Help a lady who is clueless about men's suits

[mollyandollie]

Hello gentlemen,

I am an idiot when it comes to men's fashion. I am getting married soon and my fiance's groomsmen and ushers all already own black suits. My fiance is going to purchase a suit for the wedding, and I guess it makes sense for him to get a black one so that nobody has to buy new suits, but are they going to look like a funeral? Is there any way around this that doesn't involve everybody buying new clothing for one occasion? Should we just get new friends?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Jeff M]

I'm still new here and getting a feel for the place so I don't know if I'm going to get a kick in the teeth for this, but if you don't want to spring for a tux, black suits should be fine, I would just use lighter and/or brighter colors for ties and pocket squares.

 

[OlSarge]

A black suit is perfectly appropriate for a wedding since it is a formal or at least formal-ish occasion. The gentlemen really should wear black because their job is to fade into the background of what is, really, your day. Now, to avoid the funeral look, they should wear boutonnieres that correspond to your corsage. Nothing big, mind, single flowers are best but if your corsage has a good selection of, say, day lilies in it, their boutonnieres should be yellow. They don't have to be lilies, it's amazing how well carnations can be dyed!

And since this is an autumn wedding, neckties should reflect the season. Gold, deep green, or bronze ties and complimentary (not matching!) pocket squares will emphasize the festivity of it all.

Then, after the wedding, that black suit will be just the ticket for evenings at the theater, fancy restaurants after six, the symphony, etc.

 

[Twotone]

You will not get many positive responses here regarding black suits. They are only just OK for weddings and funerals. If he will only wear it for the wedding, go ahead and get a black suit knowing that it will not be worn again. If it will be a night/evening wedding, I'd opt for dark/midnight blue. It will look like black, but a bit more versatile and stand out from the rest of the wedding party (in a good way).

Congratulations on the marriage!

 

[unbelragazzo]

Black suits are really only for funerals and night clubs IMHO. If this is and evening wedding, it's not a complete disaster to wear a black suit, but dark navy or midnight blue is better. It's not bad if the groom doesn't match the groomsmen. They won't match each other anyway since no two shades of black ate identical. Please for the love of all that is holy no gold or bronze ties with a black suit. You want black and white patterns or silver. Search for the "wedding ties" thread and get ties like the ones pictured therein. If you're a self-proclaimed idiot when it comes to menswear and your fiancé is presumably no wiser on the subject since you're in charge, I'd just skip the pocket squares.

 

[Hayward]

Mid night blue will be only subtly different from black and he'll be able to wear it again for social occasions.

 

[facet]



Hello gentlemen,

Should we just get new friends?

This was funny. I have nothing else useful to add except to echo what unbelragazzo has already written which is pretty good advice.

 

[mollyandollie]

Thanks, everybody. I like the idea of midnight blue very much. And that is fine alongside the spectrum of black-ish suits the rest of the men will wear?

I'm trusting you guys.

 

[unbelragazzo]

Yes, definitely. I would encourage any of the groomsmen to wear navy suits if they have them as well.

 

[Simon at Elite]

Thanks, everybody. I like the idea of midnight blue very much. And that is fine alongside the spectrum of black-ish suits the rest of the men will wear?

I'm trusting you guys.

Wedding are big business for us and we usually do at least couple every week. As such, I can safely report there has been a trend in moving away from plain black to a dark navy or midnight blue. This is especially so in Europe and we are seeing this trend more and more in both Australia and North America.

Forget the groomsmen wearing their existing black suits as conformity among the groomsmen is important for the wedding pics and their existing suits are highly unlikely to be identical.

Anyway, isn't the privilege of being invited to join your wedding party enough for them to fork out a few lousy bucks for a new suit? Choose right and they will get a lot of use out of it.

 

[VinnyMac]

Since you're a lady, I'm going to skip the sarcasm and jokes that I would post if you were a guy. Have you thought about letting your fiance wear a a different color suit? A lot of guys wear medium grey for day weddings and blue for weddings later in evening. Look up wedding suits online. Maybe it will give you a few ideas. Tell the groomsmen to go to a cheap suit store, buy a cheap black suit and have it altered to fit perfectly. They're probably only going to use it once, but $250 won't kill them.

If you definitely want everyone to wear black, then you can always dress it up a bit with the tie. Maybe the best men can wear black suits, white shirts and ties that match your bride's maids' dresses (if the color is reasonable), and your husband can wear a black tie (maybe with a small bit of the same color).

 

[mollyandollie]

Actually, I DON'T want everyone to wear black. I didn't want anyone to wear black. The only reason they are wearing black is because being in a wedding is kind of a pain (no offense, Simon at Elite), and I don't want our friends to have to buy new suits, since some of them are traveling, and some are slightly deadbeat. So! They are going to wear the ones they already own (which are black). I'm just wondering if there is any way to get my man in something else than black without it looking weird. He looks so handsome in grey.

 

[unbelragazzo]

Conformity among groomsmen is not important, it's silly! And no, the privilege of being in the party does not excuse the obligation of a new suit.

 

[mollyandollie]

Yeah! We are actually happy about the fact that they are different people.

 

[akatsuki]

Just rent tuxes and call it a day.