I believe that a suit reflects you and your personality. Are you cool, calm, funky, trendy, short, tall, flamboyant, quiet etc? You probably get my drift.
There does seem to be this illusion that you have to wear this or wear that just because it is a wedding. This isn’t or shouldn’t be the case, but your wedding is a time to dress up, and yes, possibly in something you wouldn’t wear on a daily basis, such as tails.
If the store you choose to buy/hire your groomswear from carries a wide range of sizes, most styles of suit will suit most people if fitted well. A good store will carry most designs in extra short fit sizes up to extra tall, so regardless of your particular frame, most styles should suit you.
Groomswear Options
Whether you hire or purchase, you have groomswear choices including:
- Tails with or without top hats
- Tails with matching waistcoat
- Tails with a coloured/patterned waistcoat
- Standard suit without a waistcoat
- Standard suit with matching waistcoat
- Standard suit with coloured/patterned waistcoat
- Long line (Prince Edward) suit
- Dinner suit (Tuxedo)
- Highland wear
- White tie and tails
With this choice and expert fitting you can dress to impress on your wedding day.
Choosing a Jacket Style
The jacket style you choose can pick itself based on things such as your size, wedding colour scheme, venue and so on.
Tall, short, thin, wide… these are all issues that will play a part in determining your choice. It may surprise you that, generally speaking, tails is the most forgiving jacket style for any man. The fact that a tail is cutaway at the front really does balance out most shapes and sizes. As long as the tail is in the approximate area at the back of a gentleman’s knee then that is correct.
If you choose a standard lounge suit then check out the length or indeed the overhang, should there be a bit of tummy. Again, tails = most forgiving. Fashion dictates short suit jacket styling, but this doesn’t always suit the taller bodied gent, and it can also exude fashion and not formal. There is nothing wrong with that but will it say “wedding suit”? Do you have wider shoulders than most, resulting in a baggy jacket? Longer tails often sort this, or at least give off a slimmer vibe.
Try on a variety of jacket styles and don’t rule anything out. it is your decision, and like a bride, when you find ‘the one’ then go for it.
Guest post by Stephen Bishop
Image from onelove photography
