Sweet Southern Traditions

Hello lovely readers,

Thought i would take some time to share something near and dear to my heart, Southern Weddings!!

 Seeing as i am in my first one for the summer this weekend (Lauren's wedding) I thought I would share some interesting things I learned while planning my wedding almost 2 years ago.

 Buy a few books:

My two favorite are...

My super sweet friend, H, was in college with me at Alabama, and her major was event planning with an emphasis in Wedding Planning, there was no doubt in my mind she would be coordinating my event and boy am i glad she did. The first thing we did was go to Barnes and Noble in t-town and grab some magazines, while perusing the store we found this book.

UMMMMM not only is the book absolutely HILARIOUS, it is extremely informative. Of course i purchased and ran home to read, The book follows women of the Mississippi Delta and the "must haves" of throwing a southern weddings.

Then there is the Southern Belle Primer, oh dear lord this book will have you in complete stitches, even if you aren't getting married it is a really funny light read, great for a road trip to share with the crowd.
Here are some of my favorites of the book, and things the book highlights i didn't know before i read...

• "what is considered trash or quality in the south has nothing to do with money. Some of the best families around here haven't had money for generations. The emphasis is on breeding and manners. no amount of money can make you quality of you don't act like quality. For instance, good souther belles don't place much importance on paying $400 to buy a pocketbook that's got some Italian designer's initials all over it. In the south, grandmother's monogrammed napkin rings are much more important than Gucci's monogrammed luggage. To think otherwise is just considered tacky. And around here, nothing is more tacky than being tacky." -Alabama belle discussing the intricacies of being southern

{a rundown of southern belles golden rules}

1. always wear white when you walk down the aisle (even if its for the third time)
2. never date your sorority sister's ex-husband until at least three years after the divorce. You may need her to write a rec for your daughter one day and its alot easier to find a new man than get your daughter into the sorority.
3. buy low, sell high.

• what a finger bowl is... back in the day these bowls were used for cleaning your hands before dessert, who knew?? {they contain rose petals or lemon peels floating in the water, you are to dip your right hand then pick up the doily with the left and once finished this signifies you are ready for dessert. they surely didn't teach me that at cotillion.
• There are 12 official Silver patterns

1. francis1
2. grand baroque
3. burgundy
4. rose point
5. buttercup
6. chantilly
7. strasbourg
8. acorn
9. old master
10. eloquence
11. chrysanthemum
12. repousse'

these are just a few of my favorites of this book. Honestly i could write for days on this... ahhh the joys and charms of being Southern.... by the grace of god.