I want to talk about wedding suit hire for men. It’s nearly Autumn of 2026 and we have a whole host of wedding enquiries, bookings, fittings and actual weddings behind us for the year. All of these experiences give us an insight into what a groom is looking for and expecting to be available for his wedding in 2026.
So what’s our verdict? In terms of wedding hire enquiries it has probably been the most challenging year there has ever been as an independent store that offers a wedding suit rental service.
Let me explain why below…
What Grooms were looking for
Thankfully, the era whereby some guys want to dress like historical Birmingham mobsters from off the telly has almost come to an end, like the TV show. A look that was sought after for a wedding for much longer than any of us expected if I’m honest.
And this is the thing, people don’t understand that many menswear “boutiques” spent a lot of money on getting these synthetic tweed costumes into stock for hire (or to buy for cheap) and they’re now either still sitting on the rails, on sale for £20 on eBay or piling up in landfill.
What wedding suits have Grooms been looking for this year?
Other than our timeless or more traditional suit hire styles we’ve found men either want to hire:-
An extremely fitted black dinner suit (tuxedo) for a wedding in the daytime in the hottest summer for decades.
Hire a cream linen suit for a beach wedding abroad - yes, this was an actual request!
Or, the other request, which was “Do you have any burgundy suits to hire?
We really enjoy helping grooms with their wedding outfit but we see them struggle to find what they’re looking for far too often.
For an established suit hire shop to offer a suit to hire it MUST be commercially viable to be hireable in the first place. Something too niche, too flimsy in terms of structure or quality or doesn’t clean and present well for the next wearer is not a viable suit.
Why would a small retailer pay thousands of pounds for a range of sizes in a suit that only a few wedding parties could want to hire?
What suits can be hired from Heaphys?
On our suit hire pages you’ll find The Classics which are:-
Wedding tails (or morning suits) in a variety of colours and cloths.
Dinner suits - which would normally be worn for a late afternoon wedding but have been adopted for day wear.
Traditional Celtic Outfits (Highland Wear)
A selection of 6 lounge suits.
These suits form the basis of a smart wedding outfit and we offer the perfect accessories for hire to accompany them. They are the total extent of our hire style selection and in some cases we can offer ex-hire suits and boys wear.
Real tweed suits, linen suits or suits of a specific style or colour can often be found to purchase only or we can offer almost anything within our made to measure.
So to summarise, if you’ve got an idea of wedding outfit you'd like to hire for your special day and it's not on our hirewear pages then it isn't available to hire from Heaphys. If it's something you can't find anywhere to hire, it might be worth considering something else, or buying/ having it made for you.
The team at Heaphys in Warwick will happily show you the various options in more detail whilst learning about the reasons you're looking for a specific suit.
Kevin Scott
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