.

The pros do weigh more than the cons when opting to buy a suit. And more importantly, you get to use the suit again for other events.

Morning dress at sunset/evening ceremony doesn't make much sense to me. 4pm in November @ Monteray is almost sunset time.

In additions, there will be technical difficulties in finding stroller or morning coat 'rentals' let along fitting ones. And your budget of $425 with shoes is not enough.

What's your suit size?

chogall said:

Morning dress at sunset/evening ceremony doesn't make much sense to me. 4pm in November @ Monteray is almost sunset time.

In additions, there will be technical difficulties in finding stroller or morning coat 'rentals' let along fitting ones. And your budget of $425 with shoes is not enough.

What's your suit size?

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Sunset time for the day in question is in fact at 6:08PM. The next day is the end of daylight savings time (an extra hour to party I say). The fact that I'll have some formal photos taken starting at around 2PM (pre-ceremony) clinched the deal for me to forgo wearing solely evening wear for the whole day.

Suit size is 50R.