Weddingbee Blog

Hive, today we checked one of the biggies off our wedding to-do list…but it did not go at all as I had imagined. We got Mr. Aardvark’s suit ordered. YAY.

However, we have no pictures! This is not because I did not take my camera, or because I failed to take pictures… It is because we ended up ordering a suit based on a swatch of fabric and a couple of questions. It didn’t hit me until after we left that we never even saw what this suit would look like! Madness!

To rewind a bit, we are not going with tuxedos for our guys. Mr. Aardvark is wearing a suit. (Hopefully  a three piece.) His groomsmen will wear some sort of vest and pants-type set-up. We are still not sure what our dads will wear. It has never occurred to me that they would wear something besides the same suit they wear to all of their fancy obligations…but maybe they should.

I digress. Mr. Aardvark is a bit taller than average and quite a bit leaner than average. Here is a little reminder:

Seriously this boy has more legs than abucket of fried chicken…

His pant size is 32/34 and is suit size is a 38 Long. I had never shopped for men’s clothing before I met Mr. A, but as it turns out, these sizes are not easy to come by. We (I) had been doing a lot of online research and really liked the slim fit suits of J. Crew and similar brands.

Can you say dreamy? From J Crew

Also J. Crew

Now, both Mr. Aardvark and I wanted to see what some suits looked like on him before buying. So, after lots of online research, we decided to go forth, today, in search of a haberdashery (I love that word). However, situated in rural Wisconsin as we are, there is not a J. Crew on every corner, so we trucked off to the nearest town of reasonable size and did a bit of shopping. We did not have much luck.

I will say that I was pleasantly (?) surprised to find Kohl’s had a few nice options that were even in his size, and, 100% wool!

Part of the Mark Anthony collection at Kohl’s

I am still amazed/impressed at how good it looked and how reasonable the price. If you are looking for a stylish suit on the cheap, check them out.

After a long day of shopping and no luck finding what we wanted we were ready to turn in for the day. We were on our way home and decided to stop for a late lunch (early dinner?) in the (very) small town Mr. Aardvark works in. Right next to the restaurant was quaint little shop. Watson’s Street Wear.

Photo from Google

To be honest I was a bit skeptical that we would find anything here. It appeared to be mostly women’s clothing and jewelry. However, when we went in they had a nice little selection of suits in the back. None of them were really what we were looking for, or the size Mr. A. needed.

However they were kind enough to show us some of their swatch books from various brands they could order. As an added bonus any tailoring was included in the purchase price. We were able to pick a fabric and then it was just a few quick questions: “Pleated or flat front?” “Flat.” “Two or Three buttons?” “Two.” And most importantly, “What size?” We were able to get him a 38 Long which is very exciting and should save the tailor a lot of work! They also said that with the included tailoring, they would be able to ensure it was the slim fit look we both liked.

They did not have any vest options, but I am pretty sure we will be able to figure something out. Maybe he will get one to go with whatever the groom’s men wear or maybe he will not wear one. We’ll have to see.

They wrote down all of Mr. Aardvark’s information and said the suit should be in next week! Score! We were both pretty excited and skipped next door for lunch/dinner. Then it hit me….wait… Mr. Aardvark! We never even looked at a picture of what your suit will be. Mind. Blown.

I have every faith that it will look great but it was just a very stark illustration of the difference between the shopping habits of men and women. He just bought the outfit for one of the most important days of his life sight unseen. Madness! Between that and the whole peeing standing up things guys get off way too easy sometimes.

Now here is where I need your help. Should we find a vest that matches, find one that coordinates (since a perfect match would be hard to find), forget the vest…or something else?

If you went with a custom suit for your groom, what did you do about the vest, if the suit didn’t come with one?