Groomsmen Suits, Step by Step: How to Get a Wedding Party Measured

Choosing cloth for a wedding party takes an afternoon. Getting six men measured, fitted and dressed by the same Saturday takes organising, and it is the organising rather than the taste that goes wrong.

What follows is the practical side: the order the work happens in, how we run a measuring day at 221 Culver Blvd, and what to do about the groomsman who lives three states away. On how a party should look, see matching or coordinating a wedding party and the page for groomsmen suits Los Angeles.

Three things to settle before anyone is measured

Who is paying. There is no rule. The men pay for their own, the groom pays as his gift, or the cost is shared. Say which in the message that asks them to stand up with you, rather than on the day they are measured.

Who speaks to us. One person, usually the groom or the best man. Six men corresponding separately about one order is how a cloth gets ordered twice.

What the party is wearing. Matched, or coordinated within a colour family, settled in the room with cloth side by side.

Count backwards from the date

Six months before the wedding is perfect and three months comfortable. Longer is not better: we discourage ordering a year out, because a body at twelve months is not the body that walks down the aisle. Working back from the Saturday, a party commission runs like this.

• Six to three months out. Everyone measured, cloth chosen, the deposit of half taken. This is the date that matters, because the slowest man sets it.
• Four to eight weeks of making. Four to six weeks in domestic cloth, six to eight in imported Italian or English. Every garment is cut and made by hand by Max in our atelier in Southern Brittany.
• A month before. Garments back, fittings begin. Fittings are unlimited, so a jacket that needs a second look gets one.
• Two to three weeks before. Final fitting, in the shoes each man will actually wear.
• The last week. Kept clear, because an alteration takes about a week.

Six weeks is possible as a rush, at twenty-five per cent above the price, though it is a tight way to dress six people. There is more in when to order a wedding suit.

One day, one room

We would far rather see a whole party in one sitting than one man a week for a month. The cloth is chosen once, under one light, and nobody is left behind.

A consultation takes an hour and costs nothing. You will meet Robb or Ben, never an assistant, and see cloth with the prices in front of you. For each man we take around thirty measurements and three photographs, because a tape records size and a photograph records posture: a shoulder that drops, a stance that throws one hip high. A pattern is then drawn for that man alone and kept. See bespoke suits Los Angeles.

Ask the party to bring the shoes they intend to wear, or shoes of that height. If they cannot reach Playa del Rey, a visit to a home or office is $300 with travel included, which suits a Sunday when five of the six are already in one house.

The groomsman who lives out of state

This is the question we are asked most often, and the honest answer is that a bespoke garment needs the man in the room at least once. A pattern cannot be drawn from a photograph. Three things work.

Measure him on a trip he is already making. There is almost always one: the engagement party, a holiday weekend, a work trip. Book us for the day he lands rather than the day he leaves.

Give him the earliest cloth and the longest lead. If he can be here only once, we measure and order on that visit, choose a domestic cloth to shorten the making, and plan his fitting for the week he arrives for the wedding. That needs room in the arithmetic.

If he truly cannot come, dress him to coordinate rather than to match. Let him buy or hire near home, and we will give him the exact shade, cloth and tie so that he reads as part of the party. One coordinated man among five matched ones looks considered. One nearly-matching navy does not.

Afterwards his pattern stays with us, so he can order again from New York or Chicago by telephone.

When the party changes

It usually does. A brother is added in month four, or a groomsman takes up running and loses fifteen pounds. Fittings are unlimited before delivery and alterations complimentary for a year after it, so a man whose shape moves is adjusted rather than apologised to. A late addition is a question of weeks: inside the making window he joins the order, outside it we put him in a coordinating suit.

Shirts, and the smaller things

Shirts take two to four weeks, so they can wait until the suits are at first fitting. A shirt to a man's own pattern is $295, and across six men it is collars, which vary off the peg far more than jackets, that make the photographs look deliberate. See custom shirts Los Angeles.

If the groom is in evening dress while the party wears dark suits, the page for that is custom tuxedos Los Angeles, and the couple's side sits under wedding suits Los Angeles. We dress women in a party on the same terms as the men.

What the house does for a party

Every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke. A two-piece suit starts at $1,795 and a three-piece at $2,045, the price set by the cloth rather than the making, and garments commissioned for a wedding party are less twenty per cent across the order. Half is taken as a deposit when the cloth is chosen and the balance on delivery.

Bring the party in one afternoon and leave with a plan, a date for each stage and a figure you can give the men. Book a fitting, take a slot in our appointment diary, or telephone 310-503-3592.

Questions we are often asked

How do I get a groomsman measured if he lives out of state?

Measure him on a trip he is already making, which is why six months out helps. If he can come only once, we measure and order then, choose a domestic cloth to shorten the making, and fit him in the week of the wedding. If he cannot come at all, dress him to coordinate rather than match and we will give him the exact shade and cloth to buy near home.

Can the whole wedding party be measured in one appointment?

Yes, and we would prefer it. The cloth is chosen once with everyone looking at the same bolt, and each man is measured in turn. The consultation is free and you will see Robb or Ben.

What should groomsmen bring to the measuring?

The shoes they will wear on the day, or shoes of the same height, since the shoes decide the trouser length. Around thirty measurements and three photographs are taken for each man.

What happens if a groomsman loses or gains weight before the wedding?

He is adjusted. Fittings are unlimited before delivery and alterations complimentary for a year after it. An alteration takes about a week, so tell us early.

Can a groomsman be added late?

Often, yes. Inside the making window he joins the order on the same cloth. Outside it, a coordinating suit, or a rush at twenty-five per cent above the price.

Is there a discount for a wedding party?

Yes, twenty per cent across the order, and that includes the groom's own suit.