Around 5:30 p.m. one sunny afternoon, we headed out to Friar Tux. On the way there, we decided to call and make sure it was okay that we dropped in. Easy peasy, right? Yup, they were closed already. We called Men's Wearhouse and luckily they were open until 9 p.m.
We walked into Men's Wearhouse and found a lot of commotion. A family of men were there buying suits and trying things on and they were super loud. No bother though. Someone quickly welcomed us and asked what we were looking for. When we mentioned that we were looking for tux rentals, he brought us back to a desk with a catalog and explained how the tux rentals worked. They'd be ready for pick up two days beforehand. They'd fix anything for us within that two days if something didn't fit correctly. There was a fee for drycleaning and damages that'd be added onto your package. He let us look through the catalog in peace. After eliminating the white tuxes, zoot suits, pinstriped tuxes, one and three-button tuxes and any tuxedo that wasn't black, we had two choices. I guess, I was right, the decision wasn't going to be terribly difficult if we only had two choices. We looked at the laminated catalog page and positioned and repositioned it to try to ward off the glare of the overhead lights so we could get a good look at it. We asked the salesperson who was helping us if we could see these since it was difficult to see off the catalog. Nope. They didn't have any of the tuxes in the store so you had to pick off the catalog. Now, I'm no salesperson, but doesn't it seem right that your customers should be able to at LEAST look at the tuxes before they commit? What if it looked completely different on?! Well, we got his card and left wondering if we'd have to just choose one of the two black two-button tuxes off those huge laminated pages.
We decided to visit Friar Tux the following weekend just to see what else was out there. Now, first off, I'm a bit put off by the name. Why is it called Friar Tux? (Father Serra? That's a 4th grade teacher thing). Anyway, we knew tons of people who rented from them and were very happy. So we went on our way. When we arrived, I saw this:
(personal photo)
...and was put off by the sign. We walked in anyway. We weren't initially greeted by anyone until we sat down with the catalog and started looking through it. Ten minutes passed before we approached and someone asked if we needed help. We told them we were looking for tuxes, yada, yada, yada and she told us to look through the catalog to see what we liked.
Well, we didn't know much and they had huge laminated pictures with glare too. On top of that, there were things like Super 100's, back vent, notched, winged...and we had no clue what all of it meant. For the next twenty minutes, we looked through swatches and plastic cards and wrote down the styles that we liked. No one else approached us, no one offered to help and there weren't very many tuxedos on display so we left. It just made NO sense to me. We'd visited two shops. The first one had no displays for you to look at and the second one had no one to help or explain anything to you. I was super frustrated. Really, this is how tux rentals went? It was harder than I thought!
My smart Mr. Lace said, "maybe we should visit the Friar Tux in Costa Mesa. It's right by the OCPAC and it's in a nicer area." I was pretty sure they'd have the same stuff, but at this point, we had no other options so we made out way south to Costa Mesa. First off, Friar Tux in Costa Mesa is located in South Coast Plaza. You'll need to check that out if you have never shopped in the OC before.
Back to the story. So we walked into this Friar Tux:
(personal photo)
I already had a much better feeling walking in. We were greeted immediately by a salesperson who asked if he could be of service. We told him the schpiel. He began by taking us on a tour of the showroom and pointing out the differences between tuxedos and basically what we'd have to make decisions on. He explained what Super 120's, vented, winged and all that jazz was. Plus, they had every tuxedo in the catalog on display so if you saw it in the catalog, you could walk up to the display and look and feel it. Oh! I knew there had to be something better out there!
In addition to that, as we were looking through the catalog, he asked if we'd be interested in registering. It was a no-obligation registration of our wedding party, but along with it, he could order three full tuxedos with vests, shirts, ties and shoes for Mr. Lace to try on so he could see how he LOOKED in them. Oh, I KNEW you existed! So, we quickly registered and Mr. Lace found three styles he liked. The salesperson, as he listened to us debate over the colors of the vests and ties, offered to order us all of the options we were looking at so we could mix and match them. He said he could have them in by the next business day if we'd like so Mr. Lace could try them on. Yes, please sign us up for that!
So, we're going to go in a couple days and I'll post photos of that soon.
Here's what I learned about tuxedos:
1. Lapel:
Width: Slimmer (modern) or wider (traditional)
Style: Plain, notched or winged lapel
Fabric: Nothing fancy, satin-y or framed
2. Fabric: There were three types of fabric for tuxedos at Friar Tux. The standard wool blend, then the Super 100's and then the Super 120's. The higher the Super number, the lighter and more breathable the fabric and the higher the price.
3. Pants: Stripe or no stripe
4. Shirt: Winged or standard collar
5. Ties/Vests: You can mix and match any tie or vest so even though they're laid out in groups in the catalog, you CAN get a green vest and a black tie or an orange vest and pink tie or whatever your heart desires.
6. Shoes: The rental package will give you five options for shoes. An upgrade to a better looking shoe will cost you $10. Just go look at the options. I think the $10 might be worth it.
7. Cost: Out of the packages we saw, the tux packages ranged from $130- $150 + tax. The damage waiver is included in the cost of the rental.
Good luck! Did you have any luck with tuxedo rentals or are you going a different route?
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