Wedding suit hire- who pays?

My parents and OH parents have split the cost between them.

My OH is paying for all the suits. Luckily it was cheaper than he anticipated!

My OH paying for them .

When H2B was an usher his was paid for by the couple.

we are buying all our Grooms mens outfits (right down to socks- I would've bought boxers but H2B wouldn't let me)

If you want to know the 'traditional' answer, the groom's family pay for the groomsmen suits and the rings, the bride's family pay for everything else.

Not many people will do it like that nowadays though, as it's all about personal circumstances.

I personally think groomsmen fall into the same category as bridesmaids, where I feel that it's a case of 'wear your own dress/suit' = ok to ask them to pay for it themselves, 'wear this dress/suit I've chosen/hired for you' = bride and groom pay.

I'm assuming you didn't reserve budget for 7 hire suits though, else you wouldn't be asking. Can you make budgetary changes to free up money at all, or is this the only way you can do it now? ie. a bit stuck, no choice?

We're paying for ours but we have been guests where we've also been expected to pay for three lots. Not impressed. Xx

To be honest I hadn't really thought about it because I didn't expect to be ordering the suits yet! We popped in to a shop today, OH loved a suit they had and that was that! I'm kind of in the mindset that the groomsmen aren't getting any choice in what they are wearing and they don't get to keep what they've paid for so they shouldn't really be paying for it?? We've paid for the bridesmaids dress (but I'm only having one lol). My OH was a groomsman last year and was asked to pay for his own suit hire so I'm not sure what's the 'norm'!

Oh well, if you still have a choice and haven't manouvered yourself into a corner, stick with your gut instinct and pay for them sweetie!!

It totally is the right thing to do, and the norm.

Sometimes circumstances mean that the bride/groom can't afford to pay for them, and it ends up being the wedding party that pays for their own, but this is a tricky one. I'm of the view that if you can't afford to pay for them, either let them wear their own outfits (totally fine, matchy matchy is not always great!), or don't have bridesmaids/groomsmen. However there are exceptions of course. For example one might take the route of 'can't afford a bridesmaid, so won't have one', and then your two sisters refuse to let that happen and insist on paying for their own matching dresses etc etc. In circumstances like that where it comes about through love and friendship and a heart-to-heart discussion, fine. Just telling people they need to pay for their own as an unwelcome surprise (ermmm, burden), not fine.

Thank you! Spoke to OH and we'll be paying for them, we were just confused because he paid for suit hire last year!

Typical OH though- went and picked the most expensive designer option in the shop!! I supposed I can't complain though, I've got my dress so he should have his suit!!

Just because your OH is having the expensive one doesn't mean the grooms men have to have that one; my OH is having a bespoke suit, the best men and dad are having blazers and black trousers and the ushers are having black suits; tying it all together with same shirts and ties.

Have only got the blazers at this stage

We are buying all the suits. If we weren't in a position to we would have just asked them to wear a certain colour suit. Don't think you can expect people to be dictated to if they're paying personally!