The color of the bridal gown and the groom’s outfit are important in just about any wedding. As weddings are joyous and celebratory occasions, people typically expect most brides and grooms to prefer bright or neutral colors like white or gray. However, why do a lot of grooms wear black? After all, black is often associated with grief and misfortune.
Most grooms wear black because it suits modern tastes and trends. A simple yet elegant color, the color black provides an eye-catching contrast to the bride’s traditional white dress. This humble yet fashionable color sets the groom aside from everyone else without being too bombastic.
Ultimately, however, the color of the groom’s outfit will largely depend on personal reasons. Unlike the white color of the bridal gown, there’s no strong historic tradition attached to the black color of a groom’s suit. Hence, the reasons for wearing this color mostly come back down to taste, preference, and style.
Why Does the Groom Wear Black?
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Modesty
The groom may want to wear black as a sign of modesty, humility, and deference to their bride. By wearing black, the groom can prevent too much attention to themselves, unlike if they were to wear a brightly colored suit. This gives their bride the spotlight of their ceremony.
Similarly, wearing black can signify that the groom revers their wedding day above honor or pride for themselves. This connects to conventional reasons for wearing black as an occasional attire, which is not to impose oneself on an event that has much more meaning than themselves.
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Elegance
Black is often seen as a robust, sleek, and timeless color, especially for Western tastes. A groom may wear black to accentuate certain aspects of their appearance, such as their skin tone or facial features. They may also wear black as it is an uncomplicated yet efficient color that adds to the style of many outfits.
With that in mind, brides may also opt to go for a more non-traditional approach and choose to wear black as well. It’s not unheard of for brides to wear black for this color’s elegance. Grooms can thus also wear black to match the style of their bride who chooses to wear black as well.
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Simplicity
Black is a hard color to get wrong. Any groom choosing to wear black wouldn’t need to think too much about a complex color palette to match any other aspect of their wedding, such as their bride’s dress, the attire of their attendants, or even the venue decorations.
Truly, black is the epitome of simple yet sophisticated. It’s an unpretentious and good-looking color. It seamlessly blends in with other colors, such as blue, gray, white, beige, and many others. Because of this, a groom may choose to wear black because of its practical simplicity.
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Consistency
As mentioned earlier, black is a mode, and so a groom wearing black is often not out of place even when surrounded by bright colors like red or orange. Therefore, black can often be appropriate across various wedding themes, be they warmly or coolly colored.
This means black can fit into a lot of color schemes that the bride and the groom may have planned for their wedding. Hence, because of this convenient consistency, the groom may want to wear black as this color can match most themes without a hitch.
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Contrast
Contrast can be a solid reason why the groom may want to wear black. Because most guests tend to wear neutral or light colors, the groom’s black attire can easily stand out at any point during the wedding. This way, people can immediately spot the groom.
In a similar vein, a black outfit for the groom can be a strong contrast to the bride’s white wedding gown. These two colors may seem contradictory. In truth, however, black can compel all attention to the bride’s white wedding gown and therefore elevate the bride’s outfit even more.
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Taste
Most of the time, it truly all boils back down to taste and preference. A groom may choose to wear black simply because it’s the color they fancy, or because black means something personal or special to them.
They may wear black for a reason as sentimental as paying tribute to a lost loved one, or straightforward as simply fancying the color. However, even if the choice of wearing black comes back down to taste, it would still be wise for a groom to consult their bride on their choice of outfit.
Final Thoughts
Black was traditionally designated as a color for grief, mourning, and remembrance. However, as times have changed and cultural tastes evolved, people now wear black even for celebratory occasions like weddings. Black is now seen as stylish, classy, and modern.
Hence, many grooms today wear black to their weddings. As shown above, the reasons for doing so can vary, from demonstrating modesty to preferring a particular style. When all is said and done, the choice of color is up to the groom’s taste.
