The Anti-Southern Belle

I’ve lived in the South almost my entire life. I was born in Texas, took a break for three years to tackle preschool and kindergarten abroad, moved back to Texas, moved to Louisiana at age 10 and have lived here ever since. Yet for some reason, I never subscribed to the whole Southern Belle way of life.


The ultimate big screen Southern wedding – Steel Magnolias, based in a small town about 45 minutes away from me.



I’ve never dreamed of having an elegant wedding with flowers everywhere, or calligraphy invitations, or a big poofy dress. And I have never understood why Southern brides get all dolled up in their dress weeks before the wedding and take pictures in elegant staircases and in front of fireplaces so as to be able to display their picture at the wedding. Oh, and I have never had a glass of iced tea.

Obviously a beautiful photo of a beautiful bride from Chateau Photography, but I still just don’t understand the point.

I’ve started to realize that a handful of my guests don’t think a wedding should be anything BUT traditional Southern. Take my bridesmaid, my best friend, who eats black eyed peas and cabbage every New Year’s Day and will not, under any circumstances, wear white after Labor Day – just like a good Southern girl should do. Anytime we see any kind of “offbeat” element to a wedding – a pocketfold invitation with bright colors instead of a classic invite with fancy script; a centerpiece with river rocks and minimal flowers; non-white shoes – she says “Eh… it’s different, I guess.” I can’t imagine what she’ll think when she opens up my handmade invitations, or sees the inevitable shot I’ll have of my fiancé and I hiking up our formalwear to reveal yellow socks/shoes.


I also have a very Southern, very proper aunt from Gaw-gia– think Paula Dean, sans the butter. The last time I spoke with her, she was livid that my father had not worn a coat and tie to a party she recently threw. “What was he thinking,” she screamed, “Dinner after 7 p.m.? Of COURSE you wear a coat and tie!” I was unaware of this rule, and probably of many others that apply to weddings.


I am of the camp that believes that a wedding is whatever you want it to be. The day is a celebration of us, and I would much rather throw a party that suits our personality than have the same old elements that can be attributed to wedding after wedding after wedding. I hope my guests appreciate our quirkiness and creativity that I’ve tried to incorporate into our wedding instead of being stumped as to why we didn’t hire a calligrapher.
Some of my favorite quirky wedding elements:

I love these non-traditional bridesmaid dresses . Source: springchic’s knot bio

I love the makeshift photobooth – I would love to do something like that! Source – weddingbeepro

Did anyone see the movie Rachel Getting Married? I thought that wedding was like none I had ever seen before, and absolutely PERFECT. A total culture mash-up.