How to Tie a Tie

Tips for groomsmen for how to tie a tie

Without fail, at every wedding I shoot there are grooms and groomsmen who struggle tying their ties.  Don't feel bad fellas, it happens every. single. wedding.  This throws a time-delay wrench into any wedding schedule. The key is to practice ahead of time and make sure your groomsmen do the same - the main reason delays occur with guys prep is the struggle with ties.

When you finally get to see your bride, she's going to look stunning so tighten up your game fellas.

I'm here for ya, below you'll find videos and step-by-step instructions for tying both the popular Windsor Knot as well as a bow tie.

How to tie a Windsor Knot

The Windsor Knot is fairly simple and it's very useful because of the confidence it projects.  It's a wide triangular knot that looks great when you finally to see your bride. This is how you start...

First, find the right balance depending on the length of your tie, with the wide end on the right hand side and the narrow end on the left. You might want to adjust exactly where the center of the tie should be at in the middle of your neck. So this is how you start. You cross the wide end over the narrow end then bring the wide end through the loop between your collar and the tie.  And you bring the wide end back down.

Then you just pull the wide end underneath and bring it up through the loop again in order to have a symmetrical shape. You're almost done. Pull the wide end out in front. Bring the wide end underneath, and then slide it inside the loop and tie it in the knot. You draw the knot up snug to your collar. From here you can just adjust the size of the knot and tighten to comfort. 

How to tie a Bow Tie

So you can wear bow ties with most typically with wing collars. That works well with tuxedos, but we don't see too many people wearing it nowadays. People wear bow ties with small spread collars, and I think that's how they look best. So let's go back to how to tie the bow tie. So the way you want to start is to have the right hand, depending if you're right-handed or left-handed, whichever is more convenient for you. One hand is going to be longer than the other than the other one.

You don't want, depending on the kind of finish you have on your bow tie, you might want to adjust the length so that you have enough width to tie the knot and make it easy for yourself. So this is where you start. The right end should be slightly longer, because I'm right-handed. You go over the shorter end. Pull it out under. That's step one. And you don't worry about the longer side. So once you're in this position, it's pretty much like tying a shoelace. So what you want to do is bring up the shorter side sideways like this. Pull down the longer part over, and it would be the middle of the knot.

And now all you have to do is fold the part in your right hand and slide it inside the loop that you created. And then you just gently tighten the knot, and it's like magic. The knot stops, too. You just pull on different ends, the ones that are opposed to each other. So if you're pulling the back end with your right hand, you want to pull the front end with your left hand. And then you start adjusting the knot and making it however fluffy you like to to be. And that's how you tie a bow tie. 

More Wedding Tips