Wardrobe Etiquette

[Randy Johnson]

Hey! how did you get that picture of me?!?!

[Philip Howells]

Originally Posted by Steve Shovlar

I had to Google what a Tuxedo was. Not something worn in the UK and more an american piece of clothing.

In the UK a groom will more than likely wear a morning suit, which is probably the UK equivalent. Certainly I wouldn't wear a morning suit unless it was a very upper class wedding and was asked to wear one, in which case I would find out exactly where the groom was hiring and get the same colour co-ordination. As yet that has only happened once.

Sorry Steve, it's the name that's American, not the suit - we call them dinner suits or DJ's here in the UK and rarely wear them for weddings.

We wear Morning Dress or Morning Suits if the groom's party is, or Lounge Suits (Business suits for the Americans I think) if not. We're not in the £600 video market and although they're definitely not high-society (surely upper class is a figment of BBC drama's imagination?) most of our clients wear Morning dress. We're considering getting Edwards/Alberts (square cut jackets) as well as traditional tails because of their popularity.

But we buy from rental stock supplied by a good manufacturer nearby who supplies much of the UK hire trade. You wouldn't know they'd been worn and they cost us twice a usual day's hire.

The result is that we're smart, fit into the background and our working gear is inexpensive. If there's one real drawback it's that traditional Morning Dress jackets are hot in summer.

[Jonathan Palfrey]

I wear black shirt and trousers. Being in all black helps me be less noticeable also separates me from the guests slightly while still looking smart. I did where a suit jacket at the last wedding as it was pretty cold even in the church.

For other production shoots I still normally wear black but black cargo pants instead of suit trousers purelly because they have more pockets to carry stuff in.