This is the larger Men's Warehouse where we should've gone to. We drove past on the way back to the freeway.
We finally made it to a Men’s Warehouse to rent Nat’s tux and sadly it was a really lame experience. We chose Men’s Warehouse because the two people standing up for her are living in different cities, so we need to use a national vendor for the rental. We went to a very small storefront in a mall in a city south of San Francisco. We were supposed to go to a larger Men’s Warehouse, but Nat got us lost, so we ended up there. I’m sure we would’ve had a much better experience at a larger store. The girl working at the storefront was young, very young, probably only 18 or so and the first thing I thought was, “Wow, she could give a shit about this job.” I started our appointment by asking a few questions about tux rentals and she lead us to a back area with tons of vests and suit jackets hanging up then walked away!
I thought that this was going to be extremely difficult and Nat already hates shopping, so ugh! But our schedule is tight and so, I was going to step up and make this work! We were not leaving the darn store without a tuxedo rental.
We had to try on tuxedo jackets from the mannequins - we only had 4 choices.
I went back to the front to ask her about the differences in tuxes and she begrudgingly pointed out a few things about the different collars and fabrics, but not much else. At this point Nat was seriously frustrated and so I asked her if we could try a few things on….thinking that this should have been the first thing she suggested that we do! Nat put on a few different jackets (that were all ill fitting in different ways because they only stock mediums in the store) so thankfully we found a style that we liked. Next, I asked to try on shirts – luckily there were only 3 color options – white, ivory and black. An easy choice – yeah! We’ll take the ivory one!
Now on to the vests…..so many colors and patterns! I pulled a few off of the rack and we tried them on and I noticed that she can’t wear one with only 4 buttons because it doesn’t fit her breast area very well. She wants to minimize, not maximize. So, we picked an off white vest with a minimal pattern and off white. Then the pants – oh, the pants. This shop girl put Nat in a pair of pleated tuxedo pants. I don’t know anyone that looks good in pleated pants! Thankfully, I asked if they have flat front tuxedo pants and yes, but it is with the Calvin Klein tuxedo which is a bit more – ummmmm, we’ll take it!
We went up to the front of the store with her and she eventually explained the process and made us feel more comfortable about renting with them. Maybe was shocked that me and my lady friend were there? Maybe she just hated her job? Maybe she was having a bad day? Either way, the experience was lame and we actually ran out of the mall to freedom we were so OVER it!
Once we escaped the mall, this is how we rated our tuxedo rental experirence.
Then the coordination of the alternations was difficult as well. Nat and her bridal party has to try them on in San Francisco on Thursday, so that the alternations will be done on Friday. I thought that picking the tuxedos up on the morning would be too stressful, yes? I’m happy that I think it will work out because Nat’s friend coming in from Utah hasn’t bought her plane ticket yet. Make sure that you take this into consideration if you do a tux rental – we certainly hadn’t thought about it!
What’s the only thing that could fix this lame experience? ICE CREAM!!
Mitchell Brother's ice cream fixes everything!
All photos by me.
I love your funny quips. I think she was young and doesn’t like her job. I see that a lot. Especially at the grocery store where I always make it a point to smile nicely and let them know that they chose their job as I’m leaving :-)
Glad you guys were successful in the end. For you it’s ice cream…for me it’s pie that makes the world right lol
sad! glad you got the tux worked out though.
i have to say our men’s wearhouse experience was kind of funny – and way better than i was expecting. i think everyone was a bit confused by our being there, but after a brief “uh, um, well…” moment, they were really professional and fairly helpful. only, turns out no one makes suits that fit my honey. which sucks, but isn’t really their fault ;)
Thanks for responding to the post. It felt really good to put our experience out there – blog therapy. Perhaps it would have been a far different experience if we’d gone to a larger one….like the one is SF! D’oh.
This sounds like our experience at Men’s Warehouse too…and David’s Bridal…nothing like some ice cream to heal it all!
[...] Sarah’s dress was a bridesmaid’s dress from Lula Kate which she ordered in white to save money. She also wore shoes by Jeffrey Campbell and DIY veil and jewellery. Natalie wore a hired tux from Men’s Warehouse, but to say it was a bit of a rubbish experience is an understatement.. You can read all about the drama on their blog soyourenGAYged.com. [...]
I’m so sorry that you had such a bad experience with Men’s Wearhouse! I work
at a MW and Tux store in Illinois and I can say that your bad experience is not the way we all do our jobs! I know that I really care about my customers and work hard to make their wedding day as special as it should be. I’m sorry that your service there was awful. I wish that they had been a better reflection of the value most MW employees put in their work and the people they work with.
I saw your wedding pictures on Rock n Roll Bride – it looks like your wedding turned out to be pretty bitchin! Congratulations!! Best wishes to the two of you – you both ended up looking stunning and so amazingly happy.