The Penguin Suit

So, being that the wedding is only 84 days away, the time has come for the guys to get in gear, literally.
Here's what wikipedia tells us:

In the spring of 1886, the Prince invited James Potter, a rich New Yorker and his wife, Cora Potter, to Sandringham House, his Norfolk hunting estate. When Potter asked the Prince's dinner dress recommendation, he sent Potter to Henry Poole & Co., in London. On returning to New York in 1886, Potter's dinner suit proved popular at the Tuxedo Park Club; the club men copied him, soon making it their informal dining uniform. The evening dress for men now popularly known as a tuxedo takes its name from Tuxedo Park, where it was said to have been worn for the first time in the United States, by Griswald Lorillard at the annual Autumn Ball of the Tuxedo Club founded by Pierre Lorillard IV, and thereafter became popular for formal dress in America. Legend dictates that it became known as the tuxedo when a fellow asked another at the Autumn Ball, "Why does that man's jacket not have coattails on it?" The other answered, "He is from Tuxedo Park." The first gentleman misinterpreted and told all of his friends that he saw a man wearing a jacket without coattails called a tuxedo, not from Tuxedo.[2]


But wow, are tuxedos ever confusing!

In brief, the traditional components are:

A jacket with silk facings (usually grosgrain or satin), called the dinner jacket
Trousers with silk braids matching the lapels
A black cummerbund or low-cut waistcoat
A white dress shirt with either a marcella (piqué cotton), stiff, or pleated front
A black silk bow tie
Black dress socks, usually silk
Black shoes in patent or highly polished leather, or patent leather court shoes

Jackets can be single or double breasted, pants can't have belt loops (what do you use? rainbow suspenders?), if there's no cumberbund there must be a vest, which can have a back, or not (!), shoes can be patent leather or velvet and are referred to as opera pumps ... the list goes on ...there are as many exceptions as there are rules.

Maybe suits will be easier ...