It’s been a pretty cool month for us media wise. Abi was recently interviewed by Mark Punter at BBC Radio Essex about last year’s award win at The Essex Business Awards and (although I would say it coz’ she is my amazing Wife) she did a really fantastic job and sounded mega professional! I actually thought she sounded less hesitant and more professional than even the DJ himself. I did have to laugh though she was so nervous that apparently she had to keep visiting the toilet before the interview!?! Nice.
We were also featured in the Tribune (a local magazine) again and received some great comments about our advert in Wedding Ideas mag. And finally last week I was interviewed By Emma Palmer from The Gazette who’s putting together a great wedding Supplement for their readers, here’s what she asked and here’s what I had to say, in a round about kind of way ………..
So are top hats still popular and the done thing for a formal weddings these days? No not any more really, although Tailcoats are still the most popular jacket style I’d say probably only around 2% of our tailcoat Customers want to wear a top hat.
Why do you think that is? Believe it or not a lot of Guys these days don’t want to be too hot and worried about messing up their hair! And those that do try them with us in-store don’t really feel that they suit a top hat, so no, definitely not a popular look despite Tailcoat jackets still being our number one jacket option.
Is there much pressure on the Gents to step up to the mark and do they care as much about their look as the Brides? As a general rule I think there is less pressure on the Groom and his attendants and actually some of our Gents do start off feeling a bit indifferent about the whole dressing up for their wedding day thing but once they see the transformation and they start trying on different options we find that a lot of Grooms get really enthusiastic about it all! Having said that some of our Grooms take an awful lot of pride in their appearance and so they are extremely particular about their personal presentation, for these Guys nothing but the best will do! Basically we strive to exceed every one of our customer’s expectations and aim to make all of our Grooms and attendants feel really good about their wedding day outfits.
Do most of the Grooms hire or have suits made these days? Well we can cater for both, it very much depends on their budget and the look that they want on their day. Rarely would a Groom go to the trouble of having a tailcoat made to keep and wear after their wedding but lots of Guys these days love the idea of a well cut smart wear again bespoke suit which we can tie in with the rest of the party who may well be hiring if required.
Do you ever get any unusual requests? Not really ‘unusual’ but we do get a lot Grooms that want to personalise their look and we’re able to help them with some fun ideas …. For one Group of keen Rugby Players we had all of their nicknames embroidered on the back of their waistcoats, they looked awesome! For another Groom and Best man who were keen West Ham Fans we went full on claret and blue for their wedding theme, we did their Bridesmaid dresses to match and we looked after an OK Celeb magazine wedding once where the Groom and his entourage all wore evening tuxedos with spats and canes, they looked fabulous and it certainly suited their 1920’s theme, the Bride was a Holby City actress and he was a musician – it was really fun looking after them, the pictures were stunning!
Does anyone come in and just want to be really casual with what they intend to wear on their wedding day? Well not casual as such but yes, certainly we look after lots of Grooms who are getting married abroad and want something less formal. I find that our smaller intimate UK wedding Grooms still want to look smart and will probably go dressed up rather than down but Grooms on a beach tend to go more linen or lighter weight fabric trousers and an open neck shirt, it’s all about cool comfort and we have some brilliant hire and made to measure options available either way.