Bride going to groom suit consult?

Absolutely not bad luck!

I worked as a tux and suit consultant at The Bridal Centre for 2 years and can tell you that the bride joined almost every time. It is important that the groom's outfit compliments the bride.

Almost every groom had no idea what colour her dress was - off white or pure white - which is extremely important for pictures. At the tux fitting you can both decide on the tux lapel style (notch? shawl? peak? etc), cummerbund or vest, bowtie or tie patterns/colors/materials, etc.

The groomsmen won't have to be there for this appointment, by the way. If it is Moores or similar, they will have your wedding and style choices on file and you can tell your groomsmen they must all go in and get measured by Feb 15 (or whatever). If you don't think you can rely on your groomsmen to get their obligation done on time, make them meet up for this fitting so that it gets done. And if they live out of town/not near a location, they need to get measured by another suit shop and email the measurements to your husband so that he can give them to the store where you are.

Its great you want to go to see the suit he's choosing though the groomsmen would be doing their fitting too since it would be a one time shopping trip. You can give your opinion to make changes where it may be better, though he should have the last word since its what he is wearing too.

On the other hand of this matter, FH decides this is something he has to do with the groomsmen, then let it be as he wants to choose what he will look best in the style along with the groomsmen standing beside him to see the whole outlook. Sometimes, its the surprise you don't want to be ruining for yourself though you do know the dress your wedding will match the vest and tie for that fact.

I too know how it is with the last minute put off shopping for the suit as my husband didn't even want to get up to get his until 2 weeks in the day and purchase it with me present. It was okay since I had to pay for it and liked his choice of the suit.

THIS. So much this.

It's one thing if he has no idea what he's doing and requested your help. Or if the two of you agreed that you want to make this a memorable experience by joining in on each other's attire shopping. But it's a whole other story to want to go along so you can dictate the attire for all the men. That's why I'm a bit weary of having you join him because you mentioned you had very specific ideas in mind for his suit, which sounds like you just want to tag along to influence his decision. But in my opinion, a man old enough to get married is old enough to dress himself for the occasion and he certainly should have a say in what he wears for his own wedding. I mean, if he's completely down with it and wants you to be the final arbiter of his clothing choices, power to you but if he's able to handle it, why not let him make it his own thing. Certainly between him and his groomsmen, not to mention the stylist at the store, they should be steered in a direction that won't be too ghastly.

Since you (Elizabeth) mentioned that he's getting a tux, there's honestly very little room for him to mess it up because there's very little actual choice to be made. It's an all-black 3-piece suit with a white shirt. The only real choices are the jewels (cufflinks and studs), the colour of the pocket square, and the texture of the black bow tie. All of which are pretty inconsequential to the grand scheme of things.

I'm no traditionalist, I am a follow-your-own-values type of gal so here's my two cents:

I love the idea of going to your spouses fitting, both ways TBH.

But I do believe there is a positive and a negative way of approaching the idea:

I'd start by asking your FH if he would be open to you going along. Share your motivations for why you'd like to attend. If he recognizes how important it is to you he will likely a) care more about it himself, and b) recognize that having you along may make the experience more fun for all parties.

*However, if he feels distrusted by you to 'make the right decision' then you're headed for conflict.

Ask him what he is looking for in a tux, and if you join the fitting, be his backup. Support him in getting the tux he truly wants. After all, at the end of the day it's important that you're both comfortable and confident in your attire.

And of course, have fun!

I definitely think I'd like to go - I'm way too invested in how I hope our wedding to turn out to let him pick his suit alone

Is he buying or renting? It's one thing if you're afraid he'll cheap out with a bad suit when buying but if he's renting, prices are pretty standardized.

Either way, if he knows how to dress himself, I would let him be. The store associate will be able to help with things like fit and his group should also be able to provide input on menswear.

I don't think that it would be a problem if you went with him. I'll be going with my fiance when we start to look for suits.