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With your wedding day approaching, we asked our team to share their experience of dressing grooms and gathered their best advice into ten tips to help you put your look together.
You will usually have chosen the venue and settled on the style of your wedding long before you decide what to wear. Your outfit should feel right for both. It sounds obvious, but in our experience some grooms fall for a particular suit without considering the setting. Worse still, they follow advice from someone who will not be wearing the outfit but is certain they know best. The result can be a groom who looks as though he is in fancy dress: uncomfortable and out of place.
Your wedding, your setting, your outfit: it really is that simple. Picture yourself beside your partner at the venue, surrounded by your guests. The whole scene should feel coherent. A garden party in the countryside calls for a relaxed wedding outfit, a church ceremony followed by a reception in a château for something more formal.
At the risk of upsetting a whole profession, we would suggest taking advice from the bridal shop about your outfit with a pinch of salt. When a groom asks us for an ivory shirt, it is usually "so as not to be whiter than the wedding dress", "so the flash does not make the shirt glare next to the dress in photos" or "to match the colour of her dress". These arguments sound reasonable, but in practice a white shirt under a suit next to an ecru dress has never caused a problem for anyone, in any photo. The difference is imperceptible, whereas an ivory shirt may leave you feeling very ill at ease.
An ivory shirt can look very good in a wedding outfit, but it can also look like "a white shirt that has aged badly" or simply yellowish. Matching the colour of a dress is therefore not the best reason to choose it. If you want an ivory wedding shirt, think about your outfit as a whole and add a few touches of the same colour, a cream or ivory buttonhole flower for instance, so that everything hangs together. In any case, go for an off-white, slightly broken white. True ivory is not easy to wear and tends to make you look washed out. More advice on choosing your wedding shirt.
Plain Ecru Twill
You may choose the ideal wedding outfit, the perfect dress for the bride and a best man and ushers turned out to the nines, yet the style of the other guests also plays a part in the success of your wedding. Do you want the effect you get when you see photos of the guests at a royal wedding? There is no secret: simply say so. In our example, the guests will certainly have read "morning coat", "lounge suit" or "day dress with a hat" on their invitation. Do the same, and make the style you want for the wedding clear, in person or on your invitation.
Do not be too strict, though, and leave your guests some freedom so they enjoy taking part. Our suggestions? Use precise wording, such as "Evening dress and dinner suits welcome at the reception", "Dress code: hats for everyone" or "Bow ties for gentlemen, bows in the hair for ladies", or choose a broader theme with a few photo suggestions on your invitations: "country", "roaring twenties", "retro chic", "cocktail".
If you want to echo the colour theme in your outfit, to match the decoration or other guests for instance, avoid the easy way out. It is easy to stray into bad taste when you try too hard to work a particular colour into every accessory. Avoid, for example, matching your tie or bow tie, socks and braces in loud colours: that is all anyone will see, and you will soon look as if you are in costume. Play it more subtly with shades of the colour. If the main colour is burgundy, pick your accessories from peach, salmon or red tones. Nor does the theme colour have to dominate the accessory. In our example, think of a pocket square in blue paisley with fine burgundy lines.
Accidents happen: a stained shirt, split trousers, a forgotten accessory. To avoid being caught out, have a spare of anything that is easy to duplicate. We advise many of our clients to order two shirts, and you cannot imagine how many grooms thank us afterwards. Two wedding shirts means a clean shirt to hand if one gets stained, or simply because on such an important day you can quickly get hot. Changing into a fresh shirt will be a small moment of comfort. And do not worry about being too cautious: a white shirt is never one too many in your wardrobe.
Black tie is a highly specific dress code. It refers to the dinner suit (or tuxedo), not to the colour of the tie. By the most traditional rules, you cannot marry in the afternoon in a dinner suit. It is reserved for evening wear, cocktail parties and galas, which by nature take place at night, which is why a dinner suit should not appear before 6pm. If you still want to wear one, choose a lounge suit for the afternoon and slip away at the start of the reception to change into your wedding dinner suit. It is also a chance for your bride to change into an evening gown before you invite your guests to sit down for dinner. A Bruce Wayne effect guaranteed.
The morning after. You have had the excellent idea of organising a brunch to recover from the night before, or simply to make the celebration last. The dress code is far more relaxed and less codified, but still aim to look your best. In other words, do not let your efforts slip, and keep relaxed elegance in mind.
If you want to wear shorts, choose Bermuda shorts that are not too long, a good button-down Oxford shirt and loafers worn without socks. Want to feel as comfortable as in joggers? Choose trousers with front pleats, or jog pants: trousers with a drawstring waist but cut in a more tailored shape and fabric. Finally, to stand out easily, pick one distinctive accessory: a scarf around the neck, a boater hat on your head... "So, where's the groom?"
Break all the rules. Menswear may seem very codified, but elegance is more subjective. It does not come from following the rules, but from knowing how to play with them. Above all, you need to feel good in your wedding outfit, at ease in its style as much as in its cut, and choose clothes that are like you, clothes you want to wear. If, for example, you would love a tweed three-piece because you adore its style, rather than an ordinary blue wool suit, then go for it. Your wedding is also a chance to treat yourself, and all eyes will be on you whatever you wear.
Made-to-measure menswear since 2008 Our craft and our passion for menswear will guide you as you put together your wedding outfit.
An elegant, relaxed and individual style We stand for a classic view of clothing, revisited. A view that has won over our clients and many grooms-to-be.
Cut, fit and line Measurements and alterations are included until you are satisfied. We help you create an elegant, comfortable cut.
Our commitment to your satisfaction Delivery times we keep and a fair price (from €128 for a wedding shirt and from €900 for a wedding suit) for a one-of-a-kind garment.
Your cloth, lapel style, buttons, trouser pleats and canvas construction are all chosen in person, alongside your measurements, at our Paris and Bordeaux stores by appointment.
1, rue de l'Arcade, Paris 8 · 2, rue de Rivière, Bordeaux
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