Putting together your wedding attire is undoubtedly an important part of planning your wedding.
But with some suit suppliers yelling about how they can give you 3 suits for $599 and others starting at $3000, how do you know what’s a good deal and what’s going to make you look like you raided your Dad’s wardrobe from the 80s?
Should you hire, should you buy and what in the hell does ‘bespoke’ mean anyway?
We can help you to work out what kind of wedding suit will be best for you and shortlist where, and when, you should start looking.
Deciding whether to hire or buy your wedding suit is usually your first major fork in the road.
Should I hire or buy my wedding suit?
First up, only you know the correct answer to this, but there are a few important criteria you want to think about before you set foot into a store, including;
Level of formality: Are you planning a casual and relaxed party in your backyard, or is your wedding reception going to be in a hotel? Generally, the more relaxed the dress code (in this case, your backyard), the more personality you’ll likely want to express in your clothing choice (colour, fabric and style) and the more unlikely it’ll be that you’ll be able to find a suitable hire option.
Wedding location: Where will you be saying your vows? While a hired tuxedo may be appropriate for a nighttime wedding reception at a 5 star restaurant, you may feel completely overdressed at a relaxed winery wedding in the middle of the day.
The season: Are we talking a Spring/Summer or Autumn/Winter wedding? While traditional, winter-weight hire suits may be easier to find, book and hire, light-weight breathable fabrics and modern cut suits are generally in high demand and less available to hire. With most weddings planned for warmer months, you’ll need to factor in how comfortable you’ll be in a 3 piece wool suit in 30-40 degree weather.
Your personality: do you enjoy getting dressed up and feel confident when you wear a suit or is it something that you dread? Will you value the investment or see it as a waste of money that can be better spent on other things?
Your lifestyle: are you a suit person and will you ever want to wear it again? Do you wear suits when the occasion calls for it (like at a friends wedding, special party or dinner), every day at the office, or never?
Your budget: how much can you afford to spend on your wedding attire? While hiring your wedding suit is often the least expensive option, you should also factor in the fit and alteration limitations.
If you make the decision to hire your wedding suit, we highly recommend taking the time to find a store that’s been around for a while with good reviews. You want to know that they have a solid track record of treating their customers well.
If however, you want to invest in buying your wedding suit, something special and symbolic of your day that you get to keep and wear again, your next major choice is to work out if you want off-the-rack, made-to-measure, or bespoke.
There are some big differences between these different suit types (least of which is price) that I didn’t understand myself until just a few weeks ago.
Lemme walk you through your 3 main options.
The Difference Between Off-the-Rack vs Bespoke vs Made-to-Measure Suits
Although off-the-rack suits are generally more affordable and bespoke suits are considered an exclusive, premium alterative, made-to-measure suits marry (pun intended) mid-price range products with a superior fit, while also working within short timeframes.
An off-the-rack suit often works best for those who have a tight budget and want to leave the store with their purchase immediately. However, the chances of you being able to walk into a shop and have something off-the-rack fit you properly straight away is pretty slim.
If a perfect fit and multiple design options are what you are looking for, a bespoke suit might be a better choice. Bespoke suits are crafted from scratch and made from measurements that the tailor takes at your first appointment. As you can appreciate, fully customised bespoke ensembles have a higher price tag due to the increased amount of labour and appointments required as the one-of-a-kind design takes longer to create.
Made-to-measure suits, on the other hand, sit somewhere in between.
What’s so great about a made-to-measure suit?
Much like an off-the-rack suit, made-to-measure ensembles are crafted from standardized patterns. The big difference in made-to-measure suits is that their patterns are customisable and can adapted to the specific dimensions of your body.
The made-to-measure process uses some of your measurements to fix fit issues you might encounter when buying off-the-rack.
For example, you might have found a size 40 suit jacket that almost fits you perfectly, but the sleeves are a little too short. Made-to-measure can fix this problem by using your measurements to perfect the sleeve length. In the same way, made-to-measure suits can be taken in and loosened to fit the unique shape, symmetry (or lack of) and contours of your body.
Dan Harking, Managing Partner of Oscar Hunt Adelaide, says that the main advantages of a made-to-measure suit come from him also taking the time to understand how your wedding day is being planned which can help him to guide the design.
“We try to incorporate an individual’s taste, personality, lifestyle preferences and body type to design the best outfit for them”. Having worked in luxury tailoring for 8+ he absolutely believes “the more info we have, the better.”
“We don't really have a prescribed design, shape or look for our suits but we listen a lot and then can offer recommendations and guide people through the process”.
“If you're not a suit wearer and don't know what will work, we do our best to take the pomposity and intimidation out of the process, so you can get on with enjoying the day, knowing you look great and almost forgetting about what you're wearing.”
Oscar Hunt Adelaide’s Business Development Manager, Steven Athinodorou, agrees that the most outstanding benefits of a made-to-measure suit are the degree of comfort (“my made-to-measure suit is just as comfortable as wearing a tracksuit”) and it’s ability to be stuffed into his backpack while he rides his motorbike.
“Dan made sure that the material we chose for my suit jacket is durable and practically wrinkle free. I can take it out of my backpack, shake it out and I’m ready for a meeting.”
Before you make an appointment
Before booking an appointment to have a chat about your made-to-measure suit, make sure you have enough time to have the garments made and delivered before your wedding day.
The process from start to finish at Oscar Hunt takes roughly takes 6-8 weeks from the first fitting. But they suggest allowing a 10 week lead time for wedding orders to remove the likelihood of any undue stress.
What happens in your 1st fitting appointment?
Right from the outset, the aim is to make you feel comfortable and relaxed and the stylish fit-out of the Norwood location on The Parade makes their clients feel like they’re welcomed into a modern home rather than a suit shop.
Dan makes sure that everyone (sometimes the groom and groomsmen, sometimes the bride or other family members or friends) is comfortable and relaxed. “We have great coffee, beer, wine and champagne and I'm always happy to put on nibbles. “
Even during COVID-19, their aim is to make you feel relaxed and at ease. Oscar Hunt regularly disinfect the showroom, adhere to density requirements and if clients prefer, Dan can wear a mask during fittings.
Then Dan finds a bit out about the couple and how their wedding day is being planned to fit who they are and what part the outfit will play. Oscar Hunt’s cloth options are sourced in Europe from either English or Italian weavers.
“There are subtle ways I can interpret personality and preferences into the design of the suit; such as cloth finish, colour variance and how the suit will fit and feel better for the wearer. I like to suggest different alternatives, rather than dictate absolutes, as everyone has their preferences.
But ultimately, I recommend people go by gut feel,” Dan says.
The simplest part of the process is the fitting itself when the measurements are taken.
Oscar Hunt have developed a number of block patterns that form the central fit model and then up to 70 separate fit tools are applied to consider the wearer’s posture, asymmetry and fit preference all while maintaining well-balanced form and function.
Ordering your made-to-measure wedding suit
This happens at the 1st fitting appointment; all relevant design options are considered along with the fit pattern and it’s digitally sent to the workshop and cloth ordering system.
Made-to-measure wedding suit delivery times
Between 6-8 weeks later the suit arrives at the Norwood showroom, where a second fitting is scheduled to review the entire outfit with shoes, tie etc. and any pattern adjustments are done within a 1-2 week period.
This is all part of the made-to-measure process and all updates are cost inclusive.
