Custom Suits For Weddings: How To Get That Perfect Look For Your Wedding Day

After splurging on a beautiful venue and open bar, your wedding suit can fall low on the priority list. But, standing at the altar in front of your family and friends, across the love of your life, all eyes on you, that’s the time to look your best. 

A custom suit is tailored to both your physique and personality. You choose everything from the fabric and pattern to smaller details like buttons, collar and lapel styles, and vents. And of course, the fit is perfect, so you look and feel your best. 

In this article, we’ll go over everything to do with custom-made wedding suits, including how to choose your ideal suit style, fabric, and fit, where to go for the best customized suits, and other budget-friendly wedding suit options. 

Custom-Made Suits vs. Off-The-Rack Wedding Suits

The difference between custom-made suits and off-the-rack suits is relatively self-explanatory – custom-made suits are made to your exact specifications, and off-the-rack suits are standard issue, purchased straight from the store. 

Another major difference is price. Off-the-rack suits range from $200-$500, while custom suits cost about $1,200 on average. Custom suits range in price, however, depending on the amount of work and personalization goes into the garment. There are two main types of wedding suits: bespoke and made-to-measure. 

Custom-Made Suits: Bespoke vs. Made-To-Measure

There are two types of custom wedding suits:

• Made-to-Measure – for a made-to-measure order, tailors start with a basic pattern, take your measurements, and customize the pattern to perfectly fit your body. Made -to-measure suits typically start at about $400. 
• Bespoke Suits – bespoke suits are your costliest custom suit option – they are completely custom, made from scratch to your exact specifications. Because of the amount of time and skill it takes to craft a bespoke suit, it’s hard to find one for less than $2,000. 

What To Consider Before Choosing A Suit For Your Big Day

When you get married, where you get married, and your budget will all influence the type (and price) of wedding suit you go for.

Here are a few things to consider when it comes to choosing the perfect suit style for your wedding attire:

Formality

The level of formality will ultimately determine the style, color, and pattern of your suit, with darker colors generally being more formal.

• Evening Tail Suits – This is the most elegant and chic option to wear to a wedding. Usually worn to big white tie events of high societal caliber, an evening tail suit is your best option if you are planning on an extravagant wedding. An evening tail suit typically costs about $500. 
• Morning Suits – A morning suit is another formal option. This three-piece suit can be worn to formal daytime events like weddings, funerals, fundraisers, etc. This is basically the biggest difference between a morning and an evening tail suit – the time of the day. You will be able to buy a decent morning suit when spending around $500.
• Wedding Tuxedos – Wearing a wedding tux is appropriate if you wish for your wedding to be a black tie event. These outfits are much more formal than normal suits and quite popular for traditional weddings. For a wedding tuxedo, you will likely spend around $400-$600.
• Lounge Suits – A lounge suit will give you more freedom when it comes to style and formality. Also known as the suit, this outfit can be either as chic or as relaxed as you want it. You will have the option to still make it a formal wedding or a more laid-back beach wedding with a relaxed linen cut. A good lounge suit will typically start at $300.

Just as much choice as you have with the actual style of the suit, you have with the choice of your suit’s lapels. There is a wide variety of notched (most common), shawl (for tuxedos) and peak lapels (best for a double-breasted jacket).

Season

Wedding suits need to match the season of the wedding. You can wear a linen suit to a beach wedding, but this same suit will look very out of place in a ballroom during winter. The suit style needs to match the weather outside to keep you comfortable and looking great.

• Autumn & Winter: Think tweed or wool blends for suit fabrics during the colder months. Darker and more modest suit colors such as black, brown, gray, or even a dark red and green will be the most suitable for an autumn or winter event.
• Spring & Summer: To make you more comfortable in hot temperatures and not add to the already nervous sweat you might have going, choose a cotton blend or linen suit during spring and summer. Suits in lighter colors like blues and tans will work best for summer weddings, brunches, and parties. 

Budget

We know that money plays one of the biggest roles when picking out a wedding suit. If you’re nearing the end of your budget, know where and where not to skrimp so you can still look and feel your best. 

For example – always prioritize material and fit. The lowest quality wool will always look better than the highest quality polyester, and an ill-fitting suit will always look sloppy, no matter how expensive. 

Custom suits will cost anything between $400 and $6,000 on average, so there is a wide price range to play with when thinking about the fit and the material for your suit.

The 3 Best Places To Get Your Custom Wedding Suit

Any retailer who does good bespoke suits is likely a relatively small operation. If you want to go bespoke, look up highly-rated clothiers near you. Many different retailers, however, ranging from large department stores to smaller operations, offer made-to-measure options. 

Here are some of our favorite places to buy made-to-measure suits: 

Men’s Wearhouse

Men’s Wearhouse offers some great budget made-to-measure suit options, starting at around $399. You can visit a brick-and-mortar store or send your measurements online, go in-store for at least one fitting, and your suit will be finished in 2-4 weeks. You can also rent a suit for your big day, but note it won’t fit nearly as well as a custom suit. 

Nordstrom & Indochino

Here, you’ll find made-to-measure, high quality custom suit options from a variety of brands starting at $500. Plus, Nordstrom has partnered with online suit retailer Indochino to offer made-to-measure suits both in-store and online. Give your measurements, choose the style, fabric, and pattern, go in for a final fitting, and have your suit in just a few weeks. 

Hockerty

Hockerty offers one of the widest ranges of custom-made suits and tuxedos for grooms. Their made-to-measure suits come in all kinds of styles, and fabrics (choose from 150 different options!) and are guaranteed to make you look stunning on your wedding day, for $340 and above.

What Does The Typical Custom Suit Making Process Look Like?

Choosing The Fabric, Color, and Style

The first step in the custom suit process is, obviously, choosing your materials. It definitely helps to have an idea of what you’re looking for, but if you need some guidance, your tailor will help select the right material, color, and style for the season, the event, and your body type.

Taking Measurements

During the first visit, your tailor will take the following measurements to make sure you will have a suit that fits you like a glove:

• Height & weight
• Shirt sleeve length
• Neck size
• Waist & hips
• Outseam & inseam
• Chest

Cutting, Sewing, & Basted Fitting

Once your suit material is chosen and measurements are taken, your tailor will cut your suit from a large piece of stock cloth according to your measurements. This means they will not sew any of the material together just yet but fixate it with pins and needles for you to try on.

After a couple of weeks, you’ll come in for a basted fitting to make sure it’s a perfect fit before it is sewn permanently. Then your tailor will make final adjustments, if any are necessary, and your suit is finished. 

Making Your Wedding Suit Work On A Budget

If a custom suit is just not in your budget, no need to worry. There are several other options for getting a great wedding look for a lot less money. 

Tailor An Off-The-Rack Wedding Suit

A well-tailored, off-the-rack suit can still look great on your wedding day, for a fraction of the price. Depending on how much of the suit needs to be altered, you can buy and tailor a suit for as little as $300. 

Utilize Suit Accessories

Carefully chosen accessories will provide that certain wow effect you want to go for on your big day. Adding personal touches such as a funky pocket square or a colorful bow tie to wedding suits will show off your unique style, without the hefty price tag. 

Wear An Undershirt

No matter what style or type of suit you are going for, wearing a quality, well-fitted undershirt will streamline your body and increase your confidence, making a hell of a difference in how you look and feel on your wedding day. 

Not only will an undershirt help you look your best, it will also protect your shirt and suit from sweat stains and odor – something many grooms wish they’d thought of, just a little too late. 

You also want to ensure your undershirt isn’t ruining your look. To avoid ‘undershirt gut,’ avoid baggy shirts and instead up for well-fitted, microfiber blends for ultimate comfort.

Should Groomsmen Suits Be Custom-Made?

Though you and your wedding party should certainly be coordinated and everyone’s suits should fit well, requiring custom suits for all of your groomsmen isn’t necessary. As the star of the show, it’s a great investment for you, but your groomsmen should be able to get away with simple tailoring. 

Look Your Best On Your Big Day

The value of a custom wedding suit for your big day cannot be overstated. Whether you choose an off-the-rack but tailored suit, made-to-measure, or bespoke suit is completely up to you – what ultimately really matters is how good you feel. 

UnderFit specializes in creating quality, comfortable undershirts that help you look and feel effortlessly great during your most important events. So, worry about the important stuff, like when to say “I do,” instead of sweat stains. Check out our undershirt selection here.

About Leigh McKenzie

Leigh is the owner of UnderFit, a premium men's undershirt brand based in Philadelphia, PA. You can follow Leigh on LinkedIn and Twitter.