New to Tris and clothing

There are lots of threads in this forum with tons of talk about this stuff. 

My quick recap of them is: Buy yourself some tri shorts and a tri top.  Wear it from start to finish in the race, changing shoes when necessary.  The tri shorts are thin, tight, and are meant to dry quickly.  They also provide a much smaller pad than traditional bike shorts so you don't get that "running in a diaper" feeling.

T1 = taking off the wetsuit, goggles and swim cap and putting on bike shoes, and helmet and getting out as quickly as possible.

T2= removing helmet and bike shoes and switching to running shoes.  Back out on the course as soon as possible.

There are lots of youtube videos and also quite a few on this site to show you what these look like in action. 

Congrats on branching out to triathlon! Best of luck in your training!

Congrats on signing up for your first triathlon, I am sure you will love it and get addicted. I would say it depends on what the water temp will be like on race day. I always wear a pair of tri shorts and wear them the whole race and dont change. They are quick drying, they have a pad for the bike and they are great for the run. You can pick up a nice pair for like $60-90 and it will be a great investment. Here are what my transition look like.

T1- into transition and wipe off feet and body (quickly) put on bike shoes(without socks), shirt, sunglasses and helmet.

T2-take off helmet, bike shoes, put on socks, running shoes and race belt with my number attached.

They make shorts specifically for triathlon, with a chamois that won't collect water and is comfortable to run in.  Most people wear tri shorts and a tri top for the entire event.  At T2 I just take off my helmet and cycling shoes and slip on running shoes and take off for the run. 

T1:  Run out of the water, peel off goggles and swim cap, then strip wetsuit down to the waist leaving goggles and cap in one of the arms.  Run to the transition area, peel off wetsuit.  Put on sunglasses and helmet then run out of t1.  Mount the bike and slip on shoes on the fly.

T2:  Get feet out of shoes before dismounting, get off the bike at the dismount line, run it to the transition area, take off helmet, slip on shoes and head out on the run.

I recommend planning out and visualizing your transitions beforehand for your first few events, then a day or two before the race rehearse them several times and you'll gain a lot of confidence.