Tuxedo Rentals

Tuxedo rentals are one of the trickiest parts of a wedding for most wedding professionals. There are many late Friday afternoons and early Saturday mornings that someone enters the shop with a problem on a tuxedo rental. Many of these problems come from other stores who will not fix the problem they created. If you do not want this last minute headache, then read this post to avoid this much unwanted situation.

1. When to order tuxedos?
First of all, you need to understand that when a tux is ordered, has nothing to do with when it will be shipped to the store. Tuxedo suppliers like Jim's Formalwear, need to rent these suits almost every weekend to have cash flow to keep the inventory fresh and updated. So they will not be sending a tuxedo to someone who does not need it for 2 or 3 weeks. Here is a sample scenario:
A. Store measures customer and places order with supplier.
B. The Monday of the event (yes, only 5 days prior to the wear date), the supplier will start
putting the pieces together of your order.
C. Tuesday, the supplier will box orders to ship. Some will use UPS while others have their
own delivery van service. In certain cases, UPS will pick up the same day but
sometimes it will be Wednesday.
D. Wednesday, the order goes out for delivery. If the company uses it own van service, the
store will receive it the same day. If UPS is used, the delivery could be 1 to 2 days.
E. Late Wednesday or Thursday, the delivery arrives at the store. The wedding
professional will check the delivery to ensure proper delivery, then call the customer to
let them know the order has arrived.
F. Depending upon the guidelines of the store, the customer can pick up the tuxedo
between Wednesday and Friday. I will explain more about this later.

2. So why do you need to order a tux 6 weeks in advance of the wedding?
With technology today, all tuxedo suppliers are run on computer systems. The computer keeps track of all the orders and will let the supplier know when a certain style or accessory is booked for a given wear date. So if the style of coat or vest that you would like to have for your special day is really popular, it will book up fast. This is especially true during prom season. So the sooner the order is placed with the supplier, the sooner your styles and sizes are placed on hold for your special occasion.
I often tell people that I can have a tuxedo in 2 to 3 days but it may not be your first choice of color or size. Therefore, I recommend having your measurements taken and the order placed at least 6 weeks before any special occasion. If you don't have that much time, just remember to be flexibly with the styles you are considering. You may need to have a second choice in mind, just in case your first choice is booked.

3. How do I know if the tuxedo that comes to the store will fit me?
This is a matter of trusting the individual taking your measurements. Tuxedo measurements will NOT be the same as most regular clothing. If you are a business professional and wear suits on a regular basis, the measurement should be very similar. But they will not be the same size as your Levi's. Just to give you an example: My son wears a 38 waist jeans but for prom I ordered him a 41 waist pair of pants and they fit perfectly. The waist is the hardest part to fit.
So when considering which shop to place your order, ask some questions. Find out who takes the measurements and how long they have been working there. Learning the tricks to measuring for a tuxedo takes some time. If you feel the measurement are not correct, have them checked by a manager at a later time.
Also ask about the store policy with items that do not fit. What happens if you pick up your tuxedo on Friday afternoon and the pants are too long, the shirt too tight and the shoes do not fit? What will the company do? This is very important. Some store will just tell you that nothing can be done. Others will go out of their way to make things right. This is important to know before the pick up date.

So here are some things that I do at my store to make renting a tuxedo as painless as possible.
A. I have 14 years of experience measuring for tuxes. Almost 90% of my customers are measured by me personally. This adds up to over 5500 measurements. If you are not measured by me, I check all orders and personally place them with the supplier. So if something does not look right, I will call the customer to ask them questions or have them return to the store to be measured again.
B. If tuxedos are delivered to me early, I get them to the customer early. I do not want to wait to know until Friday afternoon that something doesn't fit. Many stores have a strict policy of not notifying customers until Friday for pick-ups.
C. If there is a problem, I can make adjustment until the close of business on Friday. Actually, I can go even later if I am notified at home. My supplier is only 45 minutes from the store. So I can leave home about 7 am on Saturday morning, pick up any replacements needed and return to the shop by opening time at 9 am. This is not an option some stores have who do business with a supplier that is several hours from their store. They must place replacement orders by Friday afternoon for Saturday UPS delivery and pay a hefty UPS fee. Some stores simply will not do this for customers.

And finally, here are the two biggest things to remember about planning a special occasion:

NEVER do business with someone you do not like or trust. There are plenty of great wedding professionals out there who will treasure your business and treat you right.

And, NOTHING can be done to fix the problem on Monday after the fact. If you do not let someone know about the problem, they cannot fix it. If the business is not willing to fix the problem, refer back to number 1 and let all your friends know who not to do business with. BUT if you did not ask to have the problem fixed, do not blame the wedding professional.

Although planning a special occasion can and will be very stressful, find friends, family and business professionals to make your dreams come true as painlessly as possible. Happy Planning!!