When Should You Order Your Wedding Party Attire?

Let me start off by saying that a lot of this post depends on the kind of wedding you’re having. If you’re having a very small wedding or intimate elopement, this timeline might not be as important to you. If you’re having a larger wedding with a lot of people in your wedding party, this is a great place to start when considering when to have them order what they’ll be wearing at your wedding!

The Wedding Couple

If you're wearing a dress, you should probably try on the dress about a year in advance of your wedding date. Most dresses are custom made to the person wearing them, so that will take a while to not only create and ship to your dress store, but once your dress arrives, it will probably need alterations. Your body might change, you might decide to change your shoes, or maybe you want to add pockets. Whatever it may be, the dress is going to need to be tweaked a little bit. So if you order it a year in advance of the wedding, it'll probably arrive about 4-6 months later. You’ll go for your first fitting to figure out what alterations are needed around 3 months ahead of the wedding. Then, you’ll leave your dress there and make a second appointment for about a month later. Once everything is confirmed and finalized, you’ll arrive at your second fitting, try on the dress, and either have the company make a few more tweaks, or you’ll walk out with it that day if it’s perfect!

Personally, I ordered my wedding dress in November 2019. It initially arrived ready to be picked up in June 2020, but my dress store contact didn’t measure part of the dress to double check that it was my size before she called me. It turned out that it was 2 inches too small all the way around, so I had to wait two more months before I could actually take my dress home. During this time, a little global event happened, so I definitely gained the “Quarantine 15.” I knew I’d be able to work it off before the wedding, so I waited quite a while to do my alterations. Our date is in September 2021, so I didn’t end up taking my dress in for alterations until August 2021. I had a lot of travel in June and July, so this ended up being a bit later than I would have liked, or that I recommend! But when you’re living in Vegas and everything is a bit faster-paced, most alteration companies can make it work!

For people wearing suits, the industry is so much easier on them, so you probably don't need to order the suit until about 4 to 6 months in advance of the wedding. If you’re renting the suit, they’ll take your measurements at the time of your appointment and custom order the suit to your size. When you go to pick it up, they’ll have you try it on to ensure it fits properly. If so, great! You’re good to go. If not, they’ll rush a few alterations to make it perfect before delivering it to you. If you’re buying your suit or tuxedo, you’ll most likely take it home that day, and then you’ll be responsible for finding a place to do the alterations. Most suits take 2 weeks maximum to tailor.

The Wedding Party

Your wedding party should be ordering their dresses and suits about 6 months in advance of the wedding. Chances are you're going to order a bridesmaid's dress from something like Azazie, David's Bridal, Men's Wearhouse, or any of the other bigger chain retailers. Those will take about five to six weeks to custom make and ship (and that’s with delays happening – most places promise about 3 weeks). The biggest benefit of using those online stores is that you can actually put in your own measurements, and then they can tailor-make the dress or suit for you, so then you don't have to do as many alterations afterwards. However, I have heard of some nightmare stories where dresses can get lost in the mail, so I would say 6 months in advance for ordering those dresses or suits. If you are a worrywart, I don't think it's a bad idea to do it sooner, but 6 months before the wedding should give you plenty of time.

If you do choose to go through one of those suit stores, this is a good timeline for ordering because then the store gets plenty of notice, so that they can have your wedding party come in to be measured. Then, once the suit arrives in-store, they’ll have your wedding party come back to try it on to ensure the fit.

For us, we’re just asking those wearing suits to wear a navy-colored suit. They don’t have to be matching, especially since those wearing dresses will be mismatched, too. I wish that there were more Mom-and-Pop stores that catered to wedding parties, because it's a niche that needs to be filled. I also think there should be more creativity in wedding party attire in general, including prints, sparkles, and overall fun! Because it’s not like anyone will really outshine the wedding couple anyway!

The Parents/Grandparents

To be honest, you won’t have to worry much about grandparents. Most of the time, you just want them to look nice, while still being in the color palette you’ve selected for your wedding. Chances are, they’ll already have clothes that will work, but if not, they can easily get something simple and nice from any higher end department store, like Macy’s, for example.

You’ll definitely want your parents to be adhering to the color palette, since they’re essentially honorary members of the wedding party. If your dad is wearing a suit, he probably already has one that fits with what you’re requiring of all of your other suit-wearers. If he doesn’t, asking him to swing by your vendor of choice about 4-6 months in advance is a good rule of thumb. If your mom is wearing a dress, the same rules as the wedding party sort-of apply, as she will likely need alterations done to the dress.

The Kiddos

Kids are so easy, it’s almost unfair. Depending on their age and height, you can almost always find ready-to-wear suits and dresses for the littles that will walk down the aisle. This means that this can be one of your more last-minute purchases, happening about 2-3 months in advance of the wedding.

Alright, I’ve talked (typed?) enough. Ready to throw the best wedding ever? Let’s do this!