Wedding Attire Help

[kidhakus]

I'm attending 4 weddings taking place within 6 weeks beginning in late May. Looking for some help in outfit combinations: shirt, tie, pocketsquare, watch, shoes, etc.


I don't want to do too much or too little. Plus a lot of the same people will be at each wedding so I don't want to be an exact replica at each one.


Suits I was planning on using are Calvin Klein charcoal and navy from recent Clad sale. And the J.Crew Thompson suit as well. I'm also thinking about adding a light grey suit.


One wedding is on the beach, early afternoon. One wedding outside, mid-afternoon. One wedding inside, mid-afternoon. And the final is inside at night.


Any insight would be very much appreciated.

[nicholascrawford]

That is a crazy stage of life when everyone is getting married.


I would caution not too feel like you can only wear a suit once. You can wear the same suit over and over with different elements that make for a diverse set of looks. No one is going to be judging you for wearing the same suit. Wearing the exact same outfit - well, you're not going to do that.


I don't know what else you've got, but I would wear your darkest (the charcoal?) suit at night, if given the choice. The others - it's up to you. A beach wedding that I attended required that everyone wear a Hawaiian shirt (it was in Kauai). Not sure if there's any such guidance for this one, but you'll want to be the most casual at that one, obviously.


All in all, I would not buy a suit for the 4th wedding just for the wedding. If you feel like you're wearing these suits a lot every week, it makes sense to get another suit. But you don't need something hanging in your closet, especially not at a younger stage in life when cash can be at a premium.

[Focuspants]

I would definitely use the light gray for the outside afternoon wedding. As for the one on the beach, how casual of a beach ceremony is it? I would save the JCrew, the navy and/or charcoal ones for the inside mid afternoon, and night weddings, if you want to use all of them.


Im actually getting married in June, and were having an afternoon outdoor ceremony in a vineyard, and I am super excited for what I get to wear haha. Im doing light gray suit with walnut AE fifth avenues and a matching AE walnut belt. Im almost as excited about dressing up for it as I am about marrying my amazing fiancee haha :P

[alan]

My take...


beach wedding = khakis, sandals/flip-flops, and a white shirt (tucked in at your discretion) OR cotton/linen suit (no tie)


outside, mid-afternoon: casual (cotton/linen/wool) suit, colorful tie (at your discretion), loafers/wingtips


inside, mid-afternoon: see "outside, mid-afternoon"


night: interview attire

[alan]

Using the suits you refered to above...


Beach: none of the above (but you don't need it)


outdoor, mid-afternoon: navy or light grey suit (depending on fabric)


indoor, mid-afternoon: light grey suit (but navy is fine, depending on material)


night: charcoal or navy suit is equally appropriate


Technically, navy is more formal than light grey, but if you're outdoors surrounded by colorful scenery, I feel like navy adds a bit of color "punch" when paired with brown loafers and a colorful tie. And if it means you don't have to buy a third suit, all the better.

[alan]

BTW, the beauty of simple, solid suits if that you can repeat them and nobody will notice since you can change up the shirt/tie/shoe combos. Like Nick said, don't buy a suit JUST for a wedding, but I think having 3 suits is a good number for people that wear them semi-regularly (and the colors you've chosen are good choices).

[alan]

Another option for the outdoor wedding is to wear the navy suit jacket as a blazer with khakis (depending on the style of the jacket, of course).

[Focuspants]

I like going to weddings because you get to have a bit more fun with your wardrobe. You dont have to be too conservative like you do in a lot of business/work settings. Dont dress obnoxiously or to stand out or anything, but have fun with colours, especially at the outdoor and afternoon weddings. This will also allow you to wear the same suits around the same people, without looking the same.


And as Alan was saying, and why I asked about how formal this beach wedding was, when I picture beach wedding, and at the 1 I have been to, Khakis and a blue cotton or linen blazer, with an unbuttoned shirt is at the top end of formality from what ive seen.

[alan]

I was the dressiest person at my cousin's beach wedding when I wore exactly what I mentioned above. If you need a backup plan, leave the navy suit jacket in the car in case you need to tuck your shirt in and throw on the jacket (again, assuming the jacket is cut for it). Flip-flops or sandals is still the way to go on sand, though.

[kidhakus]

Thanks...I'll follow up with the groom on the beach attire.


How about color/tie combos? Any advice there?

[Focuspants]

If youre going with a light gray suit for the afternoon weddings, I personally like lilac or a similar light purple. A light pink also works very well. I found with the pink though, it looked better if it was a white/light pink stripe to make the colour a little more subtle. One of my favourite combos for a more casual afternoon wedding was exactly this, and I went with a linen shirt, top button unbuttoned. Not sure how formal an affair it will be, but if it is even slightly more casual, its a great look.


Your options with the navy/charcoal suits are prettttty much wide open. You can go a lot of different directions with it. Not sure exactly what to suggest haha.

[alan]

Check this out:


http://www.brooksbrothers.com/men.process


They rotate pics on that page, but right now it's colorful shirts & ties.


Most of them are pretty loud - perhaps too loud for a wedding where the bride and groom are the center of attention. If you're outdoors, you can probably pull off any one of those combos in nearly-full force with a blazer and khakis if they're allowable for the occassion. Avoid the bright pinks and aqua blues (softer shades are ok) and make sure yellow shirts work with your skin tone before you attempt to go that route.


If you're wearing a suit with one of the above combos, make it the navy one (if it's an appropriate weight, otherwise the light grey). If you're going to be indoors, tone it down but keep the navy suit. If it's night, abandon those color combos altogether and go with "interview attire" - white or light blue shirt and a simple, dark coordinating tie.


Good color combos are anything with blue (for whatever reason, blue looks good with everything) or any opposites on the red/yellow/blue color wheel as long as they aren't too jarring.


The far right shirt (yellow tie on pale purple shirts) is a good example, even though that particular tie looks a little lifeless. Another good combo is blue and yellow - if you can't pull off a yellow shirt with a blue tie, you can probably still pull off a blue shirt with a yellow tie. Red and green is another option, but many people shy away from wearing green for whatever reason. So if others don't like it on themselves, they may not like it much on you, either.


If you have good shirts and just can't find a tie to match, try Marshalls. They have a wide variety of name-brand ties for $10-15.


Avoid to rainbow of MX1 shirts at Express. They look fun on the wall, but don't work nearly as well under a jacket (IMO).

[alan]

As an edit to an earlier post, maybe a light blue is a better choice for a beach shirt than white. The bride & groom at the beach wedding I attended didn't care if anyone else was wearing white, but yours might. Better to be safe than sorry.

[kidhakus]

Awesome! Thanks everyone for all your help. Love that this forum exists.

[alan]

While there are some rules for level of attire, a lot of this is just opinion on WHAT to wear. So make sure you take everything I say with a grain of salt. :-)