Wedding Attire Advice - Page 2

So, I've spent a little more time thinking through my wedding apparel (and discussing it with my fiancee). The idea of morning dress came up, which we both agreed would look very nice. However, my view is that it would be even less practical than a black suit. I can't imagine any other occasion where I would realistically wear a morning coat after my wedding, while a black suit or jacket may actually come in handy from time to time. And besides, although our wedding venue has a certain late 19th century/early 20th century vintage appeal to it, I think that morning dress would still come off as too formal.

However, while doing a little morning-dress-related research on SF, I happened upon another wedding thread. What caught my eye was a picture posted by Sator of a beautiful stroller/stresemann/whatever-you-want-to-call-it ensemble:

Both my fiancee and I agreed that something like this (or similar) would be absolutely perfect. As formal as it is, I can still envison situations where I could actually get some future use out of it (or at the very least, use out of individual components). This raises a couple of additional questions in my mind:

1. Is this something that could be realistically constructed in pieces (e.g. a MTM jacket, bespoke vest/waistcoat, MTM pants)? Or is this something that would be better done together (e.g. the entire thing MTM or bespoke)?
2. If I were to wear something like this, do you think it would look odd if my two groomsmen were to go with regular suits? I believe that they both already own black suits, so as a cheaper alternative, perhaps they could simply get striped grey pants made to go with their black suit jackets. Based on Manton's wedding advice, I would tend to think that it would be okay for each of us to look a little different, as long as we were in the same ballpark. Of course, this may depend on the styling of their suit jackets, which I haven't actually seen. Any thoughts?

Quote:

Originally Posted by unbelragazzo 

5:00 might be a little late for morning dress, especially since you'll be wearing it for the rest of the night?
But to your questions, 1) in pieces is fine 2) i don't think it would look that odd. if you were in tails it would look odd. but a stroller not really imho.

That was part of my thinking as well. 5:00pm straddles the late afternoon/early evening territory and I really won't have the time (nor the inclination) to change between the ceremony and the reception. I read a suggestion elsewhere that one could change from striped/checked stroller pants into black pants for the dinner reception, but even that seems unneccesary IMO.

Stylistically, I know that the stroller is typically double breasted by definition. However, I really like the single breasted stresemann look above; I think it more closely replicates the morning coat/tuxedo look, and would also probably be more versatile in my wardrobe following the wedding. I also think that jetted pockets would look really nice, although the flap pockets in the picture above seem to work just fine. Perhaps flap pockets would be a better option for future versatility, since jetted may seem too formal in other contexts.

As for pants, I like the traditional cashmere stripe look, with a DB vest in a dove/pearl grey and a classic silver "wedding" tie. I'll probably skip the gloves/hat, as tempting as they are.

Quote:

Originally Posted by msulinski 

At 5:00, you are so close to even wear territory that I don't think anyone would think it odd if you just wore a tuxedo. You will probably get more use out of one than the pseudo-stroller you are contemplating, and way more use than a black suit.

The biggest issue with the tux option is that my fiancee has an aversion to bowties. I suppose I could wear a tux with a regular tie, but that just seems wrong. In addition, neither of my best men own tuxes. They could rent, but as we all know, that's not ideal. The alternative would be me in a tux and them in their lounge suits; however, it seems (to me at least) that would look even stranger than me in a stresemann and them in black suits. And while I'm sure that there will be occasions in the future where a tux would come in handy, I think I can honestly say it wouldn't be any more so than an odd black jacket and pants. I'm 30 years old, and I can recall at most one or two opportunities in the last 12 years when it may have been nice to have a tux.

Perhaps most importantly, though, I just think that the stresemann look is great and would suit me very well (no pun intended).