Featured Vendor Friday

With his sharp sense of humor and knowledge of the wedding industry, Paul Pannone was an easy choice for our next installment of Featured Vendor Fridays. Paul can be seen here fitting Regis Philbin; Kelly Ripa and Gelman, the Live! With Regis And Kelly show’s producer. As he put it, “We have been a fixture on the show, dressing the live, online wedding couples, every year it was produced since being invited in 2000.” His website is a national network of independent formal wear men’s stores. “We are connected by a daily newsletter called E- Formal News, where all subscriber and sources have a platform that addresses every issue and concern regarding the men’s formal wear business. The newsletter launched in January, 2000 and has grown to become the single-most read and quoted news source in the business.” You can follow Paul on Twitter too!

My dad was a tailor and I was in computers through the early 1980′s. I managed to merge the two and have continued to grow nationally, after dominating the local Long Island, NY, market. By the mid 1990′s, I saw the need to unify a very misinformed and fragmented tuxedo business. The process is ongoing and taking a positive turn. We are meeting with major sources at the end of the month and will have more to report in the near future.

I like the idea of the groom taking a more active role in all facets of wedding planning, especially in the area of selecting his formal wear and that of his men. The bride still is the determining factor but he is more involved than ever before, where as in the past it was simply “whatever she wants”. His recently growing input shows more initiative and ultimately makes the bride happy. We all live for happy brides, don’t we?

Buy– don’t be sold. Without having to be told, couples are doing their legwork on the Internet, thereby skimming past bad web sites and not even seeing companies without proper online representation. When narrowing down choices, we encourage you to ask friends and all the right questions to would be vendors. Be tough, be fair but have an open mind too. Realistic expectations, wise and informed decisions are key and a great day does not happen by chance.

The challenge of taking an otherwise boring task and making it exciting for people. Let’s face it, used clothing that can be hot and sweaty on humid days is unappealing to everyone. But, when approached correctly, a true formal wear specialist’s positive attitude, knowledge and sense of pride can make a difference. In our stores, we create that kind of environment and it is the difference between a staged fashion show presentation that we conduct, showing the couple exactly what the groom will look like on their special day, or looking through some catalog– not seeing the final product until the day before the wedding. That is just plain silly and asking for trouble.