OK to ask Groomsmen to buy suits?

epritchard

My fiance wants his groomsmen in grey suits.  He is wearing a suit and would be out-dressed by 8 groomsmen in tuxes.

Is it ok to ask them to buy a $200 suit instead of asking them to rent a $160 tux?

cwaggoner07

I think it's ok, but you should really run it by the groomsmen first. We are having all the GM buy slacks, a shirt, and suspenders.
Also take into account that their shoes won't match perfectly (although no one will probably notice).

achiduck

BMs have to buy dresses so as long as the price range is similar I see no issue with it.

If FI was a GM and was asked to buy a $500 suit I'd probably be pretty annoyed, but $200 is NBD to me for a new suit.

Summer2011Bride

Is this within their budget? Just like you should talk budgets with your girls before doing dresses, FI should talk to each of his GM individually to see what their budget is. If $200 is outside of someone's budget, then FI should be OK with chipping in the rest or finding a cheaper option.

If some of the GMs already own a gray suit, I would also just let them wear their own, even if the color is *slightly* off. I would not want to buy a whole new gray suit if I already own a gray suit, KWIM?

cnf2013

My FI was asked to a buy a suit for a wedding he was in. He needed a decent suit though, so it worked out for him. The groom was thoughtful enough to select a suit that was going to be discontinued and the price was awesome, so that was helpful too. As long as it doesn't bust their budgets I wouldn't think too much of it. 

adurant8

We asked ours to buy suits. We waited until Men's Wearhouse had their BOGO free event and then had the guys buy them. If they had to pay full price, we probably wouldn't have done it. It's a little bit more pricey than renting a tux but most of them don't own one and I figured guys in their 20's will eventually need a nice suit anyways!

mbuckley85

My FI is buying a navy suit for a wedding he's in.  The groom is paying for the shirt, tie, socks and pocket square.

The only thing that bugs me about this is that he wants them to buy a Brooks Brother's suit, not just any suit.  Its not going to come cheap.

TCbride1

I think it's definitely ok as long as it's within their budget! We're doing the same thing. We also had them buy a white dress shirt & the total came to around $190 - $200.

The guys were actually really happy that my FI decided that, because they end up spending around the same amount for a tux & would actually get to keep the suit in the end!

We're just asking that they wear black dress shoes of their choice (highly doubt anyone would notice/care that they don't match).

jemmini6

Just like with the girls, you need to discuss their budgets privately with them in advace.  If one says they can afford a max of $150, then you either need to find a cheaper suit, or offer to pay the difference.  Other than that though, yes, it's acceptable to ask them to purchase a suit.

kaos16

We are doing suits instead of tuxes too.  The grooms will be purchasing their own suits.  If you think about it, hopefully the cost won't be too much different than that of a tux, and they get to keep it.
It's helpful that half our groomsmen are attorneys, so they wear suits on a regular basis and are more than happy to purchase a new one.

QueerFemme

Try to make sure they buy them when Men's Warehouse or some of the other stores have a buy one get one free sale, or buy one, get the second for $99.   You could end up with suits for less than the price of a tux rental.

hsmith789

We had our GM all buy gray suits. We went to Jos A Banks and told them the situation that we would be ordering X number or suits and what deal could they give us. We got their mid-grade tailered suits for $206/each. Our GM loved the idea because they got to keep it after! We had no problems at all and they actually appreciate it even more going that route.We bought the shirts, ties and fabric square so there was no other expense for them.

rooney2012

A friend told me that it ended up costling LESS for GM to purchase than to rent when they took advantage of Boston Store's Goodwill Sale. I'm not sure what their selection looks like though.

rachel10488

We had ours buy a very light grey suit from Macy's that was on sale for about $170...this is actually cheaper than a lot of rentals so I think it works out well. FI is an usher in a wedding and he had to rent a tux that was $220, we felt like the money is much more well spent on something they can possibly use again.
Also, one of the GM told us how excited he was to buy one because he needed one anyways.