We'd decided early on that we'd much rather have our boys in suits than tuxes. I know this is really just a personal preference, but we wanted to be conscious of the way we were asking our friends to spend their money and felt much better about the fact that they could KEEP their suits.
The search started long, long ago. We knew that Men's Wearhouse would be our go-to source because if you pay attention, you can buy one suit (at the sale price!) and get a second for $100. So our man Hamilton out at the Men's Wearhouse in Cool Springs was an excellent help in finding just the right suit and then locating the right sizes, which were scattered throughout the United States of America. We settled on a really light tan cotton suit by Jones New York. Let me just tell you a little story. We'd been in and out of the Cool Springs Men's Wearhouse too many times to count between the time we were engaged in September and the day we actually purchased the suits in January. We'd hem and hawed about this and that, and all along, we kept coming back to that same Jones New York suit. So this is how it went down. On the very last day of the buy one, get one for $100 sale we made a trip (through the snow, mind you) out to the mall. We'd planned to buy the suits for all four groomsmen at once (and just let them reimburse us), plus DG's suit....plus one more fabulous suit for DG since he'd lost 75 pounds and was in desperate need. The Jones New York suit was marked at $149.99, and we were hyped. That meant our guys would get their suits for $125 each! We get up to the register where our good friend Hamilton starts to check us out when he realizes that the suit was originally $449.99, which meant it had been mismarked and should have been on sale for $249.99. Bummer, right? EXCEPT! Hamilton was so good to us (I mean, we were buying 6 suits, after all) and honored the price that had been marked since we had been coming in over and over for weeks on end. WHAT?! Let me spell it out for you. We saved $1,849.97. I could not have been happier. $450 suits for $125. I am a-ok with that.
So add a little more bargain shopping and we were set. We'd really wanted 3-piece suits, so we looked and looked and looked for a vest and eventually found this really great vest from Apartment 9 at Kohl's. (Oh how I LOVE Kohl's and their sales.) Originally $80.00, we bought them on sale for $32. Plus I had a coupon code, of course, so with shipping and all, we paid $29.72.
Next we'd looked at this great gingham shirt and assorted matching ties by Stafford at JCPenney. We found them when they'd first appeared in stores, so they were full price at $38 for the shirt and $30 for the tie. I checked the website incessantly until they all went on sale, and between sales and coupon codes and free shipping offers we got the shirts for $21.84 and the ties for $19.90. A total savings of $105.04.
We ended up with the entire ensemble for $214.63 per groomsmen. We decided to cover most of their shirts and ties as a gift and only asked them to reimburse us $180 each. According to the Bridal Association of America the average cost to rent a tuxedo is about $197.....and then you give it back to that nice little man behind the counter. I feel great about the fact that our guys paid less than that and walked away with a few things that they can (and hopefully will) wear again and again.
Top it off with DG in a crisp white shirt and this perfect little bow tie (the second we'd ordered to see in person) we found on Amazon for $13.99, and you've got one heck of a group of good-looking men.
The moral of the story is this. Start looking early on. Keep an open mind about what you might like, and try not to pigeon-hole yourself into one look. Be diligent in your search, and don't settle for buying something more expensive than you budgeted just because you found it. Be patient and keep checking prices. Guaranteed if you look hard enough, you can find something great for a great price. Ok, ok. Enough with the money and the bragging about the sale prices. Here's evidence that our long and tedious search paid off...
Yes, they revert to 12-year-old boys when they're together. I've accepted this fact.
Pretty sure it's impossible for them to be serious when they're together.
Brothers!
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