Groom's Journal
SUITS AND WEDDING VENUES
WHAT TO WEAR AS A GROOM
You’ve chosen a beautiful location that you and your partner have fallen in love with. Now is the time to find the perfect outfit to reflect your vision and complement your unique setting. Our team has outlined some key wedding locations and advice to help you get started.
BEACH RESORT WEDDING
The ocean with its soft sand, crashing waves and coastal winds will always encourage a relaxed attitude and make for a more informal ceremony. To reflect this with your suit, focus on the fabric, most notably linen and cotton as the texture of these fabrics will help add to the casual appeal. Look for lighter colours such as beige, browns, greens and light blue tones.
The design details of your beach wedding suit can also be more casual. Look for patch pockets on your jacket to create a more rugged look and embrace a lighter, softer type of construction without any shoulder padding. Consider toned down accessories such as white sneakers and an interesting pocket square as this allows you to wear an open collar shirt and enhance the casual look. Finally, make sure that you speak to us about what your partner is wearing as although a beach wedding can allow for more casual pieces, this is only if your partner is wearing something casual as well.
THE WINERY OR ESTATE WEDDING
A winery can be an amazing backdrop to a wedding. Through their celebration of traditional farming and a slower way of life, wineries encompass the elegance of simplicity while still reflecting the finer things.
Your wedding suit should do this also. A 3-piece suit in a soft, interesting fabric is a perfect choice for a winery. A tailored waistcoat will always emanate formality, while a textured fabric such as a brushed wool or cashmere will communicate the understated luxury so often associated with winemaking.
A winery can allow for a more relaxed approach when designing your suit. More casual colours such as browns and greens can be nice, but stay away from fibres such as linen as this can easily be too relaxed for a winery setting. A tuxedo or dinner suit may be appropriate, however generally this level of formality is best suited to a church wedding. We will ask you about the setting of your ceremony, but also be aware of the theme, dress code, and formality of your guests, to ensure all conditions are met.
TRADITIONAL CHURCH WEDDING
The church has always been synonymous with formal ceremonies. For this reason, we suggest reaching for the pinnacle of menswear for your church wedding outfit – the tailored tuxedo.
No suit can distinguish you as the groom more effectively than the tailored tuxedo. Refined fabric options such as silk, mohair and heavier weight wool lend themselves well to this design due to their smooth drape and subtle surface shine. Black is an obvious colour choice, with midnight blue presenting as an alternative as well as the always elegant contrasting white jacket approach.
We can talk to you about how to best approach your wedding tuxedo. The accessories you wear with your suit can depend on the fabric, however it will usually amount to a black silk bow tie, black lace up shoes and some sentimental cufflinks for your tailored dinner shirt. Consider how formal you want the tuxedo to be, and discuss your vision with us to ensure all themes and expectations are reflected appropriately.
Image credit: Matt Godkin
THE COUNTRYSIDE WEDDING
Similar to the winery setting, an open countryside communicates relaxation, freedom and a generally more toned-down attitude. Your outfit should be elegant and formal, yet appropriate for this context. For this reason we suggest our casual tuxedo, a mix of formal and informal elements that creates a more contemporary version of a classic look.
A tuxedo or dinner jacket look will undoubtedly elevate you as the groom but making these garments in a fabric such as linen or cotton can create a cool, casual appeal, perfect for the country setting. Add an off-white linen jacket to some black trousers and a white dinner shirt for the perfect semi-formal look, ideal for night or day.
Being more of a playful tuxedo your accessories should also be relaxed. A bow tie is still most appropriate, however consider an open collar look. Also consider white sneakers as an alternative to dress shoes, especially if your full suit is in a lighter colour. Seek guidance from us on how to execute this look most effectively.
THE CITY WEDDING
Wedding venues such as hotels, warehouses, bars, and restaurants offer an enticing sense of intimacy and familiarity. Making for an intimate, more personal celebration, these venues are an amazing choice for a contemporary wedding.
Get familiar with your location and the atmosphere it creates before choosing an outfit. Incorporate the unique mood of the space into your clothing, and don’t be afraid to reach for evening wear if the setting calls for it. A tuxedo in the sense that it has a matching jacket and trousers can feel stuffy and out of place in certain settings, so if you are planning a black tie wedding, look for a contrasting jacket in an off-white tone or consider a statement jacket in velvet or silk.
You can also embrace more casual items for this setting. An effective way of approaching this undefined dress code is to wear a full tonal suit, but in an unusual fabric color such as a brown or bottle green to name a few. Embrace the freedom!
THE AVANT-GARDE WEDDING
For this type of venue we encourage grooms to think outside the box and look for unconventional yet timeless outfits. Creativity is the key.
Whether it be in a museum, a lighthouse, a historic avant-garde building or wherever you choose, a unique location will encourage unique clothing choices. Try to find what is special about this location and incorporate those elements into the design of your custom suit.
If you want to look formal and distinguished in an edgy location, look for deconstructed designs such as our Leisure Tuxedo which channels streetwear and evening wear in a fashion-forward way.
You can also look for a more minimal outfit, like our safari sets or our no lapel jacket styles.
Our team of experts are here to help you through every step of the journey, making sure you look your absolute best for your wedding day.
Talk to us about your upcoming wedding and we will design the perfect wedding suit.
For more useful tips and styling secrets for your upcoming wedding, download our wedding guide below.
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