Rehearsal Dinner (Bethany Burns)

Title: Rehearsal Dinner

General Information about Item:

  • Customary Lore, wedding tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Haven Burns
  • Date Collected: 2-21-18

Informant Data:

  • Haven Burns was born on October 12, 1970 in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Her mother was a schoolteacher and her father was starting his own business at the time. She lived in Chattanooga for the all of her young life, attended college in Knoxville, Tennessee at the University of Tennessee, and then moved around many times from Georgia, Minnesota, Oregon, Arizona, and finally settled back in Tennessee. She met her now-husband, Kirk Burns, working at Shaw Carpet Industries in Dalton, Georgia. Kirk lived in Kansas for the majority of his life and attended the University of Kansas before ending up in Georgia. They both shared religious values, attending the Episcopal Church in their youth and beyond.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: At many weddings, the night before the ceremony there is a “rehearsal dinner” for the people participating in the ceremony. Guests include the family of the bride and groom, bridesmaids, and groomsmen. At the rehearsal dinner, there is singing and dancing and it is a chance for the bride and groom and friends to celebrate the wedding in a more informal way.
  • Social Context: Haven told me about her rehearsal dinner when I asked if anything about her wedding was particular about the South.

Item:

  • At the rehearsal dinner, Haven wanted to have a hoedown with line dancing, barbeque, and country music to celebrate her southern heritage and welcome her future husband’s family and friends to the south. She said she had her friends and family teach line dancing to her husband’s family.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The informant lit up when asked this question, as it seems that the rehearsal dinner was one of the most fun parts of the wedding.

Collector’s Name: Bethany Burns

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary lore
  • Wedding traditions

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