Military Wedding Style - Clothing Advice For Groom - Uniform & Sword Dress Code Tips
Hi!
I'm Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real Men Real Style.
Today, we're going to be talking about dressing for a military wedding.
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All right, this is the question that came in.
"Hi, Antonio!
Thank you for the great style advice.
I'm a pilot in the Royal Australian Air Force, a lieutenant about to get married.
I want to throw a military wedding, but I've got a few questions.
First, what do you think about this whole military wedding thing?
Should we dress in mess dress or class A uniform?
How should civilians dress when attending this wedding?
I was thinking to make even a tailored replica of the uniform so it would look better, but
I hesitate though because I don't even know if I should carry my sword or even to go through
with this.
Thank you very much."
I left the gentleman's name out so he can remain anonymous, but I can tell you that
my thoughts on a military wedding are -- hell yeah!
Military weddings are awesome and there are very few people in the world who are ever
afforded the opportunity.
I wish I could've had my military wedding.
The reason I didn’t is I got married right after I left the service.
I was in the former Soviet Union being an American military officer and getting married
especially when there are people attending that were, let's just say, former Spetsnaz.
It's one of those things I didn’t really want to push my luck there, getting too drunk
and winding up in the back alley, no.
Seriously, it's something I look back on and I wish I would've been married with my wife
at the time that I would've been in the Marine Corps.
For certain events like this when you can have a wedding, when you can take her to the
ball or some of these events, which are almost gone in the civilian world -- I mean, who
out there has the chance to go to a ball or some of the parties that we were privileged
enough to be able to attend in the military?
So my quick answer is don't even think about it.
This is going to be awesome.
It's a once in a lifetime thing and you're going to be able to take it up to a whole
another level because you're going to be able to wear your uniform.
Let's talk quickly about my thoughts on uniform and what should go with it.
I was in the United States Marine Corps and we get married normally in our dress blues.
We also had a dress white, which was a white trouser with the blue top, and that looked
well.
It looked really good especially when the bride is wearing white.
I would look at what do you think is going to look great with her outfit and not to coordinate,
but you're looking to complement, and there's a big difference.
You just want to make sure that you don't wear something that is too much of a contrast.
I see army gentlemen here in the United States, whether they be enlisted or an officer, they
get married in their greens and those look pretty good as well.
In any case, what you want to keep is uniform across the board and get out the message to
the guests, especially if there's going to be a lot of military attending so that everyone
shows up in the same uniform.
That's going to look better and you're not going to have anyone feel out of place.
You also want to pay attention to what uniform is the most common because if you choose a
very uncommon uniform, you don't want to have a whole bunch of guys having to go out and
buy something which they may never use again because another big benefit of doing a military
wedding is you've already got the outfit.
You've already got the clothing.
I would say instead of having a replica built that is maybe a bit more tailored, look to
have what you've already got and take it to go get adjusted.
Again, this is a one-day and I would say to take that extra money that you're going to
save and spend it on booze or spend it on some great food.
Have a good time.
This is once in a lifetime affair.
Again, I want to stress that very few people can do it.
I wish I could've had one.
I don't know.
Maybe my wife and I are going to get married for the third time.
We've never been divorced, but we like to get married again and again.
It's a lot of fun.
We're going to have our tenth wedding anniversary and get remarried in Hawaii, so I don't know.
Maybe I'll dress in my uniform -- no.
I'm going to wear a bathing suit or something.
Okay, so what about the guests?
What are the guests going to wear when they attend the wedding?
Just let people know.
I wouldn't go black tie even though you technically could, especially with a mess dress uniform.
I'm just going to say dark suits.
Keep it simple, but also pay attention -- you're down in Australia, so the seasons are off
here.
If you're going to be getting married soon, I think it's pretty warm right there, so it
also depends on where you're at.
If you're in Darwin or if you're in Sydney, obviously very different dress codes, a different
type of feel, so pay attention to that.
I would keep it though probably dark suits to at least a suit.
You had a question that you were hesitating about carrying a sword.
I say carry your sword and this is the reason.
A sword only has value that we attribute to it, so when a sword is first made, no matter
how expensive it is, it is just a piece of metal.
But when it goes through these events in life with you, all of a sudden it becomes an heirloom.
You attach value to that and that's why it has value.
So all of a sudden, when you pass that on to your son if he decides to go into the military
-- I know in the Marine Corps, you could actually pass your sword on to your son even if it's
not regulation size because you're supposed to have a certain size for your build, you
could actually have it if it was your father's, so something like that.
I love the fact that you will something that you would be able to look at and have very
fond memories of.
Here's my sword, by the way.
I actually just have it in my office.
It's a great reminder of where I come from and what I've done.
Something like this, I give it value because of the experiences I had in the Marine Corps
and the men and women I was privileged to serve with.
So I hope that you decide to carry your sword.
Be careful about local regulations.
If need be, keep them out in the vehicles.
I don't know if you'll be allowed to take them in the church.
You may have to have them afterwards.
Consider a sword arch, so this is where you have officers or enlisted -- it can be a combination
of both -- are on both sides and as you're coming out, they pull out their swords and
they arch them up, and you and your bride go right underneath.
Don't forget you need to have someone designated who will swing his sword and hit the wife
on the backside.
That’s Marine Corps tradition.
I don't know if you guys do that down there, but maybe start the tradition down there.
At the end of the day, if you have this opportunity, go for it.
Wearing military uniforms to a wedding I think also loosens them up, gives people a feeling
of really what life is about, and that's being close to friends and family and celebrating
this limited time we have here.
All right.
This has been Antonio Centeno with Real Men Real Style.
I'll see you in the next video.
Bye-bye.