Home Page

Autobiography / Biography   Travel / Places   Cooking / Food   Fashion / Health / Beauty   Other / General / Self-Help   Crafts / Home Improvement   Humor

Somebody is Going to Die if Lilly Beth Doesn't Catch That Bouquet - The Official Southern Ladies' Guide to Hosting the Perfect Wedding
by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays
Hyperion
ISBN 104013-0295-5
Published April 2007 - Hardcover - 256 pages - $19.95

Customs in this great country vary drastically from place to place and from state to state.  Weddings are common everywhere, and the scale of said weddings is dependent upon where had the good fortune (or bad luck) to be born.  Most people have some traditions they hold dear, but southerners seem to have monopolized traditions.  Authors of "Being Dead is No Excuse" Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays, have put together this very funny book on southern weddings.  Planned for since birth, little southern girls know what to look for, how to behave, what, where, and how to buy things, when to wear what, and what to name their children.  Southerners adhere strictly to rules passed down the generations.  If you don't you'll lack "class".  And only the finest (read: acceptable) ingredients are called for in the wedding recipes which are included in this book.  Can you imagine a more ritualized occasion?  A line in one of the recipes sums it up: "Form over function".  One of the successful recipes included is Venison Grillade.  A fancy name for a stew.  Other recipes (for other occasions) include: Chocolate Roll with Custard, Seven Layer Torte, Red Pepper Lemonade, and Fried Walnuts.  I kid you not.  The chapter on the groom is funny.  "The groom's job is to pay the minister - and to say, "I do"."  Also, "At Ole Miss, the Delta girl pursues advanced placement courses in laughing, drinking, and hair flipping".  This book has peaked my interest and a trip (for my travel web pages, of course) to somewhere in the south is tempting.  I'd love to see some of this for myself.
Conclusion - A hoot.  If you're not from the south, much of this will sound like completely over the top snobbery.  Good fun.