Groom and groomsmen attire and tie color

Personally I don't like when the groom wears a different color suit/tux than the groomsmen. My husband wore the same tux, but a different color vest, tie and pocket square so that he would stand out. It was recommended when we went tux shopping for my husband to wear white to match my dress. I didn't like the white vest and tie on a white shirt so he went with silver since I had silver beading on my dress and silver was one of our accent colors. I wouldn't do navy unless that's one of your wedding colors. I don't think navy would coordinate very well with the sky blue as they are two totally different blues. As for the tux vs suit. It depends on how formal your wedding is going to be. Tuxes are more formal so if your wedding is more formal then I would go with a tux. I also like charcoal better because I'm not a fan of black and blue together. You could get a charcoal suit or tux. Another option would be for the groomsmen to wear charcoal vests and ties and you could wear a sky blue vest and tie or the other way around.

I wanted to add that I wouldn't have your groomsmen purchase suits unless they plan on wearing them again. If they aren't going to wear them again then I would just have them rent their suits. I also would keep the look consistent and have everyone wear tuxes or suits.

I personally think dark gray/navy suits are more "wearable" for a variety of occasions whereas black is more formal and more appropriate for evening events, formal events, and funerals. If a guy was only going to buy one suit I'd recommend with a darker gray - it's not too dark for daytime events, summer weddings, formal events that are a bit more relaxed, yet still formal enough for evening attire, good for business and work, and could work for a funeral in a pinch.

Either gray or black suits could work but I think a darker gray might look a little less stark against sky blue. What is the vibe/theme of your wedding? What's the venue like? Daytime or evening? What time of year? If your wedding is more daytime spring/summer and outdoors I like the idea of a slightly softer color (dark gray) better, but if you are getting married at an old estate, really fancy elaborate venue, or doing an evening or colder weather wedding where a more formal look would fit, then black can work too!

Tux vs suit. I generally think of a tux as being more formal, a suit as being more casual. Again, I'd consider the venue and overall vibe of your wedding. In general I think of suits as being good choices for beach, farm, and outdoor weddings, and tuxes being more appropriate for weddings at grand estates or venues with really amazing architectural features and that are really formal, but that's not a set rule at all. You may also want to ask your FW what she thinks - she'll probably have an opinion, and even though you may not want to know about her dress she may be able to give you an idea of whether or not a suit or tux would be a better match for her dress and your venue. Also, if you want to buy something, I think a tux has much more limited applications than a suit. You can wear a suit for a lot of things, but a tux is almost exclusively for more formal events, so unless you go to a lot of black tie and white tie events, have a lot of formal weddings, or are frequenting awards ceremonies, a suit will probably be a more practical purchase. If you are renting, then a tux and suit cost similar and there are far fewer opportunities to wear a tux in your life, so it could be fun to splurge on the more formal look as long as it goes with the overall vibe for your wedding.

If wearing suits or tuxes, I generally like the idea of the groom and groomsmen being in the same color, and using other details to distinguish between them. I love the mismatched bridesmaids trend, but I like the guys looking more cohesive for whatever reason. For our wedding, my husband got a 3-piece suit while the groomsmen wore 2-piece versions. They all purchased the same suit from Indochino, but got a medium/dark navy color and all the guys agreed that they would be able to wear them again (they all have jobs where wearing suits from time to time is appropriate) and didn't mind purchasing. You can also use different color ties or pocket squares or put the groom in bow-tie and the rest in more traditional ties (or vise versa), or even use the boutonniere to distinguish the groom from groomsmen (for example the groom's boutonniere can include a flower bloom that coordinates with the bride's bouquet while the rest of the groomsmen have boutonnieres that are just greenery). I'd be careful about pairing navy with black - it needs to be done very intentionally IMHO otherwise it looks kind of out of place. Same with brown and black. So think about if you want to wear a gray suit with brown shoes while your groomsmen are in black suits (presumably with black shoes/belt) and navy ties.

One great thing to do is look for photos of wedding parties wearing the color combos you are thinking of and see if you like how they look. At the store you can also have your groomsmen try on one look while you try on another and see how you like the combination.

I think the tux/suit issue depends on the formality of the event. We're doing an evening formal wedding, so we'll do tuxes.

I think standing out as the groom is great - we're doing charcoal gray tuxes for the groomsmen and my partner will wear black.

And I'd do a white bowtie over navy!

A black tuxedo with a white bow tie is, strictly speaking, considered by the experts to be a fashion faux pas (tuxedos are referred to as "black tie for a reason - "white tie" would include a black tailcoat, white bow tie, a low-cut white vest, etc. like you would see Fred Astaire wearing a lot).

But - BUT - even back in the 1930s and 40s, when formal wear was everywhere and people were much snobbier and stricter, grooms would sometimes wear a white bow tie with a tuxedo when it was their wedding. So I second Gen's suggestion!

Wearing a self-tied blow tie instead of a pre-tied clip on looks extra classy. There are a ton of videos on YouTube that can show you how to tie them if you're unfamiliar. And you can wear it untied around your neck at the end of the night and look like Dean Martin.