The Groom in Burgundy: Which Weddings Suit It

A burgundy tuxedo is at home at an evening wedding in cooler weather, in a room with warm light and a classic mood. It is not the colour for a beach wedding at midday, but for a ballroom with candles, dark wood and velvet. If the groom wants to stand out and still look correct in a formal evening setting, burgundy is one of the few colours that genuinely does both.

Where burgundy belongs

• Autumn and winter weddings. In places that turn cool, such as Da Lat, northern Vietnam, or the end of the year in the highlands, wine red echoes the light and the decoration of the season.
• Evening receptions in a hotel ballroom or restaurant. Warm lamps deepen burgundy, while many lighter colours look dull.
• Classic, vintage or European themes. Burgundy recalls velvet, wine, dark wood and receptions of an earlier century.
• A bride in cream or ivory lace. Wine red sits comfortably beside those warm tones.

On the other hand, think again if the wedding is outdoors at midday in the heat, since a dark colour and velvet will feel heavy, or if all the flowers and decoration are cool pastels.

Keep the trousers and bow tie black

A burgundy suit succeeds because everything else stays quiet. The simplest rule: wine-coloured jacket, black trousers, black bow tie, white shirt, black patent shoes. The black in the trousers, tie and satin lapel keeps the whole within the black-tie frame instead of becoming a fashion jacket. Avoid a burgundy bow tie matching the jacket unless you truly want a bold statement, because identical tones can make the outfit look like a uniform.

Two real models to picture it:

• TUX-026: a deep wine-red tuxedo with a wide black satin peak lapel and a brown-purple patterned pocket square. A subdued tone for the man who prefers restraint.
• TUX-131: a burgundy tuxedo jacket in fine velvet with contrasting black satin peak lapel and one button, for a gentleman who wants to stand out at a night reception.

For the velvet version, read more in the velvet jacket and smoking jacket.

The wedding palette and the red ao dai

In many Vietnamese weddings the bride wears a red ao dai for the family ancestral ceremony and changes into a gown for the reception. If the groom wears burgundy for the reception, note that the two reds need not match. The traditional ao dai red is bright and leans orange, while burgundy leans plum. Side by side they can look slightly off, but since they belong to different parts of the day they rarely clash.

What needs planning is the joint photographs. If you take family portraits while the bride is still in the red ao dai, the groom can wear an ao dai or a dark suit for that part and change into burgundy for the reception. If you want one outfit for both, choose a deeper burgundy like TUX-026, which sits better with both bright red and white.

Building the palette around a burgundy jacket

1. Flowers. Cream roses, white, deep green or a touch of dusty pink all suit. Avoid placing bright red flowers next to a wine jacket.
2. Pocket square and boutonnière. A white or cream folded square; a small cream or green boutonnière.
3. Groomsmen. Groomsmen in black or charcoal let the groom stand out. For unity, give them a burgundy bow tie or pocket square rather than the full suit.
4. Shoes. Black patent leather or black velvet slippers.

How Mon Amie can help

The wine-red models are grouped in the Burgundy and jewel tones collection; look through it and compare with your flowers and the bride's gown on the wedding tuxedo page. Because burgundy shifts noticeably with the light, try the real cloth in a showroom: book here and the adviser will show you swatches under different lamps.