MARRIED IN STYLE

Brides may start planning their wedding day a year in advance but all too many grooms leave their preparations until the day is actually looming.

“For many men, their wedding suit is the first, and may be the only, occasion when they have a suit made,” says tailor Jasper Littman. “  I’m often contacted around three weeks before the great day – and just have to say no, it can’t be done. They just don’t have a clue how long it takes. It is heartbreaking to have to turn business away!”

No such last minute rush for Littman’s own nuptials, which took place this summer. He even designed the cloth for his suit, which of course he made himself, and the cloth was especially woven for him by Holland & Sherry.

“It was wonderful to have just what I wanted,” he said.  He opted for a chocolate brown herringbone pattern, for a single breasted, button-one suit.

“I think the less buttons there are the less formal the suit looks,” he maintains. “I recommend my customers go for a button-one or button-two style. It is less likely to look like a formal business suit, so there is no suggestion that you have just pulled out one from the wardrobe. And this brown, patterned cloth was also away from the usual business style.”

Weddings form an important part of his business, and he estimates 99 per cent of such customers opt for a lounge suit.

“We get the occasional order for a tails set and some may want something rather more unusual, but they are very much in the minority.”

Though the wedding season tapers off in the UK after the summer, there are international customers who come into London over the winter months. And for UK weddings for early next year, its never too early to start looking at cloths, advises Littman.

Having one specially woven is an expensive step, but Holland & Sherry do offer a suiting that may have the wearer’s name woven into a stripe pattern. Handy for identification purposes.