Is it an overstatement to say most girls have an idea of what they want their wedding day to be?
Some of us have spent a good deal of time playing dress up, dreaming of the “happiest day of our lives”, and pinning ideas to our pinterest boards. A girl’s gotta know what kind of dress she’s going to wear, right?
It’s easy to think that our weddings are going to be picture perfect dream-like days where we wear white, guests do what we want, and the man (or woman) we’re marrying asked our fathers for our hand in marriage. And when said man goes down on one knee to propose, he outfits our left ring finger with a beautiful ring (cut just the way we wanted.) See: Pinterest.
Love in the time of 2017 has changed the behind-the-scenes of a wedding. Gone are the days when the groom’s parents paid for the rehearsal dinner. The wedding isn’t solely the financial burden of the bride’s parents. In fact, a recent study done by Brilliant Earth (yes, you’ve seen their diamonds) they found that almost half of couples in our lovely day and age report paying for their own wedding. In it’s entirety. For most of us, that’s a frightening pill to swallow. Starting out your married life with a laundry list of bills, debts, and a living room full of registry gifts you’re not quite sure you really wanted in the first place. Besides, the juicer Aunt Sally bought you isn’t going to work in a year, anyway.
Your day, your rules. This is especially true if your parents aren’t helping you foot the bills. If you’re game to wear a red dress, then that’s (absolutely) the dress you should say “yes” to. If you want to pick out your ring with your future spouse, by all means – hit Jared’s together. There’s only one major exception: the south. Some of these rule breaking endeavors may be frowned upon there.
The south is a place where tradition reigns, fashion rules stand the test of time, and weddings are a social calendar spotlight. Your momma’s ring may be passed down to you, you might wear a piece of her dress, or something else out of a well respected marriage fairy tale. In a region where debutante balls still exist, you may or may not be on the same page. But for all of us who monogram everything that moves, say “bless your heart”, and sip sweet tea – some of these rules still apply.
Still, our generation is defining wedding etiquette moving into the future. Like most things with the Millennial generation that we’ve collectively accepted or rejected, we’ve thrown the conventional idea of our wedding day out the window.
Rules are meant to be broken. Make the little girl who planned her wedding day with barbies, dreams, and pinterest proud by allowing your wedding day to break the mold. Conventionality really has no place in 2017.