Groomsmen attire - To buy or rent??

TinyDancer06 · February 2014

Alright, I'm sure there have been plenty of discussions surrounding this! Taking care of the groomsmen attire is next on my to-do list, and after seeing my fiance in two back-to-back weddings a couple years ago, the price that he paid to rent a tux from Men's Wearhouse, he could've bought one at a similar price.

So now I am debating: rent vs. buy??

If you've rented tuxes, where do you recommend? Is Men's Wearhouse the way to go?

If you've bought tuxes, where do you recommend? I'd like to be able to see them in person, have my fiance try one one, instead of blindly ordering them online.

Thoughts? Pros/cons?

Thanks!

CMGragain · February 2014

My son has needed a tux since he was 16. He's gone through several. He often performs in a band, and he used to occasionally escort debutants. We usually bought them used from a rental chain, but now that he is grown up, the last one was new. Be careful about buying faddish tuxedos. If he's going ro buy one, it should be a traditional tuxedo.

jenna8984 · February 2014

We just went to Men's Warehouse last weekend first the first time. We had it in our mind that he was going to buy as well. Yea, not happening. It's $200 to rent and that includes everything- shirt, tie, socks, shoes. We asked about buying and they were $400 and up and that did not include shirt, tie, anything. There might be cheaper places to buy but we said screw that because he already owns a nice suit he never wears.

Liatris2010 · February 2014

You could leave it up to the GM if they want to rent or buy by specifying a tux, but not a specific one.

AddieCake · February 2014

I agree to leave it up to the groomsmen. You really can't force someone to buy a tux, I wouldn't think.

Maggie0829 · February 2014

You could leave it up to the GM if they want to rent or buy by specifying a tux, but not a specific one.

This is a great idea.

Mitch617 · March 2014

I have not gotten to groom/groomsmen attire for my wedding yet, but am also wondering rent vs buy, tux vs suit. I have heard that tux rentals can look frumpy since they cannot be fitted or altered. Anyone have thoughts on that?

erinlin25 · March 2014

agree to leave it up to the groomsman. Depending on budget, renting is usually the best option for a tux. If you were going the suit route, I could see people maybe wanting to buy if they would get use out of it-- but not everyone may want to buy of they truly would not use it (my H is a mechanic; he has one nice suit and no need for another, so he would rent over buy, especially if it was a tux). We rented the Vera Wang Tux (yes it was grey so call it a suit, whatever you want) but to MW and Vera Wang it was a "tux." Anyway all the guys looked great, not frumpy at all. We chose MW because are guys were from all over the place and it was the easiest location to set up so they could go to their "home" store to get fitted and pick up before the wedding and we were able to return them all to the store closest to our wedding (completely different from where any of them were rented).

If you rent from a known place they usually all come close to fit for they will use updated suits and have a variety of sizes. I used to run a formal fundraiser where all the guys had to rent a tuxedo and we never had issues with anyone looking frumpy no matter what size.

Mitch617 · March 2014

Thanks @erinlin25 that makes me feel better. Renting seems much better if it comes with all the pieces. We actually want something very similar to yours, a dark gray tux or fancy suit or whatever you want to call it. Also for people still making the decision, Men's Wearhouse has coupons. I got some from David's Bridal (didn't buy anything just went in to look once and they gave me a bag with coupons and ads in it) for $40 off each rental tux and a free rental for the groom with 5 paid groomsmen rentals. Hoping there is no crazy fine print on that. We have 6 groomsmen so maybe they can all go together and get the free one, but then add up the total bill and divide by 7 so my FI is pitching in too and not freeloading haha.

princessleia22 · March 2014

My FI was pretty set on renting a tux... until he actually went to store to look at them. The tux he liked at Mens Warehouse was $270 + extended rental fee because we are having destination wedding. That seemed high for renting, especially for groomsmen. He went to Jos A Bank and got a more helpful consultant there than he had at MW. And he learned that there really isn't much difference between a "tux" and a nice black suit. He found a Vera Wang suit he liked that would cost about same as if he rented a tux, especially since they regularly have good sales. And he can get it tailored for perfect fit. He doesn't currently own a suit, just one pair of black dress pants, one blue dress shirt, and one tie, so it may be good for him to have another dress up outfit, even if he rarely wears it. And his best man has a black suit already. My dad also wants to wear same as groomsmen, so it will save him some money too, since he also owns a black suit to wear. I figure it's may be worth buying if you go with suits because there is more chance to wear it again. Unless you know you will wear the tux multiple times, renting is probably better choice.

TinyDancer06 · March 2014

Hi everyone, thanks for all the great responses! I should've specified, I'm considering either route, tux or suit. I'd also like to buy the guys' ties to have something a little bit different, and also something they can keep (part of the groomsmens' gift). One of the groomsmen did say that he wouldn't mind buying a suit because it's something he could keep. I'll do some poking around at various sites and see what I can find out there!

Tux vs. Suit: Which do you guys prefer?

erinlin25 · March 2014

Mitch617 said:

Thanks @erinlin25 that makes me feel better. Renting seems much better if it comes with all the pieces. We actually want something very similar to yours, a dark gray tux or fancy suit or whatever you want to call it. Also for people still making the decision, Men's Wearhouse has coupons. I got some from David's Bridal (didn't buy anything just went in to look once and they gave me a bag with coupons and ads in it) for $40 off each rental tux and a free rental for the groom with 5 paid groomsmen rentals. Hoping there is no crazy fine print on that. We have 6 groomsmen so maybe they can all go together and get the free one, but then add up the total bill and divide by 7 so my FI is pitching in too and not freeloading haha.

Yup that is what we used. We had 5 guys + my dad wanted the same one, so they got $40 off the rental and my husbands was free (we paid their deposits). I think the guys tux came to about $180? if I remember correctly. It had everything they needed and they got to keep the socks and pocket square. We opted to buy my husband a lavender shirt so he wore that instead of using the rented white one. I was shocked the tux rental was that much the guys all thought it was a great deal.

Mitch617 · March 2014

Yea I guess I have no concept of how much tuxes or rentals cost. Good to know what it came down to and that the guys weren't shocked by the price!

jenna8984 · March 2014

I thought the $200 price was outrageous because I said my girls are spending $150 on something they get to keep. But FI said it was standard and that guys know the prices and don't mind. He also brought up the point that the girls are still spending just as much because they have to pay for things like hair and makeup which the men don't have to (up to the girls discretion of course but most want to).

[Deleted User] · March 2014

I think it's worth the price of checking rent vs. buying. If the guy knows he is going to have more occasions to wear the tux to, it can be cheaper to buy it (but not from a tux store) then to rent. Check into places like men's wearhouse, K & G, Macy's or JCPenny's. My husband was able to find a great classic black suit (which technically was sold as a tux but can easily be used as a suit since it doesn't have satin lines on pants or satin lapel) at JCPenny for under $100.00 He uses it as a Limo Driver. I know K & G had deals frequently buy 1 get 1 or buy 1 & get 2 free. You can get the guys then to split the price. A classic white tux shirt isn't expensive either. Then when the guy is in a wedding he can just rent the matching vest/tie (and shirt if it's a different style) from the tux shop (that's what my dad did).

But if the men in the wedding party have no need in the future for a basic suit, then it's a waste. You're best bet maybe to find a suit that you like that is affordable & then try to find a similar suit that is available for rental & let the guys do what will work best for them.

CMGragain · March 2014

TinyDancer06 said:

Hi everyone, thanks for all the great responses! I should've specified, I'm considering either route, tux or suit. I'd also like to buy the guys' ties to have something a little bit different, and also something they can keep (part of the groomsmens' gift). One of the groomsmen did say that he wouldn't mind buying a suit because it's something he could keep. I'll do some poking around at various sites and see what I can find out there!

Tux vs. Suit: Which do you guys prefer?

Suit! No contest! He can buy a nice dark suit for about the price of a rented tuxedo, which has been worn to prom by countless teenagers. He keeps the suit and can wear it for other occasions - like job interviews!
I used to have a photo on my responses of my daughters wedding, where my son-in-law wore a black suit, white shirt and long tie. Quite a few ladies asked me about his "tuxedo" (It wasn't one!), not knowing the difference. The real difference is that it is proper to wear a dark suit at any time of day, but tuxedos, with satin lapels, should only be worn in the evening!

CrystaH11 · March 2014

We are going with dark charcoal suits for our wedding, and honestly it was much cheaper to buy a nice suit. We caught some great suits at JC Penny for half off, made them $130 for the pants and jacket. It would have been over $300 to rent the attire. My groom and groomsmen would all use a suit after the wedding, so it was better for us to buy them.

cruffino · March 2014

DH adamantly wanted to rent a tux. He didn't feel like buying a suit since he rarely wears them (he works in a more casual environment).

So we rented from MW. We had a $50 off each rental and free groom rental with 5 paid rentals. It came to $150 per guy with the discount. We paid $100 per guy so they only had to pay $50 each. Worked well for us.

theartistformerlyknownas · March 2014

Keep in mind that while you may be mindful of what your guys will be able to wear again, that doesn't mean future brides will be (unfortunately). So say they buy a tux thinking "we'll totally wear this again" and the next time they're asked to be in a wedding the bridezilla says "oh no no, you need to wear this matching such'n'such." Because likely, being in another wedding is the only reason most guys will wear a tux after graduation.

Fi spoke with all his guys about renting tuxes versus buying suits, and they all agreed on buying matching suits. At the very least, they'll be able to wear them as guests at other weddings (or funerals), plus we'll know they fit our extremely tall, broad-shouldered WP perfectly. We'll be buying their ties for them from The Tie Bar (though not as part of their gift - thank you gifts shouldn't include any part of the "WP uniform;" same with my BM's jewelry. I bought it as a favor to them since I wanted them to match, but not as a gift). Jos A Bank often has a "buy one, get 3 free" sale that they're watching out for - that would get them 8 suits when they only need 6, but one GM jumped at the chance to buy the other two just because he needs suits.

LDay2014 · March 2014

Since I wanted the guys in 'dark grey' I have left it up to them about what suit they would like. FI has a black suit but I will buy him a dark grey one, my brother I'm pretty sure has one already, and the other groomsman I'm not sure about so I am going to suggest he decide on his own, however since the wedding isn't until October, I will keep an eye out for the 2-for-1 sales and have the two of them go down and get one then split the difference

Groomsmen attire - To buy or rent??

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