So Friday evening Fi and I got together with my brother, FI's Best Man and his S/O and his parents and we went out for dinner. Afterwards, we were going to go over to one of the major suit stores and see the suits they had on for sale. Fi has called a few days earlier and asked them if they had suits, NOT a tux for rent and they said yes. They also had a great sale on. They call it their "suit, shirt and tie for $199" a.ka "the prom sale" but the suits are really nice and we wanted to take advantage of their excellent prices.
Well, we get there and end up waiting for FIs parents to arrive. In the meantime, the store manager comes over to us and asks if he can help us. We decided to start with FI. We tell the manager that we are there for a wedding and what we have in mind. He looks at FI and made a bit of a joke because of his size, everyone laughed. He then proceeds to say "Yea, we don't have suits here that fit you, you're too big those suits are for smaller people" I think he realized what he said and says "What I mean is they're for prom, they're for boys".
OK now, FI is 6'1 and 230 pounds he's a little overweight yes, but by no means is he obese. Also, last I remember the "boys" going off to prom are 18/19 years old and are usually fully grown and becoming MEN. Oh and this store we were at is a Big and Tall store!!
FI responds with "That's fine I'll take my business somewhere else, I'll wait for my parents and then I'm out of here go take care of my bestman because he's renting a suit" Meanwhile, FI's BM goes around the corner and is walking around with a jacket that fits him (he's 6'3 and 330 pounds and had gastric by-pass surgery so he's been losing weight and fast and will continue to before and after the wedding). I go over and tell him we'll get him set-up with a suit since this was the only place in town where they rented suits and NOT a tux. We're looking at what they have and they're all tuxedos. I tell the guy we called and they said they had suits to rent, he responds with "we would never say that" so I fire back "Well someone who works here did, so someone lied and it wasn't my FI". Fi's parents finally get there and we blow that popsicle stand.
Fi was pretty upset in the car. He's self-conscious about his weight and he told me he almost punched the guy in the face but his BM just looked at him and slightly shook his head like "It's not worth it man"
We decide to head over to their competitor. A saleswoman approaches us and she was the complete opposite of our previous experience. She was very helpful and had everyone set up in suits and helped me with all the accessories and completing their look in about 30 mins. She even told us not to buy them that night. She would hold on to everyones suits and place them in the back because they have a sale coming up next week that is BOGO Free!! So at the end of the night this is what we ended up with:
MOH (my brother) is on the Left, FI on the Right. Everyone will be wearing the same suits, shirt and tie and they will differ with their pocket square, BM and MOH with blue and FI in ivory, and with their bouts. The ties have the exact shades of blue and green that we have for our wedding so that was an excellent find.
Needless to say, I'll be writing a letter of complaint to the first store's head office about how we were treated. BM will be canceling his suit rental and will be buying a suit at the same store as the rest of the guys (makes me super happy) and I think the guys look awesome. Also, the 2nd store has a rewards program I belong to so we will be saving some extra $$ from that as well which is a total bonus.