In the beginning, I had told Mr. Bunting that he could choose what he and the groomsmen wanted to wear aside from a tux (unless he reaaaally wanted them). If they wanted to wear suit jackets, they could wear suit jackets. If they didn’t want to (and I was secretly hoping they wouldn’t), then they wouldn’t have to. Of course they didn’t want to wear jackets for an outdoor June wedding, so it was a win-win situation!

I stayed true to my decision of putting Mr. Bunting in charge for the groomsmen. I let him mull it over. He mulled it over a lot (or perhaps too little). I casually reminded him that we needed to start making decisions for their attire. He mulled it over some more. I began to wonder if he really was thinking about it, or if he even cared, so I started probing him more for ideas and answers. I thought maybe if I showed him some ideas, he’d find something he liked. So I started focusing my google and blog searches on groomsmen attire.

Haha, that’s when it all changed.

I found images that I fell in love with. I showed them to Mr. Bunting.

Let me pause for just a moment to give a warning. Ladies, don’t ever go out of your way to show your partner images of styles you don’t like or styles that just won’t work. There is a very high chance that your partner will take one look, point at that very image, and say, “I like that one!” And that’s exactly what Mr. Bunting did.

I didn’t show him any images that I didn’t like, but I did make the mistake of showing him an image that, while so very cool and awesome, simply did not mesh with the rest of our wedding. It was this one:

image via Ruffled / photo by Magic Memory Works Photography

And Mr. Bunting loved it. Le sigh. MOH Bunting and I had to explain to him that it just wouldn’t work with our color scheme or the rest of the wedding’s tone, so I tried to distract him with these:

image via Inspired By This / photo by Aaron Shintaku

image via Pretty Chicky / photo by Dana Grant

image via The Bride With A Blog / photo by Bloom Photography

image via Forage Bow Ties

So much for my vow to let Mr. Bunting pick the style! I was in love, and it was with bow ties and suspenders (and Mr. Bunting of course). Now before you judge, Mr. Bunting still had some opinions that I was more than happy to oblige, like no tan or khaki colors.

We had the guys purchase heather grey pants from Jos. A. Banks, and I found coordinating fabrics in colorful seersuckers and cottons for my seamstress to fashion the bow ties out of.  I love the mismatched bow tie look, so each groomsmen will have a different fabric.

We left it up to the guys to buy or find a white shirt and black dress shoes, and Mr. Bunting and I scoured the mall for the suspenders. Kohls had the best selection, and after an hour or so of Mother Bunting, the cashier, and I trying to figure out the best method to get the best deal with all our coupons, we left with 12 suspenders. Okay, okay, I couldn’t decide which style I liked best in the store, so we bought enough of two different types. After seeing them with the pants and a white shirt, this is the one we decided to keep:

Mother Bunting is amazing with coupons, so after the current Buy 1 Get 1 50% off deal and her coupon skills, we got these Dockers suspenders for about $11 each.

I’m not sure if Mr. Bunting loved the idea of suspenders and bow ties initially, but after actually seeing some of the things come together in person he’s completely on board. I know he wouldn’t agree to them if he didn’t like them at all, so again, it’s a win-win! Besides, Mr. Bunting’s outfit is different than the groomsmen and one he really loves, but that’s for another post.

What are you dressing the boys in? Did your partner have a strong opinion or preference, or did he go with the flow like Mr. Bunting ended up doing?