When it comes to Southern wedding traditions, one of the most popular traditions still observed by many brides and grooms is one called burying the bourbon.
This tradition is not only hundreds of years old, but legend has it that if you bury a bottle of bourbon at the location of your ceremony, you’ll be rewarded by it not raining on your wedding day.
Even if you’re not superstitious, you might still want to respect Southern wedding traditions by incorporating the cultural tradition into one of the most important days of your life. At the end of the day, burying the bourbon can be a meaningful memory between you and your soon-to-be spouse.
The procedure for burying the bourbon has specific rules that some say must be followed exactly in order to completely ward off rain. The first rule is to bury the bourbon exactly one month before the wedding, and the timing has to be exact.
For example, if you’re wedding is at 5pm on October 22, 2022, you need to be at your wedding location digging the hole at exactly 5pm on September 22, 2022. Many say this is an easy step to mess up but it’s arguably the most important step in the process.
Secondly, you need to make sure that the bottle is full of actual bourbon, not just any type of whiskey. Bourbon is made in the US, it has 51% corn mash, aged in an oak-charred barrel, is no less than 80 proof, and doesn’t have any extra flavorings. Pay attention when choosing your bourbon for burying because the last thing you need is the wrong bourbon that could mess up your Southern wedding tradition.
Thirdly, when you bury the bottle, you need to make sure that it is buried upside down and perfectly vertical. The rules also state that you are allowed to crack the bottle open beforehand and take a little sip before burying it.
The last and final step of the tradition comes after you have officially married your partner. Once the bride and groom have said their vows and kissed, they may now dig the bottle back up, take a sip, and then share it with the wedding party.
Some even like to do this step while the Bury The Bourbon song is playing in the background.
Whether it rains or not that day, your wedding will certainly be filled with the special and memorable moment of digging up the bottle, taking a drink, and passing it around.