Buying or Renting a Tuxedo

So you have been invited to a formal event and the invitation reads “black tie required”. What this means is that you have to wear a tuxedo, vest or cummerbund, black bow tie, and tuxedo dress shirt. If you don’t already own a tuxedo and are thinking about if spending the money on a tuxedo will be a good investment, than this brief article will help you decide whether to buy or rent. Below are a few deciding factors to consider:

Frequency of Use

If black tie events will be a more frequent occurrence for you in the future, that buying a tuxedo is most likely the better option. Renting a complete tuxedo consisting of tuxedo shirt, black bow tie, tuxedo shoes, cummerbund or vest, and the tuxedo itself, will usually cost between $80 and $120. Buying a quality set made from fine wool will range between $400 and $600. Keep in mind that classic tuxedo’s will never go out of style. It is very traditional attire that has been around for more than two centuries. So if you plan on attending a black tie event more than 5 times in the next few years than buying a new tuxedo will be the way to go.

Lifestyle Changes

Besides frequency of use, your lifestyle has some impact on the buy vs. rent decision. If you know that you might be moving quite frequently due to your job or family, then minimizing your wardrobe will make moving much easier. Also think about how much closet space you have available. If you are living in a small New York studio, then adding an entire new outfit to your wardrobe might be unpractical. The tuxedo should be hung in a somewhat ventilated area to protect the fabric and lining. Stuffing it into a duffel bag is not an option.

Weight & Body Changes

Think about if you will keep the same body type. If you are currently over weight and have set the goal to yourself to lose 20 pounds, then wait to buy your tuxedo until you have accomplished your goal. Having spent a good amount of money on your new outfit might be a nice additional motivation to keep the pounds off once lost.

So, take the few pointers above into consideration before you head to the mall ready to spend the hard earned cash. Weather you choose to rent or buy your tuxedo, do some research on the place you are purchasing from. A quick search on the internet on customer reviews will usually be a good starting point.

Mr Pohl is a regular author for articles related to men’s fashion. He himself has a passion for wearing designer neckties and bow ties.

Profile of a Halloween Wedding

This is going to be a snark-free post – just so you know.  If you want the customary snark, toddle on over to the weird laws site because we’ve been plenty snarky on that one lately.

Last year I was honored to attend an unconventional kind of wedding.  In fact, my hubs was part of the wedding party.  The wedding took place on Halloween, and I decided that since the happy couple’s one year anniversary approacheth, that that I would not only tell you about the happy day, I’d let the bride do it.  Megan was nice enough to answer some questions for me and send me some photos, so enjoy!

1.  What made you choose Halloween as your wedding date?

I absolutely adore Halloween! It has always been my favorite holiday. The dressing up, the scary decorations, the fall weather and of course, fall foods, like sweet potatoes! My daughters are the same way and dressing up is just plain fun! You can be all the things that aren’t “real” the other 364 days of the year.  And everyone knows Jamie loves anything dark and gory! Add to that our family’s love of anything macabre and you get the perfect day for our wedding. Not to mention it is an easy date for the groom to remember! The movie “The Corpse Bride” sealed the deal, it was the inspiration for the whole thing.

2.  Who did you choose to officiate your ceremony, and how did you know him/her?

Leighton Paquette preformed the ceremony. My aunt introduced him to us. The amazing thing was, I really only got to talk to him a couple of times. Maybe the longest conversation was an hour. And yet he nailed it. Jamie and I aren’t your typical couple. We’re square pegs trying to fit into a world of round holes. And Leighton got that. It wasn’t your typical stuffy or religious ceremony, it was ours and it was perfect. He said let him know if you have any questions for him. However,he wasn’t licensed to make it legal so another friend of the family who is filled out our marriage license.

3.  What was the significance of having your wedding on Halloween?

LOL we got to dress up and be yet ourselves and for once no one gave us strange looks for it. I’ve always felt like Halloween is an opportunity for those of us who are a little…..out there, to be truly free of society’s expectations for one night.

4.  What did you choose as your attire for the wedding and why?

I wanted to go with something fairy like but without dealing with wings. My mother, Debbie deTreville, is a wonderful seamstress, and she and my step-father, Jason Allen, designed a beautiful dress just by listening to me babble about a few I had seen that I liked. I wanted fairy-tale without the poofy Cinderella dress. It was a beautiful royal purple with iridescent wing like pieces attached at the upper arms and wrists. They both worked incredibly hard until the wee hours of the morning to get everything completed on time. They also did almost all of the decorations and all of the flowers. Jason (Jae) also carved several exquisite pumpkins to grace the tables.

5.  What did the groom choose as his attire for the wedding and why?

Jamie wore a black suit and red shirt and black top hat with a skull topped cane. He chose that mainly because I wouldn’t let him wear jeans and the “tuxedo t-shit”. However, he looked wonderful in it. He picked it all out himself and I have to say, his taste was fabulous.

6.  What were your instructions to your wedding party as to how they should dress?

We told them to wear whatever costume they wanted only to keep in mind there would be children in attendance. As lond as no one dressed like a bride or groom we were fine with it. We ended up with 2 Greek goddesses, a Renaissance princess, and a disco diva as bridesmaids, and a bodyguard, a convict, a pirate and Einstein as groomsman. Our oldest Samantha was a perfect little fairy flower-girl and the younger one, Jessica, was a spooky skeleton fairy ring bearer, which was all their idea and matched their personalities. My grandfather gave me away as Grandpa Munster aka Dracula. It was all so perfect!

7.  What were your requests/suggestions to your wedding guests as to how they should dress?

We asked everyone to either choose a costume or to wear something afternoon wedding appropriate. We did however, ask that everyone be respectful of the children who would be in attendance and not wear anything too scary or risky. As it turned out, everyone who turned up was in  costume except a couple grandparents who wore church clothes, and with the rest of the costumes floating around, they looked like it was a purposeful Halloween choice.

8.  What type of music did you choose for the reception?

A very eclectic mix spun out by my dad, Kevin Carter who also helped my Aunt Kerstan with photos. we tried to stick with classic rock and roll and a few Halloween themed songs. Since it was a pretty neutral ground for me and Jamie.

9.  What was your first dance song and why?

“Always with me Always with you” by Joe Satriani.

Jamie introduced that song to me early in our relationship and it just became our song. He even used to play parts from it for me on the guitar.

10.  After one year of wedded bliss, how do you plan to celebrate your anniversary?

Maybe with a night out just the two of us….that’s a rare enough occurrence. Trick-or-Treating with the kids will top off our weekend.

Thank you, Megan, for telling us about your special day, and for letting our readers know that it’s fine to be yourself and do what YOU want to do on your wedding day.

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• How to Choose a Wedding Theme (weddingsetups.com)
• Traditional wedding ceremony of ethnic minority in northern Vietnam (lookatvietnam.com)
• Choosing gifts for your Wedding Groomsmen (weddingsetups.com)
• Top 10 Posts from 2010, Continued (budgetawedding.com)