WIWT: My Wedding Tux

Photography by Sam Hugh

While I didn't fantasize about planning my wedding when I was young, I did know was what I was going to wear.

After I graduated from high school, my father gave me the ivory dinner jacket he wore when he married my mother over 30 years ago. It was made for him by Ng Kang Tailors in Kowloon, Hong Kong. There's not much information about the tailor on the internet except for this photo of him (or possibly his son) and the fact that the business is now retired. 

The jacket is made of a lightweight, tropical wool and features peak lapels (instead of the more common shawl collar). In addition, it has a two button enclosure and a center back vent, both of which are seen as inappropriate to the formality of the garment (but hey! - I’m not complaining). And despite being made to my father’s measurements when he 31, through some divine intervention it fits me (or at least close enough).

In popular culture, we’ve seen fictional characters like James Bond and Indiana Jones sporting the ivory dinner jacket. But it is important to remember that it is only an appropriate substitute to traditional black tie attire in tropical climates and warm, summer weather.

I admit that I’ve worn the jacket a few times now, mostly as a gimmick to be flashy, but I always envisioned wearing it traditionally at my wedding. And when Chelsea suggested that we have our wedding in Texas during the hot days of September, I knew everything was meant to be.

Glasses - Oliver Peoples | Jacket - My Father’s Bespoke Jacket | Shirt - Brooks Brothers | Trousers - Suit Supply | Shoes - Carmina Shoemaker | Bow Tie and Cummerbund - Drake’s of London | Cufflinks - Gift

Chelsea and I were married two years ago at the Barr Mansion in Austin, Texas. And despite the passing of Labor Day, I proudly wore my father’s ivory dinner jacket.

This post originally appeared on my Tumblr.