cos every girl's crazy 'bout a sharp dressed man...

With a little under nine weeks to go before the wedding, my mind has belatedly turned to what I'm going to be wearing on the big day. A nice suit, perhaps? Not a morning suit or anything poncey like that. Just an honest-to-goodness suit. The kind of suit that I might be able to wear again some day. You can't go wrong with a nice suit, can you? I don't know very much about fashion, but I kind of assumed that a good, designer suit would probably do just fine. I have a decent Ted Baker suit, but I thought that perhaps this was a good opportunity to buy something new and a little less worn. The only problem is that I am a slightly awkward shape for an off-the-peg suit - I'm tall and broad shouldered and skinny. Suits I buy off the peg never quite look quite right: they are either too loose in the trouser department, too short in the leg or too baggy in the jacket.

Ok. Well that's not necessarily a problem either as I could get a suit made to measure. I'd been thinking that perhaps I could get Paul Smith to knock one up for me - he has a big store in Nottingham, and I know he has a bespoke suit service. A quick enquiry at said shop on Friday revealed that not only have I potentially left this a bit late (they need at least 8 weeks), but also that I would have to go to London for three fittings and could expect to pay at least £1900.

Hmmm.

Well, it doesn't have to be a Paul Smith suit, I suppose. The problem is that my knowledge of this industry is minimal, to say the least. Where the hell else should I look for a made to measure suit? Savile Row?

A quick piece of googling led me to the useful information that Gieves and Hawkes, of 1 Savile Row, have an outlet in the Mailbox in Birmingham. I know nothing about them, and I suspect that they are rather from the traditional end of tailoring, but a quick phone call later and I have an appointment to be measured up by them on Sunday this week.

In theory, there's no commitment, but it seemed like a good opportunity to go and have a look at how this kind of thing works and to see if there is anything there that sparks a few ideas.

I'm not stupid though. I know nothing about this kind of thing, so I am carefully taking my fiancée with me... who does. I'm not likely to come away having bought something hideous, but it's probably not a bad idea to have someone with some taste come along with me, eh?

On the off-chance that someone reading this does know something about buying a decent suit... any suggestions?

Frankly I'm all ears.

...and we're off to the jewellers on Saturday too. I'm dreading being asked what I want, as to be honest my only answer is "a ring". I really know nothing more than that. How many types of ring can there be? (don't answer that - I already know there are far more than I care to think about at the moment. The key criteria for me is that it is as indestructible as possible, so it will probably end up being platinum. Beyond that, God only knows).

Every day's a school day.