Explore the many options available for the groom’s attire. Different tuxedo styles relate to the time of day and formality of your wedding. Learn how to quickly reference the resource documents and videos so you can get to your choice quickly and easily.
The Men’s Attire Chart explains the appropriate dress for time of day and formality of your wedding. It covers everything from whether you need studs instead of buttons to whether you should wear a waistcoat, also called a vest, or a cummerbund. There are some links to videos that show you what these tuxedo styles look like, and also give specifics of the wedding gown that goes with that formality level.
The Groom’s Attire Designers resource document gives you links to those designers who have their men’s wedding attire online. In addition, we have links to a series of four videos that explain everything you need to know about how far away from your wedding day you should book your tuxedos to videos explaining the terms you will encounter when choosing your tux. Also, we have another four videos that give you examples of the different tuxedo styles in the ultra formal and formal categories.
The following article is an example of the content we have in our online wedding planning membership site HappyWeddings.ca under the heading of Bridal Party Attire. To learn more and get useful wedding planning tools for FREE, click here!
The groom has a number of choices when it comes to wedding attire. Each clothing choice has certain circumstances when each is appropriate.
For example, there are two kinds of formal attire—very formal called ultra formal or white tie, and then regular formal attire, which is often referred to as black tie. Semi-formal and informal are the other categories. For each one, what you would wear for a daytime wedding is different that what you would wear for an evening wedding.
Although the correct wording for an ultra formal suit is the tailcoat, and the correct wording for a man’s suit at a daytime formal or ultra formal wedding is the cutaway, in North America, all these fall under the term tuxedo. We call them the ultra formal tuxedo, or a formal daytime tuxedo, and so forth.
In this module, we have two resource documents that give you all the details. The first document is called Men’s Attire Chart, and the other is the Groom’s Attire Designers.
The Men’s Attire Chart explains the appropriate dress for time of day and formality of your wedding. It covers everything from whether you need studs instead of buttons to whether you should wear a waistcoat, also called a vest, or a cummerbund. There are some links to videos that show you what these tuxedo styles look like, and also give specifics of the wedding gown that goes with that formality level.
The Groom’s Attire Designers resource document gives you links to those designers who have their men’s wedding attire online. In addition, we have links to a series of four videos that explain everything you need to know about how far away from your wedding day you should book your tuxedos to videos explaining the terms you will encounter when choosing your tux. Also, we have another four videos that give you examples of the different tuxedo styles in the ultra formal and formal categories.
These resource documents will give you all the information you need to make an informed choice in the groom’s attire. If you have questions, we are available to answer them for you in the members’ forum and during our live coaching calls.
The first style we will talk about is the ‘tailcoat’ and is traditional for ultra formal evening affairs. A tailcoat, sometimes referred to as ‘tails’ is a man’s black coat, which stops at the hips at the front and has a long back split into two below the waist. Matching striped trousers, bow tie, white wing-collared shirt, waistcoat (commonly called a vest), studs and cuff links, patent leather shoes and gloves fill out this look. The most traditional colours are black, grey and white, depending upon the formality and the climate where your wedding takes place.
A cutaway is the style for ultra formal or formal daytime weddings. A cutaway has the front edges of the coat sloping diagonally from the waist and forming tails at the back. Traditionally, the cutaway is black or grey in colour, and white is a more modern alternative. To complete the look, matching striped trouser, wing-collared shirt, ascot, cuff links, and gloves are added. An ascot is a wide necktie, almost like scarf, that is looped over and held in place beneath the chin with a tie tack or stickpin.
Then there is the tuxedo or black dinner jacket. This dress jacket is straight backed with no vent, and the lapels are usually satin or grosgrain. The trousers can be the traditional striped trouser or black with a silken stripe down the side. In addition, a cummerbund or waistcoat is included depending upon the formality and time of day in which you have your wedding.
It is interesting that a semi formal evening wedding still uses a tuxedo, but you now have a choice of midnight blue or black jacket with waistcoat or cummerbund and black tie. If it is a hot weather wedding, you can have a white dinner jacket with a cummerbund and black tie.
A semiformal day wedding allows for a formal suit, and informal weddings allow for business suit. The difference between the formal suit and the business suit is the vent in the back of the jacket—the formal suit does not have one. Both styles of suit jacket have matching trousers, soft shirt with attached collars, and four-in-hand ties with a dark, small pattern. If you are in a warm location, a dark blue or grey jacket or blazer is worn with white trousers and either black or white socks and shoes. If you are in a tropical location, a white suit can be worn.
In the Resource section there is a chart that explains specifically what kind of jacket, trouser, shirt, tie, and accessories go with the time of day and formality of your wedding. We also have links to videos so you can see each type of style we have described. Have fun!