How to have a Southern-style wedding
By Catalogs Editorial Staff
Here are a couple of ways you can have a southern style wedding
Weddings in different regions of the country often times have their own little traditions that it is smart to honor. If you are from the South or currently live in the South and you are planning on getting married, there are some very specific things you should keep in mind when you are actually planning the ceremony. There are some people who do not really care about these traditions and just want to have their wedding have their personal signature. Others want to make sure that when people walk away from the ceremony, they walk away talking about how traditional that ceremony and reception was.
Knowing how to have a Southern-style wedding really comes down to understanding the culture of the traditional South in general. The basic thing you need to keep in mind is that some of the traditions that you should adhere to have more to do with a stereotype of what a Southern wedding contains. Knowing how to have a Southern-style wedding is more about knowing what people in the South pride themselves on when it comes to honoring their past.
Wedding Size
Southern weddings are usually recognized as being much bigger and much more extravagant affairs than what we expect to see in the North. Small wedding parties and guest lists that come in under 100 people are not heard of if you are trying to stick to the tradition of the area. Purchase a large reception guest book, and expect to fill those pages with – probably – hundreds of good wishes.
This does not mean that everyone should feel like part of a mob-scene or that the wedding guests should be so many that it is completely unmanageable, but you should expect a small army of groomsmen and bridesmaid and you should expect to hold the wedding in a place that has plenty of room for guests.
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Rules of Etiquette
When talking about putting together a Southern style wedding, you also want to make sure that the rules of your ceremony and reception fall in line with what the Southern culture sees as the rules of etiquette. This can apply to the style of dress and tuxedos that are worn by the wedding party, to the kinds of utensils you use to serve the wedding cake. You also need to make sure that you are serving a wedding cake that looks and tastes like wedding cake is “supposed” to look and taste. If you are wanting to have a wedding that feels like it is authentically Southern, you are not going to want to experiment with the cake’s look and flavor.
There are also rules of etiquette as far as things like who will walk the bride down the aisle, who will come out first, and second in the wedding party and even who will be giving speeches before and after the ceremony. If you are looking to have this kind of a theme to get your marriage off the ground you want to make sure to adhere to these rules.
Decorations
A Southern style wedding is going to have a certain look and feel. One way in which to pull this look off is to make sure that the wedding flowers are those that are generally found in and associated with the region. Incorporating flowers like magnolias and freesia into a nice trellace over the spot where the bride and groom are going to stand and make their vows will help.
Using something like an antebellum style hotel for the wedding and reception will help pull off the look and will likely offer built in themed decorations.
Food
One of the best ways to honor Southern traditions is to serve traditional Southern food at the reception. Things like fried catfish, pulled pork and okra are foods that you could offer up as part of the main dishes. If you put everything you know about Southern-style living and traditions together and do it well, you will be able to pull off that Southern style wedding without a hitch.
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