Having assisted grooms with their wedding options since 2011 (and walking down the aisle ourselves over a decade ago), here is our oft-requested guide to wedding-appropriate neckties and pocket squares.
We should qualify this post first by stating that we are not (not totally anyway) absolute suckers for tradition. Top hats, morning coats and strollers are great to admire in old Apparel Arts illustrations, but unless you have plenty of spare cash, lounge suits (a.k.a. business suits) that can be used after the occasion remain the most practical option.
The thrust behind our recommendations is simple - the bride should be the star of the show. If the groom has decided to wear a morning coat or stroller, he is, in modern day context anyway, already wearing something sufficiently special for the big day.
For the gentlemen who decide to put on a lounge suit, bear in mind that there are plenty of other occasions that you get to put on your dandiest orange tie and lime green pocket square (not simultaneously, we hope). On the other hand, your bride has one day in her life she gets to wear her gown - please, give her the attention she deserves.
So the first conclusion is simple enough - keep it simple.
As lounge suits are strongly associated to business attire today, one should try as far as possible to avoid looking like he came straight to his wedding from a business meeting. Stripes/repps, floral prints and plain navy or burgundy ties are most commonly worn by businessmen and politicians, so as far as possible, we suggest avoiding these.
Putting non-businessy and simple together, we are pretty much left with a particular group of neckties conveniently referred to as wedding ties. Appearing generally silver from a distance, the patterns can be either a houndstooth, glenplaid, shepherd's check, or a variety of silver/black/white Macclesfield patterns that can all be found under the wedding section of our webstore. Light pastel shades can work nicely for daytime weddings with lots of natural light too, and can often lend a more lighthearted feel to the ceremony.
As for the pocket square, we recommend an elegant plain white linen pocket square worn as a TV fold, or, at most, a cream silk square puffed quite inconspicuously. A simple, fresh stalk of carnation (lose the mass of greens, please) in the lapel buttonhole lifts the outfit, but of course we would not fault you for choosing one of our white Vanda orchid or carnation lapel pins which won’t wilt on you.
If you're planning to coordinate the outfits of your groomsmen, we suggest not picking the same necktie for all of them, which can feel overly contrived. Picking similar, but not the same, wedding-appropriate designs and colours for your groomsmen is far less costumey, and gives each groomsmen a bit of character.
To end, I leave you with evidence that we practise what we preach. On our wedding day, Gerald wore a mid grey open-weaved lounge suit with a simple white shirt, white pocket square, white carnation lapel pin, and a Red-Cream Prince of Wales tie as a nod to the customary Chinese colour of red.
Oh, and don’t forget to put on your biggest smile!