Weddingbee Blog

Dreamy groom’s attire. Photo via Etsy seller HandmadeByEmy.

Mr. Wallaby doesn’t get too many opportunities to dress up. He and I both work at petrochemical refineries, and we wears fire-resistant clothing (FRCs) to work every day. Here’s Mr. W in his work get-up:

Mr. W in his FRCs. What a hottie, no?! Personal photo.

And Mr. W is a pretty sporty guy, so he wears basketball shorts and t-shirts around the house. I think I’ve only gotten to see him dressed up in a suit two or three times since we’ve been together.

Mr. W sporting a suit at a wedding several years ago. Personal photo.

When we reached the six month countdown until the wedding, Mr. W started looking at groom’s attire. I had already sneakily pinned a number of inspiration pics to a Pinterest board, but I didn’t say anything, wanting to give Mr. W plenty of leeway to pick out a suit style of his choice. Honestly, I just want to marry him! If he insisted on wearing basketball shorts and sneakers to the wedding, I think I would get over it. But still, seeing him all dressed up wouldn’t hurt!

Since we’re getting married outdoors, and our wedding won’t be too formal, gray suits seemed like a great alternative to the traditional black tux. My dad wore a gray suit on my parents’ wedding day, and he still looks pretty fly in my parents’ wedding photos 30 years later. Mr. W was also interested in rocking the gray…and we realized there’s a ton of options out there:

Light gray suits with skinny ties. Photo by Pobke Photography / Image via Style Me Pretty.

Gray vests with no jacket, except for the groom. Photo by Garrett Nudd Photography / Image via Style Me Pretty.

Two elated guys looking super sharp in gray. Photo by The Collective Photographers / Image via Style Me Pretty.

Groomsmen with gray jackets and no vests. Photos by Austin Gros / Image via Wedding Chicks.

Mr. W already owns several black suits and a gray pin-striped suit, but none of them fit his vision of a “wedding suit.” We decided together that he would rent a suit, since he rares suits so rarely and could definitely find other uses for the money he would spend buying a brand-new suit. So tux rental shopping we went! We checked out 3 stores: Jos A. Bank, Al’s Formal Wear, and Men’s Wearhouse.

The first stop was Men’s Wearhouse. They don’t have full rental suits and tuxes for guys to try on, but Mr. W was able to try on a white button-down shirt with several different gray jackets. One of the jackets was a classic fit, with pretty puffy shoulders, and it didn’t really suit Mr. W’s taste. Another suit caught his eye right away: Vera Wang’s gray slim-fit suit, which has satin-edged lapels and classic, flat-front pants. (Mr. W despises pleated pants.)

Vera Wang gray suit from Men’s Wearhouse. Photo via InStyle.

We didn’t take any pictures that day, but Mr. W looked gooooooood. We both agreed that we would be hard-pressed to find a suit that we liked better than that one. But we did our due diligence and checked out the rentals at Al’s Formal Wear and Jos A. Bank just to make sure we hadn’t missed out on “the one.” (Hah! Men have no idea about the search for “the one” when it comes to dresses, am I right girls? Sure enough, Mr. W wasn’t wowed by any other gray suits. In fact, he likes the gray Vera Wang suit so much that he now wants to buy it. We haven’t figured out a scheme yet to convince Men’s Wearhouse to sell it to us after the wedding.

Once Mr. Wallaby had made up his mind, he returned to the store with his brother, Best Man A, to get measured and to set up an account for the groomsmen. He and Best Man A also discussed tie and vest colors, bow ties vs. straight ties, and even shoe styles, and they decided that the groomsmen would wear silver straight ties, Mr. W will wear a black straight tie, and all of the guys will wear the gray vests that match the suits. (That’s probably my favorite part, because I know the guys will look sharp in their vests even when they turn sweaty and take off their jackets to dance!)

Now, here’s some sweet news for you brides and grooms on a budget: Men’s Wearhouse offers a special for wedding parties of six men or more. If five men rent tuxes at Men’s Wearhouse, the sixth guy will get his tux free. Mr. W is pretty excited that his total wedding get-up will cost us $0! If you haven’t picked out the men’s attire yet and you have a large enough wedding party, make sure you ask about discounts. I am sure there are similar discounts if you’re purchasing suits rather than renting them.

One more tip: If you’re planning on buying the suit or any of the men’s accessories, get on the email lists for some men’s formal wear stores. I signed up for Jos A. Bank emails, and I found out about a huge 75% off sale at the store in our neighborhood. I was able to buy Mr. W some really nice cuff links for $10! (I also bought some nice discounted button-downs for my dad, brother, and Mr. W for future Christmas presents…score!)

Are the men in your wedding party buying or renting suits/tuxes for your wedding day? What style inspired your guys’ wedding-day look?