“Don’t call what you’re wearing an outfit” November 16, 2009

Despite what Jason Isbell sings, I have been most definitely putting together an outfit in my head for the wedding. I find it a bit odd to walk into the shoe department at Macy’s on 34th, which I did yesterday, and have very definite opinions to explain to the saleslady about what I want my shoes to look like. I am not used to having strong opinions about these things. Right now, I can pretty clearly visualize what I will be wearing when I am standing in the front of Emmanuel Episcopal Church on January 2, waiting for my love to come down the aisle to me.

My jacket: I have a charcoal grey tweed Crail jacket and three-button waistcoat on order from Thistle & Clover, the Scottish/Irish store on Main Street in Old St. Charles. They have ordered it from a supplier in Scotland, and hopefully it should arrive in the first week of December. Stephanie got a look at the version they had in the store, and I assume it will look pretty much like this (only in my size):

My shoes: I wanted to buy shoes that looked nice, were appropriate to wear with a kilt, but which I might wear other times when I was dressing up, and not just with my kilt. After poking around online to see what I liked, I went twice down to DSW to see if they would have what I wanted, and ended up yesterday at Macy’s, settling eventually on this pair:

They feel pretty comfortable for dress shoes, and look good with the kilt stockings.

My belt & sporran: We haven’t chosen these, really, but from Stephanie’s scouting trip to Thistle & Clover, I saw a belt and sporran that I like. For the belt, I favor the one with the embossed thistle design:

For the sporran, I didn’t want anything with fur on it, and I didn’t want anything with tassels that would clatter when I walked. This one, with a Celtic knot design looks good to me:

My kilt: I have a kilt in the Dunbar tartan, custom-tailored, which I wore in Andrew’s wedding.

Flashes and Socks: Finishing it all off, I have cream-colored woolen kilt hose, and the flashes I got when I originally got the kilt from my grandparents, way back in high school:

Tie & shirt: I’ll be wearing my green Burns tie, and I’ll get a new white shirt, but a regular buttoned one, I imagine, not one needing cuff links. We’ll see about that, though.

Things to Do in St. Louis: Wineries! November 15, 2009

I was thinking this morning about when I went to my friend Carlos’ wedding in Switzerland. The day before the wedding (or maybe two days before), we were casting about for something to do to get ourselves out from underneath all the people planning the logistics of the wedding. Carlos and the whole lot of young non-Swiss guests ended up taking a day trip out to Gruyere. It was fun. I was thinking what would be a similar trip for people hanging around St. Louis before our wedding, who might want to dash out for a day trip, and I thought of the wineries.

Most people don’t think of Missouri and wine together, but the state actually has a long, proud history of winemaking. Most of that history stopped at Prohibition, and it is only just starting up again, but surrounding St. Louis on all sides are some really nice wineries, and Stephanie and I have happily visited several of them. My family has also made a sort of tradition of going out to Hermann (one of the major wine towns), because it is so close to my grandmother’s house.

Hermann – Hermann is a town on the Missouri River, about an hour and a half west of St. Louis. It is a seasonal town, with a lot of stores that open only in the summer, for the traffic that the wineries bring. The wineries themselves, though, are open year-round. There are three good ones, which I have visited. Stone Hill is the most prestigious, and they have their building on top of a hill, surrounded by vineyards. They have an old cellar, a restaurant, and a big tasting room and store. They give regular tours, which are really cool (and quite cheap). Closer in to town is Hermannhof Vineyards, which seems a bit more homely. I have never taken their tour, and their tasting room is much smaller. They also feature sausages and cheese, which they sell. Their port, though, is excellent, and near and dear to my heart. Further out from town, in the countryside, is the Adam Puchta Winery, which may have the best wines, and definitely had the best tasting experience when I went there. Very personable and creative.

Ste-Genevieve – Down the Mississippi River, an hour’s drive south on I-55, is the town of Ste-Genevieve, which has some of the oldest buildings in the Midwest, and tries to maintain some of the old French frontier feel. I was not as impressed by the wineries in town as I was by Hermann (which may be German chauvinism on my part, I know), but outside of town is the Charleville Winery & Microbrewery, which is great. The beer is good, the wine is OK, but the atmosphere is fantastic. They have tables set out on the hillside facing their vineyards, and you can buy wine and beer from their shop, bring your own picnic, and sit out and enjoy the view. In May, 2007, just before moving out to New York City, Stephanie and I went out with some friends (most all of whom are in the wedding party) and had a lovely picnic here. In January, this may not be the best thing (and in inclement weather, I think that the dirt road out to the winery may be impassable anyway), but if we get one of those odd Missouri winter days when the sun is out and you could be tempted to wear short sleeves, it might be cool to go there.

I don’t know much about the Southern Illinois wineries, or the Augusta wineries, but I know they are out there. I think in all likelihood, everyone will stay in St. Louis, and enjoy the sights and company of the city, but I figured I’d throw this out there as a Thing to Do.

Introducing the Groomsmen July 27, 2009

I will have seven groomsmen, including my best man. I am really excited to have all of them be part of our wedding. I wrote (too brief) introductions to each of them, in order of when they entered my life:

*

*

Andrew is my older brother, and some of my earliest memories are of looking up to him. I remember once he told me that “only babies” swing on a tire swing lying on their bellies, and I spent what felt like fruitless hours swinging on my belly, trying to reclaim my lost baby-hood. He also taught me how to read, much to my mother’s astonishment. Growing up, he did all of the usual “cool older brother” jobs, especially making tapes of cool music when he went off to college. He’s a poet and a journalist and a college instructor, and a father to little Aisla Rose, who will be just shy of two years old at the wedding. His wife, Lynette, also a poet and a teacher, joined our family already six years ago now. The three of them live up in Greenfield, MA, with their dog, Sprout.

An early photo of Andy pulling me in the wagon.

I don’t really know how I got this photo, but it makes me think of the “swank” tape he made for me.

Andrew and little Aisla.

*

*

Jerod, who will be my best man, is my cousin on my Dad’s side. He was between Chris and me in age, but he was always bigger than me, and more athletic. He played baseball in college and now works in something terribly complicated with computers. He helped me to move from Gainesville to Missouri in 2003, and then was my closest friend while I got my bearings. He and his brother Tom accompanied me on a crazed cross-country drive to Andrew and Lynette’s wedding in Massachusetts, including an infamous late-night drive through New York City. He was the first member of my family to meet Stephanie, and I will be proud to have him beside me when we are married.

Jerod and me next to some old train in St. Charles, around 1980.

Jerod and our cousin Clayton in Kansas City to watch the Royals play.

Jerod at the “kiddies’ table” at Easter, with his girlfriend Kelly and her sons.

*

*

Chris is my younger brother. We spent our childhoods bickering, as close siblings are wont to do, but Mom was right (as she often is) when she said that we would be the best of friends once we grew up. Chris went off to engineering school in New York, which was the beginning of our family’s dispersion around the country, making our never frequent-enough family gatherings into red-letter days of the year. I drove cross-country with Chris in 2000 to help him move to Austin, TX for graduate school, then made several memorable visits out there, including the 2002 South by Southwest Festival, with a detour to the Guadalupe Mountains (Jerod came along for that one). Chris lives in Houston now, with his fiancee Amanda (they will be married in October), where he is an environmental engineer.

Awwww…

The two of us, I believe at Jill’s wedding.

The two of us, as members of “Team Don.”

*

*

Carlos was one of my dearest friends at New College. We lived next door to each other our first year, then were room-mates our second year. Through all of the usual undergraduate stuff, we were there for each other. Then, Carlos went on to Medical School in Gainesville, and I ended up there to get my Master’s in Education, so the good times continued. I was there in 2005, when Carlos married Nancy in Switzerland, in the small church where her parents were married. Carlos and Nancy lived in New York City for a few years, and I try not to hold it against them that they moved to Texas the summer I moved to NYC. They have a two-year-old son, Tristan. He now lives near Austin under the alias, “Dr. Victorica.”

One of an entertaining series of photos of the big graduation party our first year at New College.

Carlos at the reception of his wedding to Nancy.

Carlos, with Tristan, at the Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park. Nancy is in the background.

*

*

Tom was my coworker for three years at L’Ouverture Middle School in St. Louis. It was part of the dysfunction of that school that it was only sometime in the spring of our first year working together that we knew each other as anything other than “Mr. Peteet” and “Mr. Varnon.” Tom was, of course, the bridge between Stephanie and me, as he introduced us just minutes after confirming his own first name to me, that first evening we hung out together socially. Tom lived with Stephanie, along with Eric and Jodut, at the infamous (Es)Sex Ho(use), and moved to the east coast at the same time I did, in his case going to Medical School in Worcester, MA.

Tom at Stephanie’s birthday party at Union.

Tom and Stephanie at the Museum of Modern Art.

Tom, with his beloved coconut drink, at Crotona Park, Queens.

*

*

Eric Shieh is a brilliant polymath: a poet, a violinist, a teacher, and a legend in his own time. He is also the most likely to make off-color observations if he is allowed to make any toasts during the wedding events. He and Tom lived together for three years in St. Louis, two of those at the Sex Ho, though Eric spent an extra year in St. Louis before joining us on the East Coast. Eric then moved practically across the street from Stephanie and me, as he attends graduate school at the Teachers College of Columbia University.

Eric, after playing violin for Stephanie’s dad’s wedding.

Eric and Stephanie, still at Bob’s wedding.

Eric, along with Tom, at our apartment for a Sex Ho Christmas Reunion.

*

*

Larry is Stephanie’s cousin. He started dating his (now) wife Crystal at about the same time Stephanie and I started dating, so we had several dinners out together. He does something fiendishly complicated in network security, and lives in South St. Louis with Crystal and their chocolate labrador retriever, Galt. Their house is our most-frequent home-base in our visits to St. Louis since we moved to New York City. Larry has introduced me to some of the Wiggins family legends with his customary dry wit and deadpan delivery, and I shudder a bit to contemplate what would happen if at any point in the wedding festivities he were given a microphone to toast/roast us.

Larry, with Crystal and Stephanie.

Larry and Stephanie at his wedding reception.

Cake Topper April 17, 2009

 

We made a visit back to the Midwest for Easter.  While we were at my grandmother’s house, we officially asked her about using the cake topper she has in one of her glass cabinets.

 

At first, we thought it might be really old, a sort of antique, but in fact it was just from my grandparents’ 50th anniversary cake in 1997. It is still cool, and a part of our theme of honoring our connections with our families, through our wedding.

 

 

ETA: Stephanie here– I just add to jump into Matt’s post, because I _love_ this cake topper so much.  I spied it the first time I visited Matt’s grandma, and I have to admit– I made a mental note  It is so romantic and old-fashioned.  And, because it was used as a topper for a 50th Wedding Anniversary cake, it holds special meaning– a sort of good luck blessing.

Things to Do in St. Louis: St. Louis Art Museum March 7, 2009

 

Changing the date of our wedding, from July to January, changes a lot of things. Stephanie, of course, is far more competent to articulate the stylistic changes that will happen, now that we have a winter wedding. I think for me, it makes my twill Argyle jacket more of a winner, but that is about the extent of it. But then, if I am looking for what to recommend to the out of town visitors coming in for the wedding, the season makes a bigger difference. Ted Drewe’s is less of a destination in the bleak midwinter. Here’s a place that is dear to Stephanie and I, the St. Louis Art Museum.

 

SLAM was a place both Stephanie and I loved when we first met, and we went there together many times. Like many St. Louis museums, it is free for the permanent collection, and has a really nice and diverse collection. Both Stephanie and I really like the contemporary sculpture The Breaking of the Vessels,which is in one of the main atria, but my favorite piece was a Japanese screen in the Asian gallery, which I used to go an look at on evenings when I was stressed from work. It rotates in and out with other large Japanese works, and hasn’t been there the last few times I have gone, unfortunately.

 

One of the things about SLAM in the winter is that Art Hill, which rolls down from the museum to the pond with the fountain, is one of the popular sledding hills in the city. I haven’t been, but it was always one of those things I wish I had done in the city.

At the beginning of a New Year January 31, 2009

We’ve been thinking for a long while that we would need to move our wedding back from this summer into next winter, for a number of reasons. It became my unofficial task to make the formal announcement, and I have been dithering, since part of the delay has been wanting to make sure we can do this wedding safely, on our own terms, with our own money (for the most part). Well, I just got my first full-salaried paycheck, after dealing with the dreadful bureaucracy of the New York State Education Department for a year-and-a-half. So, I am feeling bold enough to say: our new wedding date is January 2, 2010.

 

What does this mean? It means that my knees will likely be cold, and I will definitely be wearing a twill jacket, for any outdoor photographs. According to the almanac, the average high temperature on a January 2nd in St. Louis is 38°, and the average low temperature is 22°. It means that we will be spending our Christmas with our families and friends in the St. Louis area, with the holiday drifting into our wedding preparations. Hopefully it will not mean major inconveniences for our guests, scheduling their holidays and travel for our wedding.

 

I was recently made aware that the tradition with weddings was to have them begin at the half-hour, so that the new married life together would begin with the minute hand of the clock on the upswing. Well, we’re going to have our whole first married year on the upswing of the new year. It is an invigorating prospect. It seems like songs like “This Will Be Our Year” might have increased prominence in our wedding…

Things to do in St. Louis: The Arch October 18, 2008

“Of course. The Arch,” you think. How obvious. It’s practically the only thing, aside from that Judy Garland movie, that many people know about St. Louis.

But, oh, that catenary curve, that swoop of steel reflecting in the sun! It evokes all sorts of responses architecture seldom does in the modern city. I used to love wandering around the city, and thinking (sometimes aloud, with a pointing finger accompanying), “Hey, look, there’s the Arch!” It would playfully peek out from behind trees, around corners of buildings large and small, bound out into view at the end of a prospect on the highway… It is a joyful silver arc, and I love it. The closest building to it in New York, in the way it can appear in all different vantages, bringing a smile to my face, is the Chrysler Building, but even that isn’t nearly as exciting.

In addition to the architecture, the Arch has a nice park around it, with views of the river, and underground it has a museum of national expansion that is pretty nice, and small enough to easily digest in an afternoon. Finally, you can take the cramped little tram up to the top of the Arch and look out over the city. The Arch is awesome, and is a must-see in St. Louis.

Things to Do in St. Louis: Places to Eat October 18, 2008

Stepanie and I have, since very early in our courtship, always cooked together a lot. Neither of us ever has too much money, so we don’t eat out terribly often, but still we have a number of places that we would clearly recommend, and from which we have many fond memories. For this list, I didn’t include any chains, though St. Louis Bread Company, Starbucks and Qdoba would have to rank highly in any honest accounting of where we actually spent our food budget.

Dewey’s Pizza – Right off the bat, I am breaking the “No Chain” rule, but Dewey’s doesn’t really feel like a chain. Stephanie and I had our first dinner date here. They have wonderful pizzas, with crusts that are just the right mix of thick and chewy and thin and crunchy.

Blackthorn Pizza & Pub – There is nothing balanced about Blackthorn’s pizza. It is Chicago-style deep-dish, bubbling over with cheese and chewy crust, spicy sauce and generous helpings of toppings. This place is clearly a pub that also serves delicious pizza – there is little space in the ovens, and the wait for a pizza (which you have to order at the bar) can be well over an hour. There are many pub games (shuffleboard, air hockey, darts, etc.) to keep you occupied while you wait. When they call out your name, and you grab your enormous pizza and paper plates, it is all worth it.

Schlafly Tap Room & Bottle Works – These are clear favorites. We have been to each a number of times. We went to the Tap Room after Tom Peteet’s speech at the Old Post Office, which was the first time we went together. Notably, we went there for Burn’s Night, and, of course, we will have our reception there. It is an old converted mill building, with an English Pub theme. The Bottle Works is in a converted grocery store. It is much more sleek and modern in decor, with a menu heavy on locally grown vegetables. My parents first met Stephanie at breakfast here.

Dressel’s Pub – This is just solid comfort food. We love the rarebit here, and the chips with malt vinegar, and they have some of the best fish and chips I have ever had. We have eaten here together several times. I fondly remember eating with Bob and Beth on the patio out front, and eating with Chris before Tom and Mya’s wedding. The downstairs is decorated on one side with poets and writers, and on the other with composers and musicians, and I have a favorite photo of Stephanie in front of their portrait of Herman Melville.

Mangia Italiano’s – This is a wonderful Italian place on Grand. I’ve only eaten there twice, both with Stephanie, Bob and Beth. The first was just a chance for us to meet up with them, and the second was downstairs at the reception for their wedding. Both times, the food and atmosphere were great.

Pho Grand – This was an old standby for me. I would sometimes get it from work, sometimes I’d get takeout to carry home. Stephanie and I ate here several times, once we met Bob and Beth here, and I fondly recall sitting on the floor of my apartment eating takeout and watching Horatio Hornblower in the wintertime. They are cheap and very tasty – Vietnamese food, specializing in soups and noodle bowls.

Fitz’s – This is a really cool place. Fitz’s is a popular root beer brand in the St. Louis area, and they have a diner-style restaurant with a glass wall to see their bottling process. They have great desserts and solid food.

McGurk’s Irish Pub & Garden – I’d been here once before Tom Peteet’s birthday, when I was called on a school night to come out and join a gathering where I was fortuitously (through intricate unspoken maneuverings) seated next to Stephanie. We talked well past my normal school night bedtime, and the next day we began to e-mail each other, quickly getting to a two- or three-a-day rate. McGurk’s is very close to my old apartment, so we went here often afterwards. I particularly remember meeting Larry and Crystal here a couple of times. The food is really good, and the outdoor seating in the garden is lovely.

MoKaBe’s Coffeehouse – This isn’t really a restaurant, and their coffeehouse food is all pretty basic, but it is right by Tower Grove Park, and we went here several times for a little nibble and some coffee after or before walking around the park.

Soulard Coffee Garden – This is a short walk from my old apartment, and they have a nice breakfast menu. The upstairs room is nice, with murals on the walls and mismatched furniture. Another place we would stop by when out walking.

Blueberry Hill – This is a St. Louis landmark. Chuck Berry plays here monthly, and the owner of Blueberry Hill is the driving force behind the U-City Loop. The restaurant is decorated with his collectibles and souvenirs, mostly from the history of rock and roll and pop culture. The food is good, but it’s not what I remember of the place. It is just a good place to sit and look around and soak it all in.

India’s Rasoi – Stephanie’s favorite Indian restaurant, we went here once or twice together. The food is good, even the buffet (which I am normally not a fan of). They recently moved, and Stephanie says the new place is fantastic looking.

Crown Candy Kitchen – I already wrote about Crown Candy, but it clearly belongs on this list.

The Google Map, showing these locations, together with pins for my old apartment and the infamous Essex House.

“Celebrate Good Times, Come On!” October 11, 2008

Cliche alert: music has been a big part of our life together.

The night we went to the Old Courthouse to hear Tom Peteet give a speech to the Teach for America corps, when an acquaintance spilled the beans that our planned trip to the Botanical Gardens to see the Chihuly exhibit was an eagerly anticipated “date,” and that I was being referred to in Stephanie’s social circle as “that guy Stephanie likes,” I had on headphones when Stephanie first saw me. I had taken the bus from my house, and was listening to Doug Sahm. I offered the headphones, and she obligingly listened to a snippet of “(Is Anybody Going to) San Antone”.

In the weeks that followed, she listened to the highlights of a stack of CDs on the night of the last day of school, we sat in my car in Kirkwood and gushed about the scene in The Royal Tenenbaums when Margot and Richie sit and listen to the first side of the American version of Between the Buttons, and talked about the first times we had heard Sufjan Stevens’ Come on, Feel the Illinoise.

Living long distances from each other for our first year together, we listened to Otis Redding on the phone together, I sent her mix tapes, and she sent me mix CDs. She introduced me to iTunes and I fussed through and organized and (correctly) relabeled her songs. I went to hear her cant at Vespers at Emmanuel, and she discovered that she would, in fact, hear me sing at Evangelical. Music, to repeat the cliche, has been important to us.

Because we are choosing to have a traditional Episcopal wedding ceremony, we are limited in the role music will play in the ceremony itself, but we both want music to help tie together the community that will gather for our wedding. We may use piano arrangements of songs at the church, we will certainly have a spotlight dance, and we will try to be thoughtful about the music that plays at the reception and, possibly, at the rehearsal dinner. Some of the songs that we have discussed for different roles in our wedding are below. For the reception, we want to hear what suggestions people have, and I really want to have that be some part of the RSVP to the invitations. We’ll see. Anyway, here are my thoughts on some of these songs.

 

“I Believe (When I Fall in Love With You, It Will Be Forever)” by Stevie Wonder

This is such a beautiful song, but Stevie, bless his genius heart, saw fit to give the song a number of keys and tempos, and I am not sure we’ll be able to make this work as a spotlight dance. It will certainly be played at some point over the weekend. You can count on that.

Without despair, we will share,

and the joys of caring will not be replaced.

“Bernadette,” by the Four Tops

Oh, this song brings us such joy! Levi Stubbs is not playing, at all, when he is proclaiming his love for Bernadette. From the times we played this song, talked about this song, danced to this song, especially our first year together, this song has one of the clearest claims to be “Our Song.”

Some go on searchin’ their whole life through,

and never find the love I’ve found in you

“California Stars,” by Billy Bragg & Wilco

A leading candidate for our honeymoon destination is the Sonoma County wine country in California. We have loved this song together for a long while, and I have a vision of it being our last dance of the reception. How awesome would that be?

So I’d give the world

just to dream a dream with you

on our bed of California stars.

“Chicago” by Sufjan Stevens

I’ve written, often, about this song. I am not even really sure why I like it so much. But certainly part of it is that it brings so many memories of Stephanie to mind: the trip to Boulder, being almost home again from Canada, the surprise visit and Sufjan Stevens concert, the trip to visit Chicago that last winter in St. Louis… 

I fell in love again,

(all things ‘go,’ all things ‘go’)

drove to Chicago,

(all things know, all things know)

“Sons and Daughters,” by the Decembrists

I have a vision of Stephanie and our friend Ben singing this song at a coffeehouse at the Pub, leading the students of Union in a singalong of the coda: “Hear all the bombs fade away…” Stephanie is convinced that my temples naturally smell of cinnamon. No one else has ever noticed, but she swears to it.

We’ll make our homes on the water.

We’ll build our walls (aluminum),

we’ll fill our mouths with cinnamon.

“This Will Be Our Year,” by OK, Go

Wouldn’t this be a great recessional on piano? As we walk hand in hand out of the church?

The warmth of your love’s

like the warmth of the sun,

and this will be our year,

took a long time to come.

“Bright As Yellow,” by the Innocence Mission

If we didn’t go the R&B route, this may be my preference for a spotlight dance. It is just so gorgeous, and the statement of joy and vitality in the lyrics is very appropriate for us.

I do not wish to be a rose,

I do not wish to be pale pink,

but flower scarlet, flower gold

and have no thorns to distance me.

“This Magic Moment,” by the Drifters

This is not, particularly, a “Stephanie and Matt” song. I have loved it ever since I got the Atlantic Rhythm & Blues box. But it is indubitably one of the iconic romantic statements of American popular culture. So, so good.

Everything I want, I have

whenever I hold you tight.

“Lay Lady Lay,” by Bob Dylan

Stephanie said that she was embarrassed at her lack of knowledge of Dylan when she met me. I can’t hold that against anyone, since my embarrassing lack of knowledge of Dylan extended well into my 20s. This, though, and the whole Nashville Skyline album, brings to my mind memories of our first year apart. I think I put this on the first mix tape I made for Stephanie.

Why wait any longer for the one you love

when he’s standing in front of you?

“Sweet Jane,” by the Cowboy Junkies

More of a dark horse candidate for spotlight song. Another gorgeous song that wouldn’t show up my manifold deficiencies as a dancer.

Anyone who’s ever had a heart

wouldn’t turn around and break it.

“Happy Song,” by Otis Redding

One of several Otis Redding songs that we like to listen to together. Sometimes, if I am feeling relaxed enough, I even sing along.

When I sing this song,

singing it for my baby.

She’s the only one, can bring me joy.

“Sha-la-la (Make Me Happy)” by Al Green

You really can’t go wrong with Al Green, much like Otis Redding–he’s a slam dunk. The problem is, he’s almost expected. “Let’s Stay Together” is wonderful, but while we are not trying to be too hip, we don’t think we have enough of a personal Al Green connection to pull off using it prominently. Maybe we could use “Make Me Happy,” though

It’s something that just gets down in your bones,

and once I see you I can’t leave your love alone.

“Such Great Heights” by Iron & Wine

We really like both the Iron & Wine and the Postal Service versions of this song, but for me at least, I think this would be my preferred version. I also feel like this would be good in a piano arrangement.

I am thinking it’s a sign

that the freckles in our eyes

are mirror images

and when we kiss, they’re perfectly aligned.

Obviously, there are a whole slew of other songs we might want to use. Just off the top of my head, I can think of “She Smiled Sweetly,” “No Lonesome Tune,” “Let Me Touch You for Awhile,” and “Girl.” Any thoughts?

Twill, Fireflies and Cottonwood October 5, 2008

I have been thinking about what I will wear for the wedding. So far, my published thoughts on the matter have gone little farther than knowing I wouldn’t wear a flame shirt, guayabera or Hawaiian shirt. Stephanie posted some reflections on what I and my groom’s men might wear, but there hasn’t been nearly as much movement on this front as she might like. So, waking up on a grey and rainy morning in New York, I started thinking of wool and cotton, and here is some of what I have come up with:

I am really leaning towards wearing my kilt. I first got a kilt in my junior year of high school. My grandparents gave it to me for Christmas, and I believe I even wore it to school once. Anyway, my great grandfather had bought this kilt to have as a special thing to wear on a cruise when they were going to cross the equator. As I understand it, he had thought he was buying the Dunbar plaid, but the kilt he bought had the Bruce plaid, one of the most popular tartans. So the family significance isn’t in the tartan, but in the story, and the fact that it has been in the family for quite a while. My brother Andrew got married wearing this kilt — we had an exchange where he got the more family-significant kilt, and I got a brand-new kilt with the Dunbar tartan. He had his groom’s men wearing kilts (Chris and I wore matching Dunbar kilts, while his best man and brother-in-law wore rented kilts), and he wore a formal Prince Charlie Jacket (like the two bottom ones). I am not sure if what the rest of us were wearing were less fancy Prince Charlies (which I think) or were wearing Argyll (or Crail? I can’t figure out if there is any difference) jackets, like the two top ones. For me, I think I would prefer to wear an Argyll jacket and waistcoat, with a necktie. For colors, I would think a grey jacket would be best, with a green tie (maybe my Burns tie). I would think my groom’s men could wear kilts (my brothers may take that option) or grey pants with matching jackets and green neckties. That’s where I am right now. Any thoughts?

In my perigrinations around the web this morning, I also came across these pictures, which don’t exactly match my thoughts about fireflies and cottonwood, but are as close as I can find on Google images: