Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo is pleased to offer these 7 simple ways to improve your tuxedo or suit rental or purchase experience!
What follows is a summary of what our bridal and tuxedo store is experiencing with weddings this year, and a few procedures you can follow to help grooms and groomsmen look their best for your wedding.
2022 Weddings Are on the Rise
According to The Wedding Report, the United States will see 25% more weddings this year. That’s more weddings we’ve seen since 1984! This is certainly going to affect your wedding vendors and how they serve you.
We are experiencing a noticeable increase in the number of weddings this year, much more than the predicted 25% increase. Whether it’s increased demand from delays from COVID or just overall demand from demographics, we are certainly seeing many more brides, bridesmaids, grooms and groomsmen coming through our store.
You want your wedding party to look their best. So do we! Those wedding photos will last forever and we want to help you manage this process to capture those moments that will be seen for years to come. While there is a lot more involved with renting a tuxedo or suit than the items that follow, these are the 7 simple ways to improve your rental experience:
- Start Shopping Early
Given the higher demand for tuxedo and suit rentals and purchases, we suggest that you start shopping for your mens’ attire six months before your wedding. There are a lot of choices out there and it may take you some time to decide on how you want to dress your groom, groomsmen and fathers. As an example, we have over 70 different styles of suits and tuxedos for rent and about 35 available for purchase. In addition, there are many different styles and colors of vests, long ties, bow ties and pocket squares.
Sorting all of this out with the proper professional advice is not that complex, however, we advise starting the process early so that you can make your choices with the time you need to decide.
In addition, the sooner you choose your attire and place those orders, the less likely you will find yourself unable to acquire the choices you made. Remember, there are 25% more weddings in the United States this year and that is translating into more pressure on inventories of certain tuxedo and suit shops who are not prepared for the extra volume.
2021 proved to be a challenging year as well because of all of the weddings postponed in 2020 from COVID and the already planned weddings for 2021. We remember having a bride and groom come to us who said their original tuxedo supplier could not accommodate all of their requests: all of the tuxedos were not available because the company was out of the styles and they could only provide half of the vests requested! Fortunately, we were able to provide them all of their tuxedos for their wedding day without a problem, however this may be a recurring issue in 2022 due to the increase in the number of weddings so starting your shopping and ordering of tuxedo and suit rentals early, could alleviate this problem.
- Have Your Guys Get Measured in a Timely Fashion
Getting your guys to get measured for their tuxedo or suit in a timely manner is one of the biggest challenges. At Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo, we suggest having everyone measured and initial payments made at least 3 to 4 weeks before the wedding. This will make sure the inventory can be reserved for you and your wedding party and we have enough time to start working on the orders.
Do we really need 3 – 4 weeks? No we do not. We can prepare a tuxedo or suit rental in less time, but this will ensure there is adequate time for any changes in sizes or choices and will reduce the probability of inventory not being available.
We understand everyone is busy, but this is an important day for your wedding and we try to explain that to the groomsmen. Our procedures provide for us to call or text the guys to remind them to come in and get measured. If they are out-of-town guests where we’ve arranged for them to get measured out-of-state, it is equally important for them to submit their measurements to us on our online portal in a timely manner.
* This is where the bride and groom can help: we call and text groomsmen many times to remind them to get measured. Sometimes, they are not very responsive to our communications. When that is the case, we will reach out to the bride and groom to nudge the guys to come and get measured. Oftentimes, the bride and groom will send out a group text message and euphemistically state: ‘any of you who haven’t been to Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo to get measured for your tuxedo, need to do so ASAP!’. Of course even those who have been measured are included in the text message so not to shame the ones who have not completed this task!
Our suggestion to you is to follow up with the guys via text message and ask them if they’ve been able to order their tuxedo. We find that they tend to be more responsive to the bride and groom.
Getting measured only takes about 10 minutes.
- Make Your Tuxedo Payment on Time
Paying for your rental may sound like a no-brainer, but you would be surprised how many times we have to make multiple requests to groomsmen to either make their initial payment or pay for the entire rental if we are shipping it to them.
We have had to explain more than once that amazon.com will not process your order without payment… and neither can we. If you are picking up in our store, we require an initial payment at measuring and the balance of the rental fee can be paid on pick up. If we are shipping you the tuxedo, we do require full payment before the rental ships out.
Check with your tuxedo and suit retailer as to what their payment requirements are. Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo tries to make the payment process very simple. We accept all credit cards, offer ApplePay and GooglePay and even can send electronic invoices by text message or email. Not making a payment for your suit or tuxedo rental halts the processing of the order.
- Respond to the Tuxedo Shops Questions
At Darianna Bridal & Tuxedo, we do a lot of quality control with our tuxedo and suit rental orders.
There are a lot of moving parts to renting a suit or tuxedo. There is the actual tuxedo style, color and designer, the type of shirt, color of vest, bow tie or long tie choices, cufflink and stud choices, shoe choice, and of course pocket square choice. Add on top of that, measurements and sizing for most of the items just mentioned. We review files every week for accuracy and completeness.
This year, we anticipate renting about 7,000 tuxedos and suits! That’s a lot of quality control and a lot of telephone calls and text messages to our customers. Our suggestion, no matter where you are renting or purchasing your suit or tuxedo, is to return the call or text message of the retailer in a timely manner so that you can answer their questions. This expedites the ordering of your attire and ensures everything is accurate. Given that we see 7,000 measurements a year, we often can spot inconsistencies and fix them with a quick phone call.
We make communicating with us really easy, including the ability to text our store’s telephone number.
5. Pick Up and Try on Your Tuxedo
It’s always a good idea to ask your retailer about when the suit or tuxedo rental will be available for pick up. Every store has a different policy. Our policy is, in general, that the rental will be ready for pick up 4 to 10 days before your event. The good news is we do not charge extra by allowing you to pick up the tuxedo a week before the wedding. This allows you to try it on and make sure everything fits properly. We call every single renter to let him know his rental is ready for pick up. If you do not have voicemail, we are actually able to text you from our store’s telephone number.
Our suggestion is to pick up the suit or tuxedo rental as soon as you are notified or as soon as you can. You want to allow adequate time to make changes if necessary. As an example, we had a groomsman who was measured in March. When he came to pick up his tuxedo in August, he had lost 15 pounds because he is a landscaper, worked outside and lost weight due to the extreme heat. This was not a problem, because he came to pick up his tuxedo a week before the wedding. The next day, we had the correct size for him.
On another note, if you lost or gained weight, it’s a good idea to return to the store to get re-measured. Every tuxedo store has different procedures, but we put everyone in a pair of pants, a jacket, shirt, vest and shoes. The fitting items that you try on with us are true to size and are quite accurate, unless, of course, you lose 15 pounds!
If you were measured out-of-state and are having your tuxedo or suit rental shipped to you, we highly recommend trying it on immediately. Remember you were not measured by us and where you went to get measured may not have the same tried and true measuring procedures that we have. Inform your tuxedo retailer immediately if something does not fit properly. With adequate notification, you should be able to have that situation remedied quickly. The bride and groom will appreciate you for this!
6. Sizing and Tightness
We often hear from groomsmen that their suit or tuxedo ‘feels a little tight’. This doesn’t happen often but when it does, our experience is that many guys are not used to wearing suits or tuxedos. Let’s face it, most workplaces allow casual attire or people work from home. If a suit or tuxedo is perfectly comfortable (read: feels like you are wearing a sweatshirt and sweatpants), then we can guarantee it looks terrible!
Some guys put their arms out in front of them and say, “It’s so tight!” or “Look how short the arms are!” Are you going to walk around like a zombie at the wedding? No, because that is not a normal stance. When your arms are straight down at your side it should look and feel fitted.
A suit or tuxedo should be relatively fitted and look almost like it was made for you. It should not be baggy. If you are not used to wearing formal attire, after wearing it for 10-15 minutes, you will get used to the tighter feel. It is best to try your tuxedo on in the retailer’s location. This way a professional, who is used to seeing thousands of people in tuxedos, can help you determine if the fit is correct. If you had your tuxedo shipped to you, we’ve even done FaceTime or video calls with guys so we could see what it looks like on them! This helps us determine if anything needs to be changed.
So the bottom line is if you are not used to wearing formal attire, then that slight tight feeling from the tuxedo or suit may still be the proper size for you. A formal wear professional will help you determine that and even allow you to try on the next size up to see how it looks and feels.
7. Return On Time!
This is a big one that can cause real problems. Because there is a strain on inventory, suit and tuxedo retailers are depending on returns to be prompt. If you do not return your tuxedo there of course or late fees associated, but you are also causing problems for someone else. Yours could be delayed because someone else didn’t return on time. Please return your tuxedo as per the terms of your retailer. You can read more about the importance of prompt returns here!
We Hope This Helps
Although not all wedding parties are experiencing all of these issues, we are finding that these are the 7 simple ways to improve the tuxedo and suit rental or purchase process! Simply being aware of these potential issues will help streamline dressing your wedding party.