A man in a dress

My dress at my wedding cost twice as much as my wife's.  Let me explain.  I wore a kilt.  I chose to wear the tarten of Edinburg county.  I looked pretty good.  I had the kilt, the sporran (a leather pouch hung around my waste decorated in goat hair...I know right?), the Prince Charlie Jacket and the tights.  Not gonna lie, I rocked the thing. Tooke is not a clan.  The Tookes, also sharing their name with Hobbits, are a part of the Adamson clan found in the northeastern shores of Scotland.  After talking my wife, fiance at the time, into the idea of wearing traditional Scottish garb on our wedding day, it seems their was a tailor strike and the cost of tarten tripled.  Being a youth minister, not exactly rolling in dough, this put a damper on my plans.  My mother was so excited about the idea of the kilt, she helped with the cost and we made it happen.  But, why do it?

Yes, I wanted to paint my face blue and come running up to the altar yelling "freedom!" during the opening song of my wedding ceremony.  No, my wife did not allow it.  Yes, I thought it would look cool and make for good photos.  No, I did not out dress my wife. She wore the most beautiful medieval looking wedding dress I have ever seen.  Yes, I had the groomsmen in tarten theme ties and vests and the priest wore a stole made of the same fabric.  No, it didn't change the fact that the greatest memory of the day was our new found union in sacrament.

I wanted to wear a kilt at my wedding because I had done a bit of research into my family history.  My mother's maiden name is Condon.  A staunch Irish Catholic inheritance, I learned of its origins. The name comes from northern Cork county.  It is its own clan and the motto of the shield is "In God is my Hope."  The Adamson clan's shield and motto reads, "The Cross gives me welcome rest."  This history shook me up.

I have always considered myself a man of faith.  I had my teenage struggles and adolescent shake ups, but I have persevered.  To learn that my heritage had been rooted in the deep seeded life of belief challenged me.  At my core and in my blood is a lineage of faith filled people.  It is a history of sacrament.  Men and woman in my family paraded their faith publicly as prolific statements of their identity.  They were proud of it.  They were identified with it. Hope and the Cross are necessary parts of who I am and who I am called to be as a man.  I wanted to bring this to the altar.

I  loved everything about getting married.  It truly was the greatest day.  More so, I love the challenge of faith seeded in my wife and I on our day of sacramental union.  Families came together.  New family was established.  For me, this is what the challenge of the life of faith should be all about.  And, I got one heck of a fancy dress out of the deal!