What Groomsmen Should Wear
So you popped the question, said yes, or just did what my parents did and said ‘we should get married’ followed by a ‘yeah, okay,’ and now you’re searching the internet looking for the answers on what groomsmen should wear, and maybe what you should wear too.
Fear-less, I’m a Fashion Stylist and I help clients dress for occasions like these often, so pour yourself a cup of coffee and read with me!
How much to spend on Groomsmen suits:
The first thing you should know about how to dress groomsmen is that you don’t need to spend a lot of money, you don’t need to hit the bargain bin either (it’s your big day after all), but you do need to know what to spend on and what to give a pass. The first way to save yourself some money is to do your research, the fabulous world of online shopping is perfect for this.
You know when you go grocery shopping without a list and you end up buying things you already had, or didn’t need and then you get home and realise you can’t cook that meal you planned to make because you forgot a key ingredient so you just order in then feel guilty about it? Huff! Me too! So if you find out exactly what you need before you shop, you’ll be able to set yourself a budget and come up with a magic figure that doesn’t dig into your honeymoon money.
The average groomsmen needs a suit, shoes, a belt, a tie, a shirt and may also need optional extras like cufflinks, a tie bar, a pocket square, matching socks, an extra shirt (for the groomsmen who get really into their dancing and sweat through their shirts). If we think about how much these items cost individually, and they add up quick, you’ll have your number. But let’s save you some money!
How to save your money:
When buying lots of items at once, you should utilise brands who have loyalty discounts or spend and save deals. MJ Bale, a favourite suiting brand of mine, regularly offers a spend and save of $90 when you buy three shirts. Some brands offer a set discount once you’ve spent a certain amount of money too. You can also utilise rewards programs like the Myer One Card and David Jones Credit Card to earn points while you spend so you can use those vouchers, points and rewards in the future.
Need more help?
Check out the Grooms Guide, designed to help you plan and execute your perfect wedding look and sort your Groomsmen in the process!
WHAT GROOMSMEN SHOULD WEAR
When it comes down to picking the right items for your groomsmen, you should look at three things: colour, shape and style. Your bridal party, including the bridesmaids, should look cohesive. If you were to stand a groomsmen and bridesmaid next to one another, they should good together. If you discuss with your partner what colour the bridesmaids are wearing, you can aim to match your groomsmen’s ties or pocket squares to the bridesmaids.
Let’s Talk Shape:
Once you have your colour scheme sorted, you should think about shape. Generally, you tend to have all the groomsmen wearing the same suits. This means that the shape of the outfits should be perfectly fitted. A way to flatter all of your groomsmen is to have them properly fitted for their suit by a professional. When suit shopping, if you go to a store that specialises in suiting, have the store manager/tailor fit your party. They should know how to fit you. You’ll then need to have the store pin, or list your needed alterations (like hems and sleeve length) so you can take your suiting to the tailors. A decent suiting store will offer to pin and tailor for you.
The shapes you often have to choose from is classic/regular (often these are a wider cut suit), or slim (this doesn’t mean skin tight, it just means it skims the figure.) If you want all of your groomsmen to have a younger, trimmer look, aim for the latter, if you would like your groomsmen to have a more traditional look, opt for the former.
How formal is your wedding?
When choosing the style of suits your groomsmen should wear, you need to consider how formal the event is. If your event is black or white tie, everyone should be wearing a tux. If your event is formal, a tie and two or three-piece suit is a good go-to. If your wedding is semi-formal or cocktail, you can go tie-less, open collar with a lounge suit or jacket and trousers. Pro tip: when going open collar, the shirt collar remains on the inside of the jacket collar (lapel is the technical word for this). Leaving the shirt collar over the jacket collar will give you a John Travolta Saturday Night Fever effect.
Need some Men’s wedding suit ideas?
If you’re not sure how you would like to dress yourself for your wedding, or what style to dress your groomsmen in, turn to my good friend – Pinterest! Here’s my wedding board, click it and you’ll be able to follow it and save any images you like to your own research. Treat Pinterest like google and use the search bar up the top of the website to search keywords like ‘Groomsmen style’ or ‘Groomsmen summer’. Recommended searches will pop up below and you’ll be shown lots and lots of fabulous images that will give you some mens wedding suit ideas.