Just Keep Swimming

Truer words have never been spoken. Thanks, Dory.

Image via Polyvore

Here's the thing: no matter how long you plan, how detail oriented you are, or how thorough you try to be.. shit happens. Especially when weddings are involved. The important part, in my opinion, is how you deal with them. You can freak out and worry and stress and obsess.. or you can just kind of go with it. Or, you could be like me, and have entered the "fuck it" stage. (It's real, trust me.)

In the months (and now, weeks) leading up to the wedding, Foxy and I have gone through our fair share of last minute surprises and unexpected situations - things we never imagined having to deal with but have somehow popped up and been taken care of. All in a certain amount of stride, too. Which is impressive, since I tend to be a big ol' ball of anxiety when this kind of stuff happens.

The biggest ordeal as of late has had to do with the guys and their suits. It's been really hard to keep my cool at times, but at this point? Eh, fuck it. It'll work out. Here's the deal:

Situation A: A diminished wedding party.

A while back, I shared how I had one brideslady drop out, and had another close friend step in to "take her place", if you will. We also ended up having a similar situation with one of Foxy's groomsmen a few months ago.

To make a potentially super long story short, a lot of the groomsmen ended up having issues with the suits they ordered from Studio Suits. For one, they pretty much told everyone that they weren't making the collared shirts anymore (I mean.. really?!). On top of that, one person's pants were way too tight, another's vest was way too short, and another.. well, he waited a really long time to get measured and order the suit. Foxy and I knew that this particular guy was going through some tough times, so we were okay with him waiting, as long as he ordered in time for the wedding. We eventually decided to order for him, just to be on the safe side. However, once we eventually got the ball rolling on this.. Studio Suits didn't have the right fabric color that we needed. In fact, said groomsman wasn't even sure he could attend the wedding anymore.

And so, we were down a groomsman. All's well that ends well, though - it turns out he can make it to the wedding after all, and he will be doing a reading during the ceremony as opposed to being in the wedding party. Foxy and I figured it would be a great way to have him still be involved, even if not in the capacity as we all originally planned! (I'm also not one to really care about uneven numbers in the bridal party, so it's all good in the hood.)

Situation B: Mismatched suits.

First off, you have to understand that I seriously die for this look on guys:

Image via Heart Love Weddings | Photo by Photography by Kat

Image via Green Wedding Shoes | Photo by Ashley Rose Photography

Ugh. Just love. From day one of wedding planning, I knew I wanted Foxy and his men to be looking just as dapper. Foxy would be in a dark gray suit/vest a la the second photo, and the guys would be a lighter gray like in the first one.

Now let's continue off of Situation A and what we were left with in terms of the guys' attire: no shirts, a pair pants that are too tight, and a vest that is too short.

Okay.

The lack of shirts was the easy part - a white shirt is a white shirt is a white shirt. We just told the guys to use one they already have or find a basic, collared, long sleeved, white shirt and buy it. Done.

As for the groomsman with the tight pants: he was initially going to just find a pair of gray pants that matched as close in color and style to the originals. I wasn't thrilled about this at first - especially since one guy had to leave the wedding party in part due to a mismatching suit - but what are you gonna do? So he found a pair that matched pretty closely, and we were about to call it a day. However, a phone call with  MOH Copper (who is coincidentally his girlfriend!) assured me that, as long as the guys wear the vests and it covers the top of his original pants (since, you know, he can't button them), he would still be able wear them for at least pictures and the ceremony. Come reception time, the new gray pants will be put on.

All well and good. I tried hard not to freak out about the mismatched pants situation these past few months, consistently telling myself that we would find a solution in the end. And we did! Well, for the pants anyway. There's still the groomsman with the too-short vest.

For him, there's really no hope in fixing the vest (per the opinion of two different tailors), and we can't order a new one from Studio Suits because there's not enough time and they don't have the right fabric anymore. As of a week ago, we were looking at needing to nix the vests all together.

This was hard for me to take in for several reasons. Firstly, if we nixed the vests and one groomsman is wearing different pants.. it's kind of stupid and asinine that we already lost a member of the wedding party due to the potential of a mismatched suit. Secondly, as I mentioned earlier.. I'm obsessed with the vest look.

THIS.

Image via The Bride's Cafe | Photo by Gladys Jem

Not this.

Image via Carmen Ash | Photo by Carmen Ash

Now, there is absolutely something to be said about a wedding party with guys donning just dress pants, a shirt, and a tie. It's a great look, and they guys in these pictures totally rock it.

Photos by Carmen Ash

The thing is, it's just not what I was envisioning for the big day. I also feel like the girls will be so pretty and dolled up with their dresses, heels, makeup, and hair.. and the guys will just be.. kind of casual. I know we're having a casual wedding, but I really wanted those vests.

Our solution? We went to Macy's one day last week, and bought everyone new vests. Boom. Done.

While we only needed four, we ordered six just to be sure we had all the right sizes for everyone. No, it won't be the same gray as the pants from Studio Suits, but they will all match. No, they won't match Foxy's vest, but that's ok because he's the groom. It will be very mismatched matchiness.. which is kind of how the whole wedding will be. So it works. And at $23 per vest? The groomsmen will be able to consider it an extra little gift and won't need to worry about coughing up more money. Huzzah for (cost effective) solutions!

We figured we'll still have the guys bring their original vests to the wedding, and have them do a little fashion show the night before. Hopefully the new vests will work, but you never know - it's definitely better to have options!

Situation C: The ties.

This one is going to sound asinine, but I'm definitely a bit nervous about it. See, I ordered the guys' ties through Dessy, which is the same company that makes the girls' dresses. Everything is supposed to be the color Oasis, which, on the computer, looks like a nice turquoise color.

Image created via Dessy Styleboard

In real life, however, it's more of a greenish teal. Which I can't even show you, because it photographs more on the turquoise side.

As long as the color of the ties matches the color of the girls' dresses (which I haven't seen yet), we'll be good. I should probably ask one of my girls to show me their dress so I can compare, but I'm feeling awfully lazy and rather "fuck it"-ish about the whole thing. I'm just very intrigued by how different the colors look in real life than they do in pictures. It'll be interesting, for sure, but as long as we're in the same color family, we'll be set. I hope.

So I think that's everything in regards to the mens attire. It'll either be a hot mess or very "look how all this mismatched stuff just magically goes together". Let's hope it's the latter.

Have unexpected things come up for you a few weeks before the wedding? How did you deal with them?

*all credited photos used with photographer's permission