The Tuxedo

             

                We have all heard the saying, “Clothes make the man,” and to be honest they do to an extent. When we go to important events in our lives like job interviews, we dress as nicely as we can and a wedding is certainly no exception. On many occasions, the bride has been waiting her whole life to put on a dress that symbolizes her transition to a married woman, so it only makes sense that the groom should dress as nicely as the bride does. I will tell you how we chose what I will wear at my wedding and give a short description of the different types of tuxedos or suits men can wear at a wedding.

After looking at multiple tuxedo rental companies, we decided that the men in our wedding would wear a grey tuxedo that looks very similar to a suit. We went with that style because our wedding will be more casual and is scheduled to begin at 10 AM so it did not make sense to us to have black tie attire in the morning. The best way to find out what you like and do not like is to go to something like the Bridal Extravaganza that happens twice a year in Houston. There you have the chance to talk to all the vendors in the Houston area and see what they offer. Both Men’s Wearhouse and Al’s FormalWear were at the show we went to, which gave us the opportunity to look at all the styles offered by both companies. We were feeling kind of lost because neither of us really knew what we were looking for or wanted when an employee from Men’s Wearhouse walked over to us and helped us decide, based on when and where our wedding will be, what suit or tuxedo would be best. She pointed out that black suits or tuxedos are not normally used for morning weddings because that color and style is usually reserved for formal dinners in the evening. One we had thrown out those ultra-formal tuxedos we came to something called a “morning suit” which is a jacket with coat tails cut very long. We did not like that style either and to be honest, it was hard to imagine myself in that type of suit. What we finally decided on was a tuxedo cut exactly like a suit.

                To give you a little background on me, I love suits. I was in a business fraternity on campus, Beta Alpha Psi, which had weekly meetings where all the members had to dress up in a suit because we had professionals from Houston and Dallas come in and give a presentation. It was a networking opportunity so we needed to look like professionals ourselves to impress these recruiters. I feel put together in a suit so it made sense that I would be dressed in something like a suit at our wedding.

The woman who was helping us at the Bridal Extravaganza showed us the grey tuxedo and we fell in love with it because it looks smart and nice without too nice for our wedding. Once you pick the suit, you need to set-up an appointment to pick the colors of the vests, ties, and pocket squares. The next step is to make sure all your groomsman get fitted so that the company will have all that they need at the time of the wedding. My groomsmen are scattered across the nation so it is nice that we chose a company, Men’s Wearhouse, that is also everywhere around the country. That means all my groomsmen have to do is go into a store wherever they are and tell them our wedding Group Number and the store will fit them and make sure the store closest to the wedding will have  everyone’s suits. One last piece of advice, get everyone fitted as soon as possible because companies change what is available on an ongoing basis. To make sure they have what you want, you need to lock it in as soon as you can. Hope this was helpful!