Shortly after picking a color palette that included gray, I tossed out the idea of the guys wearing gray suits instead of traditional black tuxes, just for a touch of something different. Mr. Snow Cone and company warmed to the idea right away.
Shortly into researching the gray suit option, we hit a roadblock. The guys wouldn't be shelling out money for just a new suit. They'd need a new suit, a new shirt, a new pair of shoes, and a new tie in order to achieve a wedding-worthy, cohesive look. We weren't really comfortable asking everyone to fork over that much money, nor were we interested in covering some of those expenses just to get a clean, composed look. Surely there had to be more cost-effective alternatives out there.
So we moved on to gray tuxes. We figured this would be friendlier to the guys' wallets, as they would just have to pay the rental fee which would include the tux, vest, tie, shirt, and shoes. It would be easier on everyone, money-wise and organization-wise. And then we hit another roadblock; namely, Mr. Snow Cone was not impressed with the gray tuxes that were widely available.
Mr. Snow Cone hasn't expressed many strong opinions over the months of wedding planning, but it quickly became clear that the one and only gray tux rental would not be his wedding day attire. This stark departure from his normal laid-back attitude definitely made me take note. Plus, I picked my own attire without his input, so he should be able to pick his outfit on his own, too. Gray tuxes got the axe.
For a handful of months, we just kind of sat on our hands, figuring that a new and improved gray tux rental would enter the scene, or we'd just go with black tuxes. We had more than enough time to figure it all out, so there wasn't really any sort of impetus to get this done ASAP. Then, one day, I was casually stalking looking at a high school classmate's Facebook profile; she'd recently been in a wedding, and of course I had to creep on look at the photos. And that's when I saw it.
Image via Milla C. Photography
(You may recognize this photo from my inspiration board)
Without exaggerating one bit, I stopped dead in my tracks. I immediately fell in love with the look of these dapper dudes. A 3-piece suit had never crossed my mind, even when we were considering suits in the very beginning. They looked appropriately formal, but still young and modern. These suits pretty much embodied the elusive "updated classic" motif we're going for. Nervous that my love affair with this look would be cut short, I verrrry casually mentioned it to Mr. Snow Cone. Just slipped it into conversation that I had seen a picture that I thought could maybe work for the men's attire. Nothing big, just a picture.
Mr. Snow Cone took the bait and asked to see the picture. And without exaggerating one bit, he stopped in his tracks, too. After a couple seconds of silence, he officially proclaimed that he "loved" the look. Just like that, we were back to suits. We revisited the previous obstacles to suit-dom and tried to be more reasonable about it. Most guys probably have appropriate black shoes, since they already own at least some sort of semi-formal attire. Most guys probably own an appropriate white shirt, too. We just wanted a polished, put-together group of guys, instead of a parade of male clones. We also rationalized that, because Mr. Snow Cone and his 7 groomsmen are all new college graduates, having a new suit in their arsenal wouldn't be a bad decision.
Fast-forward to the here and now. On a somewhat nervous whim, we visited Johnstown's one and only haberdashery. We described our vision, showed some pictures, and waited with bated breath. Fortunately, we received good news - our attire consultant told us he could definitely get the look we were going for and it would definitely be done at a reasonable price point, given that we're probably arranging for close to a dozen suits to be purchased when all is said and done. With that piece of good news, Mr. Snow Cone picked a gray pinstripe fabric swatch, and now we're just waiting for a sample suit to come in so he can try it on and give it the official thumbs-up. Even though this decision caused a considerably smaller amount of stress than trying to find a bridesmaid dress, it still delivered a nice dose of relief when we checked it off the wedding to-do list!
Are your guys wearing suits or tuxes? How did you decide?
The groom and groomsmen wore tuxes at my wedding because DH insisted on them. I wanted suits.
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