Official Wedding Attire Question/Answer/Picture Thread

[Bungle]

Thanks for the response Roger. Do you think the blue shirt would be preferable to the lavender shirt? My biggest concern about the lavender shirts is that they'd be too close to the bridesmaids dresses, but they won't match it exactly and I think it's safer to go for something different.

I'd prefer to keep the waistcoats matching the suits, although the back of my waistcoat was going to be purple to match the lining, whereas the groomsmen would have grey like the suit.

I'll definitely look into black oxfords, they'll probably be more interesting than derbys. Thank you again!

 

[RogerC]

I wouldn't do a lavender shirt - I like my looks a bit more classic. Have you considered a Winchester shirt? That said, if it works for you, go ahead, it isn't as if you're headed for a train wreck. In any case, the people at the wedding will know you are the groom, right?

 

[DougOLis]

I'm attending a friend's afternoon summer wedding in a couple of months and am trying to find a white/cream/ivory tuxedo coat for the occasion. Any recommendations on a designer that makes good quality modern slim fitting ones for under about $1,000? Can I use the pants from my black tuxedo (Martin Greenfield) that I already have or should I buy a separate pair? I don't see much of a problem with it but my one concern is of fading/wear on the pants and the colors no longer matching between the black tux pants and coat.

Furthermore, any suggestions on shoes? Should I go with standard patent leather shoes or prince albert velvet slippers? If the latter, what color would be best?

Thanks!

 

[darryl20]

I'm attending a friend's wedding and their preferred color is lavender. Is it ok to wear a lavander tie with a white shirt and beige suit? I'm not used to wearing light coloured suit.

 

[candyspan]

Im not crazy about 3 piece suits for weddings as it seems too, "law firm partner". But would you think I could add an unmatching vest in an PoW pattern to set myself apart from the guest when I inevitably take my jacket off at the reception. We're having an outdoor garden wedding in July.

 

[aravenel]



I wouldn't do a lavender shirt - I like my looks a bit more classic. Have you considered a Winchester shirt? That said, if it works for you, go ahead, it isn't as if you're headed for a train wreck. In any case, the people at the wedding will know you are the groom, right?

Agreed, don't do a lavender shirt. You're going to be looking at those photos for a long time, and that is not going to look good. Stick with light blue or white.

Also don't match your (or your groomsmen's) squares to the ties. It looks cheap. Stick with white linen--can't go wrong there, and it's super classic.

In general, don't try to match the bride or bridesmaids. Purple is a pretty hard color to pull off, and I wouldn't even use it for the ties.

If you want to stand out a bit from your groomsmen, why dont you go with the three piece, and then get them two pieces?

 

[aravenel]



I'm attending a friend's wedding and their preferred color is lavender. Is it ok to wear a lavander tie with a white shirt and beige suit? I'm not used to wearing light coloured suit.

That's a very casual, very summery look. Very much depends on the wedding.

 

[culverwood]



I'm attending a friend's wedding and their preferred color is lavender. Is it ok to wear a lavander tie with a white shirt and beige suit? I'm not used to wearing light coloured suit.

I have been wearing lavender/lilac shirts with a beige flannel suit all week - the colours work well together. I would go for a light blue shirt or lavender/lilac one rather than white.

 

[RogerC]

Hopefully not the same shirt

I'm attending a friend's afternoon summer wedding in a couple of months and am trying to find a white/cream/ivory tuxedo coat for the occasion. Any recommendations on a designer that makes good quality modern slim fitting ones for under about $1,000? Can I use the pants from my black tuxedo (Martin Greenfield) that I already have or should I buy a separate pair? I don't see much of a problem with it but my one concern is of fading/wear on the pants and the colors no longer matching between the black tux pants and coat.

Furthermore, any suggestions on shoes? Should I go with standard patent leather shoes or prince albert velvet slippers? If the latter, what color would be best?

Thanks!

Click here

 

[unbelragazzo]



Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Apologies in advance if I've gone into too much detail, but it's kind of necessary to build a mental picture. At the moment I'm unsure of the shirts and pocket squares for my groomsmen, as I would like theirs to be different to mine so that my suit stands out a bit from theirs. Any advice that you would have, particularly regarding the shirts and pocket squares would be greatly appreciated. I will most likely will get the suits for the two groomsmen and myself made to measure via http://www.institchu.com/ as unfortunately with a house on the way my budget doesn't extend to three designer suits, even OTR ones. At least this way I can get the details of the suits exactly how I'd like them (materials, linings, lapels, etc) without paying a fortune. It's not going to be the most formal wedding ever, so a dinner suit isn't necessary, but I would still like a few little touches with our suits to set us apart from our guests. My inspiration for the suits is actually Sean Connery's grey three piece from Goldfinger, albeit with a few differences. We're in Australia, so November here is late spring. My fiancee's dress is ivory and her bridesmaids will be in lavender, so I'm trying to keep the theme of lavender/purple. The bridesmaids dresses are the same colour as this: I've decided on three piece suits in a grey pick and pick (sharkskin) like this: IMHO it's more interesting than a solid grey and the fiancee was all against a nice glen plaid like Sean Connery wore. I've decided on notch lapels, button two jackets, single vents, ticket pockets, functioning cuff buttons and flat fronted trousers with side tab adjusters to avoid wearing belts. The jackets and waistcoats will be lined in a dark purple, the back of my waistcoat will match the purple lining, but the groomsmen will have grey. I figure since there will likely be warm weather, the jackets will come off and with a waistcoat the three of us should stand out amongst the rest of the riff raff at the reception. I was going to get our shirts MTM from institchu, without pockets or a placket , I was thinking of either the palest possible blue, or palest possible lavender for the groomsmen and plain white for myself. My fiancee feels it's important for my suit to stand out from the groomsmen, so we thought a slightly different coloured shirt would help. I'd prefer the light blue, but she'd prefer the lavender. I guess keeping the colour palette limited to grey and purple/lavender is a good idea, but I think it might be too much. As for ties, I was hoping to add some texture, and since it's not a terribly formal wedding, I was leaning towards dark purple silk knit ties (Connery wore a navy blue silk knit with his grey three piece in Goldfinger), although dark purple grenadine ties would be nice too. I'd most likely get the ties from http://www.kentwang.com/ or http://theknottery.com/ I'd really like us to have pocket squares, as it's something I've always wanted to wear one with a suit. I was going to have a plain white square to match my shirt, and for the boys I was thinking of dark purple go with the tie, maybe a paisley or a gingham? Or something a little more outrageous like this http://www.kentwang.com/pocket-squares/notre-dame-rose-window.html? Since I'm new at this pocket squares business, I'm really struggling to find the line between too boring and too distracting. Shoes will be black, something plain like derby shoes (bluchers). Again, apologies for typing a novel and thank you in advance.

I've not read the other replies yet so as to try and give independent opinions, but apologies if I'm repeating what's already been said. Don't worry about standing out, either you from your party or your party from the other guests. In particular, I'm sure you meant this in jest, but don't call your friends and family coming to support you and your fiancee's commitment to each other "the riff raff." Unless you meant to refer to the wait staff and other service people at the reception, in which case it's even worse, since you might actually be serious. Anyway, that said, I don't know anything about the company you chose for your suits, but I'd leave plenty of time before the wedding to get adjustments done as needed. Sometimes these things don't go exactly as planned. If it's a complete disaster you may have to start from scratch. Personally I'd rather have a darker fabric for a wedding, but particularly if you're thinking of it as an informal ceremony, and especially if it'll be during the day, your choice isn't a bad one. Instead of having all the same suits though, I'd mix up the suits worn by the party. If you want to control which suits are worn and still get them all from this company, maybe one of the gray above, one in a very faint grey glen plaid, and then you can wear something a little darker, so that you are slightly more formally dressed than the rest of your party. Especially don't get them all identical with ticket pockets. This is a somewhat rare detail, and it'll look kind of costumey on three guys in a row I think. The purple lining you can do if you want, but it doesn't make you stand out in a good way IMHO. Don't match your lavender to the lavender that the bridesmaids are wearing. I'd just choose all white shirts. Maybe throw in a very light blue if you want. Then a mix of ties. Knits aren't a bad idea if it's informal. You might do, say, a black, a darker purple, and a navy. A forest green or a chocolate are other fine options. For pocket squares, when wearing white shirt, business suit, and black shoes: when in doubt get white linen, until you are sure that white linen is the best option, and then wear white linen. If you just can't stand white linen, at least don't use the same color in the pocket square as you're using in the tie. On a lighter gray and/or a glen check, non-white linen can be good. You're just going to have to use your judgment though. I prefer black oxfords to black derbies. But if the derbies are plain, it's fine.

 

[unbelragazzo]



I'm attending a friend's afternoon summer wedding in a couple of months and am trying to find a white/cream/ivory tuxedo coat for the occasion. Any recommendations on a designer that makes good quality modern slim fitting ones for under about $1,000? Can I use the pants from my black tuxedo (Martin Greenfield) that I already have or should I buy a separate pair? I don't see much of a problem with it but my one concern is of fading/wear on the pants and the colors no longer matching between the black tux pants and coat.

Furthermore, any suggestions on shoes? Should I go with standard patent leather shoes or prince albert velvet slippers? If the latter, what color would be best?

Thanks!

Wearing the pants should be fine. Unless you're wearing the pants this way all the time, it's not going to matter too much. Just don't spill anything on them.

If by Prince Albert slippers you mean the things with the woven patterns on the toe, I'd avoid. I like using the formal shoes from Belgian Shoes in this capacity though. You can get velvet slippers with bows from them, in black.

 

[MrDaniels]



Im not crazy about 3 piece suits for weddings as it seems too, "law firm partner". But would you think I could add an unmatching vest in an PoW pattern to set myself apart from the guest when I inevitably take my jacket off at the reception. We're having an outdoor garden wedding in July.

No, I think he is on the right track. A pinstripe three-piece would seem to businesslike, but a solid grey like he has selected will be just right. Also, having solid colored ties will keep him on track. Definitely do not go with a tutti-frutti- colored waistcoat...unless you want to re-use it for your Prom.

 

[Veremund]



I'm engaged and even though the wedding won't be for at least a couple of years, the subject of wedding attire has already come up.

My fiancee does not like traditional wedding dresses (neither do I), and has her heart set on a medieval-looking green and black dress. She asked me if they made suits that would match, and I told her olive green suits are generally accepted. It took a while, but I managed to find one that fits pretty well and would require only minimal alterations to make it SF-approved.

I went along with the idea because I dislike the tuxedo ensemble. I have a shawl lapel tuxedo jacket with matching plain black pants (no stripe down the sides) that I do like, but I hate those special pleated wing collar shirts, cummerbunds, and I totally hate bowties.

Sorry, no way anyone's gonna talk me into wearing a full tuxedo. I don't like them and my fiancee doesn't like them, so why I should I "just get over it" because that's what everyone else wears?

Then why even bother coming to this forum / thread?

 

[Bungle]

I wouldn't do a lavender shirt....

I'll look into winchester shirts, I like that they add some colour, but can still have white in there too. People will definitely know who's who, there'll be about 85 people. Thank you for your insight Roger.

Agreed, don't do a lavender shirt....

I'm definitely going to avoid the lavender shirts, I think they're fine for work or a night out but not our wedding. I've even decided to drop the purple completely and go with blue. The suits were going to be lined with a dark purple material which I'd now like to have in dark blue now, but I don't believe that's offered by institchu, I may have to go for a grey that's a couple of shades darker than the suits.

We'll go with white for my shirt and light blue for my mates. As far as pocket squares go, I wasn't going to match the ties exactly, but perhaps with a pattern that features blue in it, like the Kent Wang Notre Dame pocket square I mentioned previously. I'll stay with white linen for myself, but I guess the groomsmen could have white too.

Having two piece suits for the groomsmen is an excellent idea, neither of them are fans of suits at all. My best man doesn't even own one! But I was hoping to convert them... Thank you Aravenel.

I've not read the other replies yet...

I did mean "riff raff" in jest and I was referring to family and friends, I won't refer to them in that way again.

institchu are a company that you can order suits over the internet like Black Lapel and Indochino, but with the added advantage that they have an office in Sydney, Australia where they can measure us personally and avoid any rookie errors in measurements that I certainly would make. Plus, after the suits and shirts have been made, we can go back to the office where we try everything on and then decide if anything needs to be altered. The wedding isn't until November and institchu claim about 3-4 weeks to make the suits. Having said that, I'd still like us to go and be measured up and get the ball rolling in the next month or two just to allow plenty of time.

It's a 2pm wedding and it may be quite warm, so I thought a light grey would be ok. Actually, a glen plaid was my first choice but my fiancee put the kybosh on anything with more detail than a pick and pick. The ticket pocket I could have only on my suit, it's mainly an extravagance I wanted because of Goldfinger.

I was going to have us all in the same colour tie (I was now thinking navy blue) but different colours would liven things up a bit. theknottery.com do reasonably priced grenadine ties in black, navy and chocolate brown too, which would be more formal than a silk knit. With pocket squares, white linen will certainly be what I have, but for the groomsmen, I really don't have the PS know-how to pick something (other than white linen) that will work. On the suits I've seen on this forum, a lot of the pocket squares are more adventurous than what I would think of. I think I'd choose something that many would consider too "safe", like a gingham or paisley. For a pale blue shirt and navy tie, would something like these be ok in your opinion?



I've always had plain black shoes, but I've never had derbies or oxfords before, so I'd really be branching out if I got some oxfords with punched toe caps and all the rest. Still, I'd be interested in trying something different. Thank you for your post, it's been very helpful.

 

[unbelragazzo]

I would be tempted just to get white linen PSs for the groomsmen as well. It's something that never looks matchy even when three guys are wearing one. But if you want to branch out, I'd at least stay with lighter colors. Light shirt, dark tie, medium/dark suit, light PS is the easiest combination to execute successfully.
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