Surprisingly, there's more involved to selecting a tuxedo rental than simply walking into the rental shop and picking a formal suit. Of course, if you're renting for a wedding, you need to know what style of tux your bride would like. Even if you're looking for a tuxedo rental for another event, it's a good idea to know how your female partner will dress so that you two can be coordinated.

To make the whole process of a tuxedo rental go more smoothly, it helps if you understand what you're looking for. In order to know what you're looking for, you should understand some of the basic styles of tuxedos and how they fit into the style of your wedding or other formal event.

The main part of the tuxedo is the jacket and the pants. Tuxedo pants are called trousers and almost all the cuts are pretty much the same. You sometimes have a choice of colors or whether or not you would like a satin-like strip down the side of your leg. Trousers that come with a tuxedo rental tend to have an elastic waist that's adjustable to fit a variety of waist sizes. This means the main thing you need to worry about is that the length of the trousers is correct. There's more variety with jackets including double-breasted and single-breasted and the type of lapel. Some lapels are more formal than others so be careful with your choice.

Another aspect of the tuxedo rental process is the selection of the shirt. A shirt can make or break the look of your tuxedo to make your selection carefully. If your wedding is an ultra-formal event, then you're going to want to select a wing collar shirt. It's the style most often worn with tuxedo jackets simply because it looks the dressiest and the classiest. It features a stand-up collar with the tips pointing downwards.

Those who don't like wearing ties may want to consider the band collar. This type of shirt style is also often called the Mandarin collar and should only be worn with a specific style of jacket for it to look right. Your choice of tuxedo rental shop should be able to help you choose the best jacket to go with this type of shirt. The band collar tends to look very contemporary and features a collar that stands up around the neck above the tux buttons.

A tie is never worn with this type of shirt. Be warned, though, the band collar will date you since it doesn't have that same timeless classic look as other shirts have. Another shirt style to consider is the one with a spread collar. It features a wider collar that looks great with a Euro tie or a standard necktie knotted in the Windsor style. A shirt with a spread collar has a standard button-up front, but the collar folds over and around the neck with a wide divide between the points of the collar in the front.