There's something I always try to explain to grooms when they first come to see me about their wedding suit, and it's that before we start looking at fabrics, discussing colours or deciding whether we're going to make a two-piece or three-piece suit, I really want to understand the wedding they're planning, the person I'm dressing and, just as importantly, the person they're marrying.
Because while it's obviously my job to make the groom look fantastic, he's not getting married on his own, is he? There are two people involved, they've probably spent months planning every detail of their day and I want to make sure that whatever we create feels completely right for both of them.
And I don't mean that everything needs to match. Quite the opposite, in fact. I don't particularly want the groom looking as though we've coordinated his suit with the table decorations! But I do want to understand the setting, the atmosphere they're hoping to create and how they imagine themselves looking when they stand together on their wedding day.
Which brings me to Daniel and Priya, who got married in August at the beautiful Palacio de Valdesoto in Asturias, northern Spain.
A Wedding in Asturias, and a Bride Who Loves Green
When we first started talking about their wedding, Daniel and Priya were planning a civil ceremony outdoors, with around 70 family members and friends joining them at this wonderful historic property. They'd chosen a setting with a long gravel pathway, trees curving inwards and the old stone palace providing a beautiful backdrop. And because it was Asturias, where the weather doesn't always behave itself even in August, there was also a plan to move the ceremony indoors if necessary.
The whole feeling they wanted was classic and romantic, with the bridesmaids wearing deep wine and burgundy shades, seasonal flowers reflecting the local surroundings and Priya wearing a beautiful off-white Rosa Clará dress with delicate detailing.
Now, one of the things that became clear very early in our conversations was that Priya absolutely loved Danny in green.
She liked him in darker, richer colours generally, and although she thought he looked wonderful in his charcoal suit, she really didn't want him wearing anything particularly pale or light for their wedding.
Danny, meanwhile, had a slightly different consideration. He wears a suit every day for work, so although he wanted to wear a three-piece suit for the wedding, he didn't want to feel as though he'd simply put on another business suit.
And I completely understood that.
If you spend five days a week wearing suits, then putting on another navy or charcoal suit for your wedding, however beautifully made it might be, isn't necessarily going to give you that feeling of dressing for something really special.
So we had a bride who loved her future husband in green, a groom who wanted something different from his working wardrobe, a romantic wedding in the grounds of a historic Spanish palace and a preference for a three-piece suit.
Oh, and they were getting married on 14 August, so we also needed to think about the possibility of some fairly serious summer heat!
Quite a few things to consider before we'd even looked at a piece of cloth.
Why I Wanted to See Priya's Dress
After our initial conversations, Priya sent me photographs of her wedding dress, the venue, the flowers and some of the other details they'd been planning.
I always encourage couples to do this because it gives me a much better understanding of what they're trying to achieve, and sometimes a photograph tells me far more than half an hour of discussing colours and styles ever could.
For example, knowing that Priya was wearing an off-white dress rather than a bright white one was useful, as was seeing the romantic detailing and understanding how the burgundy bridesmaid dresses would work with the flowers and the surroundings.
And the venue was particularly important here because there was something wonderfully romantic about the old stone building and the gardens. It needed a suit with a little gravitas, something that would feel suitably special in those surroundings without looking too formal or stiff.
I don't believe in telling grooms that they should wear a particular colour or style simply because they're getting married. I've made everything from traditional morning suits to wonderfully relaxed linen suits for weddings, and the right choice always depends on the people involved and the occasion they're dressing for.
But having listened to Daniel and Priya, and having seen everything they were planning, I was becoming increasingly convinced that a beautiful deep green three-piece suit was going to be exactly right.
And fortunately, they agreed!
Choosing the Right Green Wedding Suit
Green is one of those colours that I wish more men would consider, especially for occasions when they want something a little different from the navy, charcoal and grey suits they might already have in their wardrobes.
And I'm not talking about anything particularly bright or attention-seeking here. There are some absolutely beautiful deep greens that have all the elegance and sophistication of a traditional dark suit, but with a richness and character that makes them feel rather special.
For Danny, we chose a gorgeous deep green that I knew would work beautifully against the stone of the palace, the greenery of the gardens and the burgundy tones of the wedding party.
We decided on a three-piece suit, partly because that's what Danny had wanted from the beginning, but also because I felt it would give him the formality and presence that the setting deserved.
And there's another advantage to a three-piece suit for a wedding, particularly one taking place somewhere warm. If you decide to remove your jacket later in the day, you've still got the waistcoat, so you can feel a little more relaxed without losing that sense of being properly dressed for the occasion.
We paired the suit with a crisp white shirt and a burgundy bow tie, which I thought worked particularly well with the deep green cloth and brought a little of the wedding's colour palette into Danny's outfit without making everything look too coordinated.
But while I was delighted with the direction we were taking, there was still one rather important problem to solve.
How on earth were we going to make sure Danny was comfortable wearing a three-piece suit in Spain in the middle of August?
Making a Three-Piece Wedding Suit Comfortable in the Spanish Heat
Now, this is where I think the experience of a good tailor really comes into its own, because choosing a lightweight fabric is only part of the answer.
You can have the lightest cloth in the world, but if the suit is cut too closely, the construction isn't appropriate or the fabric doesn't allow air to circulate comfortably, you're still going to have a fairly miserable time wearing it when the temperature rises.
And I really didn't want Danny spending his wedding day feeling as though he was slowly cooking inside his suit!
We selected a beautiful lightweight fabric with a little stretch, which gave us the combination of comfort, movement and shape that I was looking for.
The stretch was useful because I wanted Danny to be able to move naturally throughout the day, whether he was walking down the aisle, sitting through the wedding breakfast, embracing his guests or dancing later in the evening.
But equally important was the way we cut the suit.
I always want my clients to feel that their clothes are working with them rather than against them. A jacket should sit beautifully on the shoulders and follow the shape of the body without feeling restrictive, and the trousers should be comfortable whether you're standing, sitting or moving around.
And when you're making a suit for a wedding, you have to remember that the groom is probably going to be wearing it for many, many hours.
It's not like getting dressed for a business meeting, where you might wear your jacket for a couple of hours and then take it off when you get back to your office.
You're going to be photographed, you're going to be greeting people, you're going to be eating and drinking, and hopefully you're going to be enjoying yourself so much that the last thing you're thinking about is what you're wearing.
That was really my objective with Danny.
I wanted him to look absolutely fantastic, but I also wanted him to forget about his suit once he'd put it on.
Seeing Daniel and Priya Together on Their Wedding Day
When the wedding photographs arrived, I couldn't have been happier.
First of all, just look at the two of them!
Priya looked absolutely beautiful in her dress, and I think Danny looked fantastic in his green three-piece suit. The colour worked exactly as I'd hoped against the romantic surroundings of Palacio de Valdesoto, and I particularly love the photographs of them together among the flowers and greenery.
There's a lovely richness to the green cloth, and when you see it alongside Priya's dress and the burgundy bow tie, everything just feels right.
Not because we've tried to make everything match, but because we've considered how the different elements would work together.
And that's something I come back to time and time again when I'm working with couples.
I want the groom to look like the very best version of himself, but I also want him to feel completely at home in what he's wearing.
Danny wasn't trying to look like somebody else. He wasn't following a trend or wearing something simply because somebody had told him that's what grooms should wear.
He was wearing a suit that we'd designed around him, his preferences, Priya's wishes and the wonderful day they'd planned together.
And I think that comes across in the photographs.
But the thing that really made me smile came a little while after the wedding, when Danny sent me a message.
The Message That Made My Day
"Hi Bobby, wedding was amazing, and the suit was unreal! Absolutely loved it. So confortable, I wasn't too hot, and everyone loved it and complemented it so so much."
Now, obviously I was delighted that Danny loved his suit, and it's always lovely to hear that a client has received lots of compliments.
But do you know which part of that message particularly pleased me?
The fact that he wasn't too hot!
I know that might sound like a rather strange thing for a tailor to get excited about, especially when we've just made someone a beautiful bespoke three-piece wedding suit, but to me it was confirmation that we'd got one of the most important parts of the brief absolutely right.
Because what would have been the point of making Danny a wonderful suit if he'd spent the entire day feeling uncomfortable?
He could have looked like a film star in the photographs, but if he'd been too hot, unable to move properly or desperate to get changed halfway through the celebrations, I wouldn't have considered that a successful commission.
Instead, he'd been able to enjoy his wedding, feel fantastic in what he was wearing and concentrate on the things that really mattered to him.
And that, for me, is what it's all about.
It's Never Just About Making a Suit
I sometimes wonder whether people who haven't experienced bespoke tailoring assume that the whole process is really about measurements, choosing fabrics and getting something that fits perfectly.
And of course, those things are important. I'd be a fairly hopeless tailor if I couldn't make someone a suit that fitted them properly!
But there's so much more to it than that.
What I really enjoy is getting to know the people I work with, understanding how they live, what they do, what they enjoy and what they need from their clothes.
Sometimes I'm working with someone who spends most of their week travelling between meetings and wants a wardrobe that makes getting dressed in the morning one less thing to think about.
Sometimes it's a client who wants to feel a little more relaxed and comfortable away from work, but still wants to look well put together.
And sometimes it's someone like Danny, who's getting married in Spain in August and wants to wear a beautiful three-piece suit without feeling as though he's wearing a three-piece suit in Spain in August!
The circumstances might be completely different, but the thinking behind what I do is always the same.
I want to understand the person first, and then create clothes that make their life a little easier, a little more comfortable and, hopefully, a little more enjoyable.
And if I can make them feel fantastic in the process, even better.
Thinking About Your Own Wedding Suit?
If you're planning a wedding, whether that's here in London, somewhere else in the UK or abroad, my advice would be to start thinking about what you're going to wear sooner rather than later.
Not because I want to rush you into making decisions, but because I want us to have enough time to explore the possibilities properly and work out what's going to be right for you.
We can talk about the venue, the time of year, what your partner is wearing, the atmosphere you're hoping to create and, most importantly, how you want to feel on the day.
And you don't need to arrive knowing exactly what you want. That's part of what I'm here to help you with.
We might end up with a traditional morning suit, a classic dinner suit, something beautifully relaxed for a summer wedding or perhaps a gorgeous deep green three-piece like Danny's.
The important thing is that whatever we create feels completely right for you.
If you'd like to have a conversation about your own wedding, you're very welcome to arrange a private consultation.
And finally, to Danny and Priya, thank you for trusting me with such an important part of your wedding. You both looked absolutely wonderful, and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together.
Wedding credits
Photography: Adela Clavel Fotografía (@adelaclavelfotografia)
Venue: Palacio de Valdesoto (@palaciodevaldesoto)
Catering: Isaac Loya (@isaacloya1)
Flowers and décor: El Invernadero (@elinvernaderooviedo)
Bridal hair and makeup: Lucent Hair and Makeup (@lucenthairandmakeup)
Groom's bespoke suit: Roberto Revilla London
