9 "Old-Fashioned" Wedding Traditions You’ll Only Find In The South

Wedding tradition in the South is nothing to be messed with. It starts the moment we say “yes,” and it ends well after we say “I do.” Everything in between is a flurry of celebration (including dozens of bridal showers), planning (there simply must be deviled eggs during cocktail hour), etiquette (starting with hundreds of thank you notes), and traditions that we’ve kept going for generations—and don’t plan on stopping now.

Here are 9 old-fashioned wedding customs in the South that we heed and cherish. 

Classic Southern Wedding Traditions

Burying the Bourbon

Perhaps our favorite Southern wedding tradition is one rooted in superstition: burying the bourbon. No one quite knows the origin of this tradition, but legend has it that if you bury a bottle of bourbon a month before your wedding, you’ll have good weather on the day of your nuptials. It has to be bourbon (not whiskey), and it must be buried upside down to ensure the best possible weather for your big day. Customarily, on your wedding day after the “I dos,” you dig up the bottle and share with your family and wedding party, or stash it away for a special anniversary.

Cake Pulls

If you’ve ever attended a ceremony down South, specifically in Louisiana, you’ve likely heard of one tradition that’s baked right in: the cake pull. It calls for good-luck charms being attached to dainty ribbons and placed under the bottom layer of the cake, to traditionally be pulled by bridesmaids or loved ones (particularly those who are single).

Many of the most commonly used charms have specific meanings. Pull a hot air balloon, and you’re destined to live a life of adventure and travel. See the twinkling of a star charm, and all your wishes will come true. And if you’re lucky enough to find a butterfly on the end or your ribbon, you can count on being forever beautiful. This tradition is often performed at the reception, bridal shower, or the bridesmaids’ luncheon.

Wedding Parades

Particular mostly to Louisiana weddings, the second line parade is quite the celebratory tradition in which a brass band and parasol-wielding newlyweds lead their guests, who wave handkerchiefs or napkins, on a festive jaunt through the city (or around their reception venue). The musical parade is a lively way to send newlyweds into their married life with a little fanfare. 

Themed Groom’s Cakes

Partly thanks to the classic film Steel Magnolias with its “roadkill armadillo” cake, outlandish groom’s cakes have become a tradition that the South has fostered to new heights, with themes including SEC teams, hunting (deer antlers and all), state flags, bourbon, and anything else a Southern groom might adore. While we didn’t originate the tradition (it comes from Victorian England), and others have certainly caught on, we've always put our own spin on it. 

Hilariously Large Wedding Parties

As in, you’ll see bridesmaids and groomsmen stuffed at the altar by the dozens at some classic Southern weddings, outnumbering the nuptials you’ll attend elsewhere. This more loosely prescribed tradition stems partly from our big Southern families full of siblings and cousins, as well as partly from how Southerners are polite to a fault—and don’t ever want to leave anyone out. Expect even larger bridal shower guest lists, and stiff competition during the bouquet toss. 

Southern Wedding Etiquette Customs

Thank You Notes

We Southerners are practically professional thank you note writers—heck, we’d even go as far to almost feel obligated to write a thank you note in return to receiving a thank you note—and it’s especially beholden to wedding gifts and well wishes. While that might include dozens, or hundreds, of handwritten notes from the betrothed couple to guests—on monogrammed, embossed stationery, no doubt—it’s so relevant to our etiquette-driven Southern culture that we'd deign to include as a wedding tradition of sorts. As we all know, there will be gossip if you don’t send them out. 

Game Day Screens

Sadly, this isn’t our favorite Southern wedding custom. But when it comes to college football, Southerners don’t play around—and game day is a very serious matter. If a couple makes the decision to have their wedding during football season, or even worse chooses the day of a crucial match-up or rivalry game, they must be prepared to expect to lose a few guests or to give the rabid football fans among the guest list what they want: a big screen with the game on at the reception. Who knows, you might just hear the bride and groom belting out battle cries. 

Southern “Formal” Dress Codes

Also in line with similar dress codes such as “cowboy formal” or “Texas formal,” this dress code allows for a little more wiggle room befitting of the locale and guest list, where cowboy boots are almost always appropriate at weddings, whether it’s a casual backyard wedding or a black tie soirée. Yes, even with a tuxedo. (In that case, black cowboy boots would be preferable.) However, in recent years, festive dress codes such as this have become more widely used to encourage guests to dress “fancy” without being afraid to show their personal style and Southern roots.

Flower Girls and Ring Bearers

As it turns out, including children in a wedding ceremony—complete with frilly frocks and seersucker—is quite the Southern thing. In fact, inviting children to weddings at all is more of a Southern practice than in other regions, as a big Southern wedding is treated almost like a reunion of sorts, little kids and great-aunts and all. While some might see children at weddings as an etiquette debacle, Southerners don’t see it that way. Everyone's welcome. As long as they're formally invited, of course!