Suit hire advice needed please :)

I must admit I had exactly these thoughts in the build up to our wedding too, there are so many awful stories about the bigger chains.

We had to go with one of the big names though, as our 'men' were spread out all over the country. We went with Moss Bros - suits were picked up from Peterborough, Crawley, Brighton, Tunbridge Wells and Canterbury - all of the suits were absolutely fine - all the right sizes, clean, good condition. In fact the service was really good - most of the boys were able to pick up their suits a lot early than contracted, allowing time for alteration if necesary - but didn't need it in the end.

I think that some of the problem is that it isn't 'news' if everything is ok - only if something goes wrong (same with a lot of things!) so the bad stories become gospel.

I would have loved to have gone with an idependant, as we tried to keep most of our wedding buyin through local, independant suppliers, but with the suits it just wasn't possible - and it all worked out perfectly!

I think you would be surprised how the prices compare, I had the same dilemma as yourself I had heard a few bad stories so decided to get a quote from a small family run company, they wroked out cheaper the suits were of fantastic quality and the service was excellent. My dad and brother live 200 miles away so they gave me a form for both to complete which has been done they are making the suits accordingly and I can take them with me on my next visit for them to try on.

I heard the horror stories too, so started investigating local companies.

We were looking at about £600 for 7 suits from Moss but have paid £420 from our local store who can guarentee they will be ready for inspection a week before the wedding, and who have all their stock on the premises so could replace if it was the wrong size etc. It's a huge relief for me.

They are also much more customer service focuses - I explained our BM lives 250 miles away so he is lending OH a suit for his to take to the BM to try on pre-wedding so he doesn't have to have more than 1 suit fitting.

We've gone with Formal Affair, the suits are available to pick up on the thursday so if there is a problem they can have them altered & if they havnt got the shirts they can be delivered from another branch.

We've gone with a local company, and am really glad as we have had excellent service so far - and they worked out cheaper than the big companies too!

Hi,

I have a thriving suit hire business and I have also worked for the 2 biggest suit companies in the country, so I know a little about this subject.

It is difficult when trying to review the service of a company on the internent. The vast majority of people who review a company online are giving a negative review. Here is a link to reviewcentre.com : https://www.reviewcentre.com/products2330.html

The larger companies have alot more negative feedback but they do hire more suits than anyone else!

Having said that I know (from personal experience) that alot more mistakes can and do happen with the larger companies. Any company is only as good as its weekest link and the more links in the chain the greater the likelyhood of a mistake.

Small companies are not exempt from making mistakes either, I know of at least 2 that I would consider old fashioned and would never recommend to anyone I knew.

So I guess it is like any other supplier you choose for your wedding, you have to find the company that offers the correct product and the correct service at a price you are happy with. The best way is personal recommendation or if that is not an option just going to visit these companies and meeting them to see if you like the way that they operate.

I did write a guide to wedding suits on Hitched and in it, there is a chapter on wedding suit hire and the different types of companies that offer their services and the types of questions you could ask, to find out just how good they are:

https://www.hitched.co.uk/Chat/forums/t/144847.aspx

Have a read and see if that helps.

Thanks

Marc

Hi where abouts are you? we supply many of the best independant hire companies in the uk with accessories i could point you in the direction of a few in your area if you like.

iain