What does the owner of a Bespoke Tailoring company wear to his own wedding Part 1

Last weekend I got married to my beautiful girlfriend Lucy. The sun shone and the whole event was amazing – definitely the best day of my life. Whilst it would give me great pleasure to regale you with a minute by minute account of the day, I fear that other people’s nuptials are of little or no interest to readers of From the Cutting Room Table. I shall therefore focus on what I hope you shall find a far more intriguing question:

What does the owner of a bespoke tailoring company wear to his own wedding? There are two stages to this answer, which I shall cover in two parts:

Part 1 – The Ushers

Deciding on the cloth for the usher suits was not going to be easy, so I set myself some rules:

1. The ushers suits must in no way look like office suits.
2. The cloth should be lightweight so the ushers could keep the jackets on throughout the day without being uncomfortable.
3. The suits mustn’t be too ‘far out’ that they cannot be worn again for future events. These suits were a gift, after all.

The cloth I chose was from the ‘Cool Breeze’ range by Holland & Sherry. It is a slightly more interesting take on a classic Prince of Wales check, as it has a lovely burgundy check running through it. And at 9oz it’s the perfect weight for a wedding. The jackets and trousers were designed in a classic British style: two buttons, notched lapels, double vents. The trousers were either classic cut or slightly tapered depending on the body shape and style of each usher (for the same reasons they were also allowed to choose the width of their jacket lapels).

Where the suits really came into their own, however, were the waistcoats. These were ‘3 show 3’ double breasted with shawl lapels, very similar to the ones featured in July’s edition of The Stitch and they transformed the suits from looking smart to looking truly special. To complete the look the ushers were given a pocket watch with a chain. As well as making the ushers look outstanding, the addition of the waistcoat meant that even towards the end of the day those that wanted to remove their jackets still looked very smart.

Finally, to tie in with the check, I ordered the lining, the boutonnière and the last button hole on the working cuffs in burgundy. Then, on the day, they were able to pull out their ‘instant dandy’ pocket squares – the built in pocket square that we include with every suit. They were also allowed to choose their own embroidery for the inside of the jackets.

All the guys then wore white shirts, brown brogues and a knitted woollen tie – again in burgundy. The result was exactly what I’d hoped for – a smart summer suit that was totally unique and that the ushers really enjoyed wearing.