Wow. I have not posted all summer. Alright so planning a wedding and posting about a wedding at the same time might be a little much for me. I don't mean that I'm that busy, I mean I don't want to talk about the wedding THAT much.
Alright, the suit.
First off, let me say this, yes, I realize most people rent. But the boy needs a suit, a good suit, that fits, and this seemed a good a time as any to buy one (and buying one could be done for near the cost of renting). Also, my attendants don't have to match, so he was free to pick and suit that struck his fancy and keep it forever and ever. Secondly, I found it highly annoying that one sales person kept trying to push a suit on us that "he'll grow into." That's nice and all, but he's 22, he's pretty much grown, and aside from that, the suit you wear for the most important day of your life is not the kind of suit that mostly fits but has room to grow. This is not the first day of school, you imbecile.
The first thing you need to know about finding a suit, no matter how many reality shows you watch about fashion, no matter how stylish you are, no matter if you spent a lot of your young life in a costume shop for the theater, and no matter how much you pay attention to everything Barney Stinson says on How I Met Your Mother - you know nothing about suits.
However, I'm pretty sure neither did the stuffy old guy at Belk. He though my 6'3" 170lb fiance needed to be in a size 44 coat.
Another thing you need to know, if you like your men talk, dark, and hansome - the tall part is going to make buying a suit increasingly difficult.
But, good news is, the off-the-rack fashion world hears our cries. They see our metrosexual men in skinny jeans, they see magazines idolize lean guys like David Beckham and they have accounted for this with slim fit and athletic fit suits.
I don't have much to say on the suit... it was sheer luck that we ended up as well as we did.
We originally picked the shirt and tie and one of those crazy apocalyptic sales in some department store, that was easy enough.
Then we went to Men's Wearhouse to have Tripp measured, the intention being to go to this discount suits store in the mall or order offline with our magical codex to the suit language (that being his measurements).
Well, the suit store in mall... pretty sure it's for pimps. Now, not to knock it saying it had great deals, it did. This was obviously for a pimp on a budget. However, zoot suits and alligator shoes were not the intended target in suit shopping.
Shopping online, FANTASTIC, although after also looking in stores I would heavily advise not buying anything offline tagged as "metallic" without seeing it in a store first. If you do that you might just land back at "gator boots and pimped out Gucci suit."
Anyway, here's the stroke of luck part. We searched Overstock, Next Clothing, and Google Shopping. The general problem was that there were regular suits in longs or bigger suits in slim fit, but never any magical perfect pairing of the right sizes, lengths and fits. Finally, Google shopping shows us a FANTASTIC $500 Men's Wearhouse suit for $150, but, as expected, they're sold out of the pants.
So, I call Men's Wearhouse and he tells us just to come down and check for the pants there. So we do. No pants. But that's when our suit knight in shining armor, Rick Harris, tells us about this $200 suit deal they have. Black or grey suit, slim fit, perfect. He measures Tripp correctly. Advises us on whether black or grey is better and just happens to have black Converse in 10 1/2 (I don't know if you've ever tried to find 1/2 sizes in Converse...)
We end up leaving there an hour later, with a suit paid for and sent off for some hemming and a new pair of shoes. All for under $300.
The service was so phenomenal (even the cashier was fun, polite, and gave us a deal). It's just some crazy serendipity that we ended up back there.
So, dear readers, I have no mystical short cut like I usually do for wedding things, Men's Wearhouse really is the best bet. The only tip is, remember when buying at a discount or finding a good deal, if it doesn't fit just right, you'll have to pay for alterations and you should factor that in.
