What to Wear: The Groom and His Men

I always thought finding the men's attire would be a breeze compared to finding my dress. Our first attempt at finding Mr. C's tux proved this idea to be very wrong. We didn't necessarily have a bad experience, but we also didn't find what we were looking for, so it was a negative in my book.

You might recall that my bridesmaids will be wearing red for the wedding. I know that there are many color options when it comes to tuxedo vests and ties, and at both stores we visited the salespeople told me (a little too) persistently that they could match the red dresses. I, however, did NOT want the men in red. I wanted them in black - black jacket, pants, vest and tie.

Look at those classy suits! / image via Polka Dot Bride, Photo by Janine Kaye

This is where the disappointment came in; at both locations we visited, the vest and tie options looked a little...cheap. Yes, we are renting, and we obviously want to save money, but we were fully prepared to rent one of the "nicer" suit options, and when they held the vest and tie swatches up to the jackets, they just didn't look the way we wanted. Mainly, they really made the more expensive suits look not so great.

So, we left. And returned to square one.

We've talked a lot about our options since then, and what we have finally decided to do (although we haven't made the purchase, yet) is to rent the nicer suits - jacket and pants - and buy black ties for Mr. C and his men to wear and to keep. Somewhere in the process we completely nixed the vests because Mr. C just really doesn't want to wear one, and although skinny ties are very popular for the no vest look, Mr. C really isn't a big fan of those, either. So, at the end of the day, the guys' attire should look something like this:

Photo by: Glass Jar Photography on The Brides Cafe via Lover.ly

Classy, huh? :)

We're planning to find a nice tie for Mr. C to slightly distinguish him, and then a coordinating tie for all of his guys - all in black, of course. I really like the idea of doing a bolder print for the mister, and then something a little more muted for the guys. Maybe a paisley and some stripes?

Images found here and here, via Dillards

Of course, it's ultimately Mr. C's decision, but I do like to help ;)

Did anyone else have a not-so-great first experience with tuxedo shopping? How did you and your fiance recover?