As many of you may already know, or perhaps have gathered from reading this very blog, deciding what to where to your own wedding can be daunting. At first, it seems like most of the “what to wear” burden falls on the bride, and if all the TV shows, magazines, and websites devoted to “the dress” are any indication, it’s probably true. Brides are under a lot of pressure, both self-imposed and manufactured, to find a dress that is pitch-perfect for “the big day.” However, as a groom, once you decide to avoid the all too easy tux rental, you may find yourself faced with options that seem at least as difficult to navigate as the dress. Between, shirt, shoes, socks, tie, pocket square, jacket, vest, trousers, (and probably some things I’m forgetting) grooms have just as many ways to express their own wedding-day style.

Both Sarah and I thought a lot about what I’d be wearing. We’re having a pretty casual wedding, so we certainly didn’t want to go with a tux, and although we went back and forth on whether I should wear a suit, or just a vest, or even just a blazer, ultimately, we decided to go with a suit: a patterned brown suit that seemed at home indoors and out. Now, I don’t buy suits very often, but I knew right-away I’d have a few decisions to make. Bespoke, made-to-measure, or off the rack (and tailored).

In the past, I’ve always purchased off the rack suits and taken them to a reputable, if rather gruff tailor. While this has worked out fairly well, my measurements seem peculiar enough that it’s hard to get an off the rack suit just right. Even though off the rack suits can be the cheapest option, and we are trying to save money wherever we can, I was hoping to try something different this time. Next option: bespoke. This is usually going to be the most expensive option and entails having a completely custom suit made for you. It could look however you’d like, and fit however you like. Pretty scary, right? If you go that way, make sure you are going with a tailor you trust. The final option: made-to-measure is somewhere in between an off the rack suit and a bespoke suit, You choose a style of suit that a tailor has developed and they adjust their basic patterns based on your measurements.

If it wasn’t obvious from the setup, I went with this last option. There are a number of places that do made to measure suits. Some tailors require that you go into the store, others allow you to submit your own measurements online and go from there. Again, I chose the later because I couldn’t find anyone nearby who was doing what I wanted. After much research and Sarah’s skillful measurements (all her costume shop experience really came in handy), we ordered up a suit from Thick as Thieves out of LA. In about a month, I received my brown tweed suit that’s going to be just perfect for our Ozark-themed wedding.