Southern Weddings

Written for examiner.com By: Nicole Galletta There are truly a variety of wedding styles a bride (because let's face it, brides do most of the planning) can choose to have in Atlanta. In fact, the options are boundless! One option many Atlanta brides consider is the traditional Southern wedding. After all, Atlanta is the hub of the South!

One thing about Southern weddings is that they are usually full of family traditions. For instance, bridal showers – brides in the South traditional are given a bridal shower. And it is completely normal for the bride to be thrown several different bridal showers – one from her girlfriends, one from her aunt, one from her church, etc. Bridal luncheons or brunches are also common with the bridal party and the bride’s mom and grandmother.

These usually take place either a couple of weekends before or the Saturday before the wedding if the wedding is on a Sunday. Often times the groomsmen get together for a day of golfing or fishing before the wedding.

Some brides choose to have formal rehearsal dinners, but choose to have a buffet or food station style reception. One very cool restaurant that goes along nicely with the Southern theme is the Dogwood Restaurant in Midtown Atlanta. They are essentially, some South in the city – equipped their very own grits bar!

Traditional Southern food served at a wedding are fried green tomatoes, fried okra, shrimp and grits, crab cakes, fried chicken or chicken fingers, macaroni and cheese, and pecan pie. Since buffet or food stations are common at receptions, these items are usually in smaller portions. Sweet tea or lemonade (especially for outdoor weddings) are popular drinks. Mint juleps are nice Southern cocktails and bourbon and whiskey are favored over most other liquors. A relatively new vodka that is bound to be a Southern wedding favorite is the Firefly sweet tea vodka.

The groom’s cake is another tradition for Southern weddings. There is no set standard of what the groom’s cake should look like. It is usually designed based on the groom’s interest whether it is his favorite sports team, the college he attended, or his hobbies like fishing or golf.

Other Southern wedding favorites are magnolia or gardenia flowers. Gardenias, by the way, are the most amazing smelling flowers. Outdoor weddings that begin during the day and last into the evening are common as well given the warm Southern weather. In Atlanta, and this is possibly my favorite thing – you can find fireflies sporadically twinkling in the night. Often times at the end of the evening, after the bride and groom have changed out of their wedding attire, they are greeted with sparklers as their guests stand on either side of them and wave goodbye.