Koozies, Sweet Home Alabama and a muddin' truck

Southern or country weddings are a sight to behold when they are done redneck style.

This past weekend I photographed a wedding in South Carolina and while on a scale of 1 to redneck it was barely a 2, it did possess some key southern/country wedding elements.

Southern Element #1
The bride and groom provided each guest with a personalized beer koozie in the wedding color scheme (navy blue and pink) and the hair salon even provided koozies to the bridal party so the drinking could start early.

For those of you who are unaware, this is a koozie.

Side Note: Apparently southerners, particularly South Carolinians, do not like to be inconvenienced by cold hands while drinking beverages. I have watched girls in bars whip out 3-4 koozies and see which one matched their outfit better.

Southern Element #2
The happy couple left the reception in the groom's muddin' truck, which the bridesmaids carefully spray painted, glittered and streamered prior to the departure. The groom gave them permission to decorate any part of the truck except the tires.

Allow me to explain. For those of you who are unaware, a muddin' truck is something owned by most southern or country men. It is a piece of shit truck that tends to sit on really large tires, which are worth more than any other part of the truck by far. This truck is used to four-wheel in - you guessed it - Mud!

See? The tires are the most important part.

Southern Element #3
The bride processed into the ceremony to an acoustic rendition of Brad Paisley's "Then" and the reception included a variety of southern music selections including:

• "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
• "Rocky Top" by the Osborne Brothers
• "Love Your Love The Most" by Eric Church
• "She's Country" by Jason Aldean

As far as weddings are concerned, this was a classy affair. The food was delicious (ravioli and roasted chicken), the venue was gorgeous (they wed in a beautiful garden) and the attire was sleek (navy blue cocktail length dresses for the girls and light gray tuxes for the boys).

However, this wedding lacked many key elements to push it further up the redneck scale. At this wedding,

• Camouflage was not part of the theme 
• The groomsmen were sober (enough)
• No one cracked a beer during the ceremony
• The bridal party did not arrive in muddin' trucks
• The reception decorations did not include old car parts
• There were no (visible) guns

Overall, if you ever have a chance to attend a true redneck wedding, I highly recommend it. Even if you just go to a wedding that contains some country/southern elements, it's better than nothing!

But in all seriousness, bless the hearts of the bride and groom, I hope they have a long, happy life together.

Side Note: I would have included images of the wedding, but the bride hasn't seen them yet, so they will have to be added later out of respect.