Formalwear and Tuxedos for The Groom

Looking your best on your wedding day will probably cause you to be more style conscious than you have ever been in your life. To help you separate the ins from the outs in wedding couture, Jon Zimmerman of Absolutely Fitting in Winter Park, Florida had some wonderful suggestions.

He noted that the 3-button tuxedo is the suit of choice. And if you are wondering about color, black is back. Leave the powder blue tuxedo to your younger brother for his prom, because it just won't cut it when it comes to dressing your best on the big day. The look is as crisp and clean as the look of a great suit.

Jon recommended that you pair your tuxedo with a micro-fiber shirt. These shirts are constructed from a man-made material that is light and silky. If you're thinking polyester, think again. The micro-fiber is a cut above man-made materials of the past. And if you want to gauge just how in micro-fiber is, Jon said that when Johnny Damon of the Boston Red Sox got married, he provided all of Johnny's groomsmen with micro-fiber shirts.

The trend in shirt colors is still white or ivory. Jon noted, " It depends on the bride's dress. If she is wearing off-white, then you should choose ivory. You don't want the shirt to stand out in the pictures and overshadow the bride's dress."

And you can forget about the cummerbund unless it is a formal wedding after 6:00 pm. The trend is vest and tie. Think silver, mocha, brown or champagne when picking them out. The move toward earth colors began last year, but will heat up even more in the coming year.

Last but by no means least, you need to consider your shoes. The trend for the past five or six years has been the square-toe shoe with a good-sized heel. However, there is a new trend emerging in the cap-toe shoe. This shoe is shiny at the toe and in the middle where the laces are and flat everywhere else. Jon says that no matter whether you go with the square-toe or cap-toe, you'll find that the emphasis is on comfort. They have at last developed rental shoes that are comfortable enough to wear the whole day.

And finally, no article on men's wedding wear would be complete without addressing the age-old flap about what is appropriate before and after 5:00 pm. Jon said that before 3:00 pm, it is customary to wear a morning coat or a stroller coat. The morning coat is a coat that is long and full all the way around the body and cutaway from the body just a bit. It is sometimes referred to as a "cutaway". The stroller coat has one or two buttons and is cut just like a regular suit.

When you are talking about weddings that begin between 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm, Jon noted that just about anything goes. However, after 6:00 pm, tails and white tie are still the appropriate attire for the gentleman and his attendants.