Honor The Season
One of the loveliest things about so many southern women is that most value the dignity of their age and station in life. We do not try to hold on the a season passed. We dress for our part: college girl, young lady, bride, mother, grandmother, etc. From our behavior and comportment, clothing and ablutions, to our home decorating and furnishings, we respect the tradition of each stage of our lives with disciplined grace. The wedding engagement marks the quiet completion of one stage in a young lady's life and the beginning of the most important one.
The Bride's Trousseau
Many southern girls still follow the quaint tradition of having a wedding trousseau. The bride's mother will often begin making and collecting lovely and timeless items when her daughter is but an infant. Many linens and sachets are made and embroidered while sweet baby sleeps. The passage of a young child's years are often marked with the completion of new items to store away for the time.
I used to think that this was a universal rite of passage into womanhood, but I have learned that this is a distinctly southern tradition, as northeastern women who have learned of this are awed and perplexed by it, but every woman from every old southern family I've ever known has always, always done this. It is a lovely tradition.