To Tux or Not to Tux

It used to be easy to know what – more or less – a bride and groom would wear at a formal wedding. The bride would wear a white or ivory gown and a veil. The groom would wear the rented formalwear appropriate to the time of day and level of formality.

For a daytime ceremony, one wore a morning suit:

After five pm, a tuxedo was the way to go:

And for ultra-formal, there was always white tie and tails:

Things have, however, been slowly changing in the wedding world. More and more couples are choosing to forego traditional menswear rental. Some men are wearing suits or even formalwear they already own. That’s what Mr. Twistie and his attendants did. They didn’t match, but they looked and felt good in clothes of their own.

Some men are choosing to buy new suits – usually ones they will continue to wear for business or formal purposes.

Some are even ditching the entire idea of a suit of any kind. They might wear a crisp shirt and dress pants, with or without a vest or jacket.

If you’re getting married on a beach, what could be more appropriate than linen trousers and a cool, white, slightly oversized shirt?

And of course there’s always the option to put on fancy dress for a theme wedding:

After all, a guy doesn’t have to wear a tuxedo to wear a suit.

4 Responses to “To Tux or Not to Tux”

  1. I couldn’t agree more. My bridesmaid wore off the rack dresses in different styles but similar colors, the men wore black suits and my husband purchased a 3 piece black suit that he continues to wear to formal occasions after 10 years of marriage.

  2. AmazonPrincess says:

    We’re going with black slacks, black vest and then dress shirt and tie in wedding appropriate colors. It’s an outdoor ceremony in August so there was no way I was going to make the guys dress up in rented penguin suits. It would be way too hot! Plus with the exception of the vests, no one has had to buy anything, and it is all re-wearable!

  3. Aprilette says:

    I always admire a man who wears a black tux, quite sexy and dashing as a prince!!!

  4. raincoaster says:

    The tuxedo and the morning suit are this perennial wedding guest’s preferences, for a simple, selfish reason: men look better in them. This may not matter to the guy getting married (whew, he thinks, I can stop spending hours a day getting dressed to attract a mate!) but it does matter to the single women who are looking at the single men in the bridal party.