A Mumbai wedding is several events, not one. Dress each of them, and start earlier than you think.
Before you choose a garment, write down every function, its time of day, and whether it is indoors or outdoors. A groom usually needs three or four looks, and they should read as one wardrobe: related in colour and mood, never identical. One measure at the house serves all of them.
For the pheras the sherwani is still the right answer for most grooms. Two decisions matter more than the embroidery. The first is fit: a sherwani is a long coat, and it shows a poor shoulder or a wrong length more clearly than a suit does. The second is weight: you will wear it for hours, often outdoors and near a fire, so heavy embroidery on a heavy cloth is a mistake you will feel by the second hour. Bespoke sherwanis →
The bandhgala earns its place here. It is formal without being ceremonial, it moves well, and it photographs cleanly. A bandi over a kurta does the same work for a mehendi or a daytime function, and keeps you cool. Bespoke bandhgalas →
This is where Western tailoring comes in. For an evening reception the choice is between a dinner suit and a very good dark suit. If the invitation or the room is formal, wear the tuxedo, in black or midnight blue. If the evening is looser, a navy or charcoal suit cut for you, with a plain white shirt, will look better than most tuxedos in the room. Tuxedos and black tie →
Wedding season here runs from November to February, which helps, but the city is still warm and the halls are crowded. Choose lighter, open-weave wools for the Western pieces and avoid heavy linings. For Indian pieces, put the richness in the cloth itself rather than in layers of added work. Cloth for Bombay →
Fathers, brothers and close friends stand in the same photographs. When the house dresses the family together, the colours are planned so that the party reads as a party and the groom still reads as the groom.
About twelve weeks before the first function. That leaves time for the decision, the cloth, the basted fitting and the forward fittings, and lets the garments be finished a week early — the week before a wedding has enough going on. If you have less time than that, tell us the date first and the house will say honestly what can be done. The wedding timeline →
Bring the dates and the invitation. We will plan the wardrobe across the functions in one sitting. Arrange a fitting →
Read next: Wedding tailoring at the house · How long a bespoke suit takes
The house will write to you to confirm the hour.
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