Is hiring a wedding suit a good idea?

As Australia’s authority in custom suits, Germanicos has been in the industry for the last 20 years, and I’ve been asked this question several times. Our answer to this question before I move on this blog topic is unequivocally NO.

We don’t think it’s okay to hire a wedding suit for the groom. There’s several reasons why I say that.

First reason, it’s hard enough to even buy a suit off the rack which will remotely fit you well. What happens when you go to buy a suit off the rack, if you need to make some adjustments so it can look okay and fit you okay, but not perfect, you’re able to do that. You’re able to go to an alterations tailor and get any adjustments you need, whether you need the pant a bit shorter or you need the pant to be tapered or you need a little bit more shape in the jacket. All of these things can be done by an alterations tailor if you buy a suit from a shop.

The difference is when you hire a suit from a hire company, you are not allowed to actually make any adjustments to that suit. I can assure you after being in the industry for the last 20 years, there is no one size that fits any one body perfectly. And on your wedding day, it’s the day that you want to be able to look perfect.

Second reason, the fabric that’s used on a hire suit is normally mixed with polyester and wool. It’s mixed with polyester because it’s very strong. Now, the downside of that is, the hire suit doesn’t feel nice on the skin (Maybe a bit like sandpaper). It’s a very robust fabric that is able to test the time of many, many, many different weddings and so many, different people wearing that suit before you. So, in the sense of the fabric, it’s not going to be the best fabric. It’s actually going to be one of the worst fabrics. Now, another bad thing with polyester is it is a man-made substance. It doesn’t breathe like a natural substance would, like wool or cashmere or silk.

So, what happens is if you’re getting married in a humid city like Sydney or Brisbane, you will be so sweaty when you’re wearing that suit, and it will make you feel uncomfortable. So, not only will you be thinking about the fit is not the best, you’ll also be feeling uncomfortable because you will be sweaty, and that’s not the way you want to feel on your wedding day. It’s the one day in your lifetime where you want to feel breathable, you want to feel comfortable, you want to feel confident. In regard to the fabric, there’s not many choices. Number one and number two, it’s going to be a fabric of low quality which is robust, made from man-made substances which will not breathe, which will not make you feel comfortable on the day.

Third reason not to hire your wedding suit. If you feel that you want to be unique, don’t think you’re going to be unique if you go and hire a suit. You’re not going to be unique! You’re going to look like every single other person, and the worst part is it won’t even fit you properly. You’re still going to pay $300 or $400 to hire that suit if it’s a better quality one, and you could probably get something off the rack which is an even better quality wedding suit. At least you can use your wedding suit again, and at least you’re able to alter it after you buy it. In that sense I would also say no.

Fourth reason, your wedding day is the one day of your life where you will be photographed the most. You are hiring photographers to take thousands of pictures of you on this day, and what you’re going to remember in the future is those pictures and videos that you look back on after the wedding, after five years or ten years, and you can show your kids and what have you. As such, I feel the wedding suit is one of the most important parts of the whole wedding expense. The wedding suit and the bride’s dress because they’re the parts that need to look better than all the other guests. They’re the parts that will be photographed the most and you will be having a great memory of those. And thirdly, even more so the groom’s suit is one of the only expenses of the whole wedding that you will be able to wear again and again in the future and get some future wear out of and use again. It’s probably the most logical expense, and I’ve written an earlier blog which talks about that.

In closing, my whole idea of is it right to get a hire suit for your wedding? My answer is unequivocally no. Possibly to hire for the groomsmen is no problem at all because not everyone can afford to make a bespoke suit for all of their groomsmen. But for the groom who is like the king of the day, he shouldn’t step over dollars to pick up some pennies, especially on what he’s wearing, and that’s my answer. I hope this blog helps, and we look forward to answering any other questions you may have regarding wedding suits. We are here to help you as we’ve made these for the last 20 years, and I’ve got massive smiles on the face of all our grooms – check out our wedding suit gallery.

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