Groom's Wedding Attire

[karmaistrue]

Hello Everyone

This is my first post; forgive me if someone has already asked these questions before

My groom to be and I have decided to go with a 1940's themed wedding. It seems to be so easy for me (the bride) to find 1940 fashion to incorporate but it's so hard for him to find things

What can be do about his suit?
What should we look for, or ask for? Where should we look?
Also my dress is champagne what color should he wear without it looking tacky?

I would appreciate any suggestions......

 

[Edward]

Welcome to the lounge, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.

I would suggest that the easiest - and best - look would be to go for formal wear (full morning dress or white tie, depending upon whether your ceremony is before or after 6pm) in a period-appropriate cut. I don't think tails have change all that much in cut since then (though experience suggests much lighter cloth is used nowadays, and with evening tails especially a lot of modern jackets are only lined to the waist, the back of the tails being a second layer of the outer cloth rather than period-style inner lining all the way down). Trousers would need to be the higher-waisted, slightly looser cut of the period. With morning wear, an ivory waistcoat matching the dress would be appropriate; if opting for white tie, I would stick rigidly to the traditional pure white for the waistcoat/tie/shirt. FWIW, there's a thread here somewhere where someone recently asked about a white wedding dress with white tie, whether traditional white shirt/waistcoat/tie would look fine or clash, and the unanimous opinion of loungers who contributed was to stick with tradition. If you don't want to go quite so formal, the same approach could apply to stroller / black tie.

Alternatively, a lot of folks back then married in their "best" lounge suit- if you're opting for that approach, you would have more room to play with colours to match and them not look out of place re the vintage theme. An ivory coloured shirt would work, sympathetically coloured accesories to go with your dress / flowers / etc - tie, pocket square, etc.

The most important thin,g of course, is that you and he are happy with the look - there's no sin in a couple of anachronisms here and there if sticking to full-on historical accuracy is gonig to mean there's always just something you're not quite happy with in your photos in years to come.

 

[Orgetorix]

One of our members here, Manton, has written an excellent article on another forum that talks all about wedding attire for grooms. I highly recommend it, and any of the styles he mentions would be perfectly correct for a wedding in the 1940s or today.

http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/viewtopic.php?p=19331#19331

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Traditional is best, as i see it. Can't beat Manton's article for a guide to the traditional. great stuff.

bk

 

[Josephine]

Looks like Hubby was way overdressed for our noon wedding... :/

 

[Undertow]

My grandmother showed me pictures of weddings from the '30's and '40's.

Out of about four seperate weddings, only one had "Formal Attire". [huh]

I'm certainly not saying you shouldn't try that, but it seems, from experiences related to me, most "common folk" wore their best suits and dresses. Sometimes that was a really nice three-piece the groom owned and wore regularly, sometimes it was a freshly tailored single breasted suit bought specifically for the ceremony.