Wearing a dirk casually

[Orvis]

That made me chuckle!

As for military arms at religious observances, I wouldn't call it the norm in America. I've never seen it, and I grew up as a preacher's kid. In my experience, military weddings or funerals do the religious ceremony inside the church, and any military rituals are done afterwards (such as the newlywed sendoff or the graveside service). My father and both grandfathers were buried with military honors, and no weapons were brought into the churches. Just my experience, though.

The carrying of weapons inside the sanctuary (whether military chapel or civilian church) is not the norm from my experience in the U.S. Marine Corps. For military weddings where an arch of swords was formed for the bride and groom to pass under after they exit the church, the sword party did not enter the sanctuary, but stayed outside the entrance waiting to do their thing. Likewise, at the military funeral I participated in, the pall bearers carrying the casket into the sanctuary were unarmed, while the armed escort and firing party remained outside.

There are usually formal protocols in service regulations (there certainly are in the U.S. services) stating exactly how military weddings (and other ceremonies) are to be carried out. IMHO, when weddings are cobbled together by those who do not know the formal protocols, they just do it as they think it should be done, which in many cases is not the right way.