Congrats, future groom! Your dream girl said yes, you’ve found a fresh suit to wear for the big day, and all that’s standing in the way between you and your picture-perfect wedding is a few suit alterations.
Are wedding suit alterations necessary?
Yes. Whether you’re buying a generic suit from a brick-and-mortar store or you’ve sent in your measurements virtually to The Modern Groom, all suits need pants hemming or minor modifications to get that custom fit.
Before you stress about the extra costs and time needed for wedding suit alterations, The Modern Groom’s guide to suit alterations and hemming is here to help!
What Are the Most Common Wedding Suit Alterations?
Tailors are the fairy godmothers of grooms that magically transform your average wedding suit and elevate it to the jaw-dropping, head-turning, smokeshow look. But, even their magic has its limits. That’s why it’s best to get your initial measurements for your suit as close as possible.
Here are some of the most common wedding suit alterations and what a tailor can and can’t do for you.
Pants
- Pants hemming: Quality dress pants, like the pants you get from The Modern Groom, intentionally come unhemmed with extra fabric. Longer than normal pants make the process of pants hemming and working with a tailor to get your perfect pant length simpler.
- Adjusting the waist: Our waist is an area that’s constantly fluctuating, so designers have made it relatively easy to take in or let out the waistband within reason. Don’t go on an extreme diet right before your wedding and drastically drop down 10 inches from your waistline, and your tailor will be fine.
- Tapering the legs: Slim down (taper) the pant leg for a more fitted look. Are the leg openings on the pants too wide also? Narrow it down a bit as well, so the pants don’t look like a baggy and sloppy rental.
Jacket
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- Shortening jacket sleeves: Jacket sleeves that are too long don’t feature the dress shirt cuff properly. Consider shortening sleeves if functional sleeve buttons aren’t in the way.
- Back of the collar: A collar roll is a tiny bubble you can see below the neck seam behind the back of the collar. A collar gap is the space between the back of your jacket collar and your shirt collar. The jacket doesn’t lay correctly against your dress shirt. Adjust the neck seams to address these two common collar issues.
Alterations Most Tailors Can’t Do
While some super talented and expensive tailors may be able to make the adjustments below, these are wedding suit alterations that you want to avoid and steer clear from.
- Lengthening a suit jacket
- Altering jacket shoulders
- Changing the lapels
- Moving around and removing buttonholes
- Extreme size adjustments
How Long Do Wedding Suit Alterations Take?
It depends on how busy your tailor is. If it’s a holiday season or a popular wedding season like summer, then it’s hard to determine how quickly suit alterations will be. Communicate your needs and timeline to your tailor to see if your needs are realistic.
Quick fixes can occasionally get done by the end of the day. Other complicated adjustments could take up to two weeks. If your groomsmen also need suit alterations, it is common courtesy to give your tailor ample time (suggested 8 to 12 weeks) to complete the wedding party suits.
How Much Do Wedding Suit Alterations Cost?
Much like the time needed for wedding alterations, suit alteration costs vary. The cost of wedding suit alterations depends on a lot of factors like the fabric of the suit, who the tailor is, how much experience they may have, how difficult the suit alterations are going to be, etc.
Here are the average ranges for the most common suit alterations:
- Pants hemming: $10-$60
- Waistband adjustments: $10-$45
- Dress shirt collars: $40-50
- Suit jacket alterations: under $100
Don’t get frustrated with a shocking tailor bill. Finalize a quote beforehand.
Getting Started With The Modern Groom
Wedding suit alterations are your new Roman Empire until further notice. If your only job is to get dressed and show up looking amazing to this wedding, let’s get the job done right.
If you’re still looking for a suit, finding a close fit is a great place to start. Talk to a wedding suit stylist about getting your measurements in to get as close of a fit as possible. Once you have your suit, contact your favorite local tailor and get those suit alterations finished.
Ready to suit up? Build your professionally fitted wedding suit at The Modern Groom and get started.
