Weddingbee Blog

Mr. Onion, his best friend/groomsman and I were shopping for groomsmen ties at Saks 5th Avenue this past Saturday We found a beautiful tie (see below) which we decided will be our groomsmen’s gift as it was a little pricey ($95), but I think it really “ties” together the groomsmen and the bridesmaids’ attire without being matchy-matchy.

Anyway — while shopping we saw a young man, a girl we assumed to be his fiance, her mother and father and a few other hangers-on shopping for a tuxedo for their wedding. Just for a visual (because I couldn’t exactly whip out my camera and take a picture of a total stranger…even in the name of weddingbee — it would have been weird), the young man was in amazing shape like this:

Photo from flickr user “uk_arms”

Now imagine trying to fit those “guns” into a ready made tuxedo. It was just ridiculous. The poor guy got shoved into a jacket that was so tight around his biceps that he just looked silly. For some reason the sales men were floundering trying to figure out what to do. I was in pain just watching this fiasco.

So I casually put my hand on the back of the woman who I assumed to be the future mother-in-law and said, “Can I offer you some advice?” She looked a little surprised but gladly said “sure.” I explained that we had Mr. Onion’s suit custom made as he had very broad shoulders compared to his waist, that it was a wonderful experience, and would be about the same or just slightly more expensive to have a custom tuxedo made for him. I jotted down the name for her — Alan David Custom here in New York City and recommended she ask for Alan who we had been working with. Then our groomsman pulled out his cell phone and had the phone number handy! Yes, he carries his tailor’s phone number with him — I just loved it. The mother looked so relieved and said “we’ve been looking and looking.”

Then Sunday morning we returned to Alan David Custom to pick out Mr. Onion’s shirt fabric because we decided to have an off white custom shirt made to finish off the look of the beautiful suit and tie.

(This is not the shirt — this is just a white work shirt as a “stand in” for the fitting).

And here are pictures of the ties:

Groomsmen’s Tie:

Tie for my father (which complements my mom’s black dress with the pink underlay). My dad’s Valentino tie we got at Bloomingdale’s.

If you were thinking about buying a suit or tuxedo for your fiance as opposed to renting, I highly encourage you look into having it custom made. You might think it’s WAY too expensive, but once you factor in the cost of tailoring you’d be surprised. You’ll get something stunning your future husband will wear for years to come — priceless!!

Call Alan at Alan David Custom
16 East 40th Street, Suite 202
New York, NY 10016
Ph. 212-227-4040