Transitioning from day to evening

[Allan Thomson]

Personally I'd say that if you're going to a daytime event (I guess it was a wedding?) which was going to transition into the evening then you should go dressed for the most formal aspect of that.

For example when I got married at the church of a longstanding prestigious Scottish academic institution, I did so in the afternoon with an evening do. Therefore decided that it would be appropriate to wear my Grandfathers inherited Hunting Thomson Kilt, PC Jacket +waistcoat and Jabot with black sporran, brogues and the dreaded white hose (which were embroidered with a 3 legs of Man and bought as a present for the occasion).

The rest of the party was also in PC and kilts, which had been rented for the occasion (on their decision despite owning their own kilts which they were welcome to wear) so they matched similarly to my kilt on my side of the Family (Hunting Manx for two reasons - one it was the one which was locally available and also because the Manx Tartans look very similar to Thomson to the untrained eye in both the respective Dress and Hunting Versions - although I believe an Aunty caught on and commented about it), the dresscode had been set as wearing Tartan (My Friend who did not wear the kilt wore a Manx Dress Tartan Waistcoat and Bow Tie) and my father's Cousin (ex Scots Guards) piping in Full Dress Doublet and plaid. Following the Wedding we had a procession to the Reception escorted by the Piper for those who were able to.

The formality didn't seem over the top and no comments were passed about the choice of attire, plus it looked good for the photos and certainly suit the setting of the church.

Had the choice been for a more rural type of wedding with a Ceildh then perhaps Tweeds would have been more appropriate. But you just judge by what the day makes seem more appropriate.

At the end of the day most times nobody cares too much, and I'd say that generally if it is a church wedding then it is the service that is the most formal aspect of the occasion. Actually if one considers standards of dress as dictated by the level of formality, then for those weddings held in the morning, with both a family lunch and an evening reception, then actually the daytime event is of a higher level of formality than the let your hair down reception - so perhaps if the level of formality rather than the time of day dictates choice of dress then the converse to the norm it may be more appropriate if you have the choice to wear the formal 'evening' dress in the daytime' and the less formal tweed dress in the evening? I guess you have to use your common sense to dictate what you do.

Of course I am aware that whilst I understand the rules and largely stick to them, I sometimes break them, and no doubt there would be someone who maybe thinks that I was unaware of them at times.... (certainly at times the family interpretation of the rules may be different from other's) the question is how important really are the rules compared to the actual occasion itself (not at all I'd say) and are you likely to cringe at your breach of 'etiquette' in years to come or just think actually that was a great day? The only thing I cringe about if I ever look at the wedding photos is how fat I think I looked!