It is becoming more and more fashionable to have the colour scheme of the wedding reflected in the wedding outfit of the groom, and there are many different and stylish ways to do so.
These different options can be broadly put into two major categories:
1. Coordinating colours with accessories
2. Designing elements of your suit to match the wedding colours
Matching the colour scheme with accessories can be especially favourable for grooms who either:
Intend to wear an existing suit OR
Have a suit tailored which can also be used later for different occasions. OR
Fear a potentially overpowering impact from the bride's colour scheme.
The more integrated choice, is of course to design elements of your suit to match colours or themes of the wedding. You can do this with the jacket or other parts of the suit.
Coordinating colours with accessories
Boutonniere
The cheapest and easiest way is to opt for a so called "boutonniere", a small flower arrangement for the groom to wear either pinned to his lapel, stuck into his lapel button hole or into his breast pocket, which reflects colours in the bride's floral bouquet.
These are generally provided by the same florist who provides the bridal bouquet and can be worn with any garment.
Pocket Square
A pocket square is a more sophisticated and still "easy to execute" way to match your bride's colour scheme:
Pocket squares look great on any wedding suit, regardless how elegant your ensemble is
A pocket square is an eye-catcher, but still small enough not to overpower your suit regardless how strong the colour scheme of your bride contrasts your suit.
Pocket squares are easy to produce and can be created from a wide variety of fabric types. Most wedding dress seamstresses can easily create a pocket square from any fabric swatch you provide them.
Neckwear
In modern fashion it is generally frowned upon to have a pocket square and neckwear from the exact same fabric and pattern. However, for weddings there is an increasing trend to have neckwear and pocket square match.
Regardless which approach you take on matching the accessories to each other, aligning neckwear and bridal colour scheme does create a great effect. It might be worthwhile to go for an easily available colour, as made-to-order neckwear becomes increasingly difficult to find. The exception would be a bowtie which most skilled tailors would be able to create - though they might be reluctant to do it as it is not in their routine.
Cummerbund
For those who opt for a tuxedo, a cummerbund is a great way to reflect your bride's colour scheme. It is a distinctive piece of your ensemble but not too large to overpower the rest of your tuxedo.
It is also is more easily customisable as most professional tailors should be able to create a unique cummerbund out of the bridal fabrics, depending on the type of fabrics used. Ready made cummerbunds tend to be limited to a very basic set of colours.
Matching through suit elements
While matching your bride's colour scheme through your accessories is obviously the easiest and most effortless option, you can also make a larger commitment and represent the colour scheme in your suit.
A Customised Vest
While most of the options require you to create a suit especially for your wedding,, creating a customised vest is an expressive way to match the colour scheme of the wedding, while using a suit you may already have. .
Your vest offers a range of options to reflect your bride's colour scheme. You can:
Choose a matching fabric for the main body of your vest. (You may want to be careful with this option, when choosing bright colours, as it can entirely overpower the rest of your suit.)
Choose a matching fabric for the lapel of your vest. (If you design the vest with a lapel). Vests with lapels are becoming more and more fashionable again. For more go directly to "Design a Vest to Impress." Depending on the fabric chosen by your bride for her dress, you might even be able to use the same fabric for the lapel.
Use the fabric of her dress as the back fabric for your vest. Again it depends on the type of fabric your bride is using for her dress, but the back of a vest allows for a much wider range of fabric types as it is easier to make than the front.
Suit Lining
A nice touch when creating a suit dedicated for your wedding is to use the same lining fabric for your suit jacket as your bride uses in her dress. Of course this is more for the bride and groom's feeling of connectedness than outward presentation since very few people get to see both linings.
But it feels nice for the groom to remember his wedding day every time he wears the suit later, and it doesn't affect the wearability of the suit for future events as much as other more obvious options might.
Suit Pockets
At The Tailor Network, when working with clients, we often end up adding small colour accents on the jacket's side pockets. It is a great place for an elegant, yet colourful note.
While we usually do not recommend this practice for high-end wool suits, we believe that it is different if you want to honour your commitment to your bride by reflecting her colour scheme in your suit. Choosing side pockets in your bride's dress colours is an elegant way and allows you to wear your suit later on different occasions while always being reminded of this beautiful day.
Jacket Lapels and Piping
Both options - having your jacket lapels in a different fabric than the main body or having piping on your lapels - usually disqualify your suit from later business use, unless you generally go for a vintage look in your clothing.
Depending on the type of suit, you might be able to reflect the colour scheme in the lapel and / or piping and still use the suit for future gala events. It strongly depends on the fabric type and colours you choose to reflect. For more info, read "5 Steps to Create Your Elegant Wedding or Gala Suit."
Overall we would recommend this option only if you intend your suit to be exclusively created for your wedding and you want to be more expressive with your suit design.
Jacket or Primary Suit Fabric
For obvious reasons, aligning the colour of your jacket body or your entire suit with the colour scheme is the biggest commitment.
It can be a great opportunity for daytime summer weddings when the bride's colour scheme allows for the creation of a light suit in summer colours.
An alternative option is a two-coloured suit with either a darker jacket and a lighter trouser or the other way around, where both pieces can reflect parts of the colour scheme.
Our in-person design sessions are free, and you are not committing to anything.
We will discuss your ideas and preferences, walk you through the styles, fabrics,
and all the finishing touches - and design the perfect suit for your wedding.