Second Line

No advice, but I'm curious, what is a second line? It sounds fun!

@Rachel - I wondered the same thing so I googled lol

No advice here, just really curious about this. Sounds like a lot of fun!

That does look fun.

Your wedding sounds like fun. But I am with PP what is a second line?

I totally love it, and I've done a couple of weddings like this. Have your ushers hand out the parasols, etc,and maybe give a little explanation as people come into the ceremony. They can also pick up a drink at that point; I'd pick one or two selections to keep it simple.

At the end of my last wedding like this, the couple draped beads around each other's neck, the BM and MOH handed them parasols, and the recessional started the parade! (We had cued in some first row ringers.) It was FABULOUS!

Looks so fun!

It sounds like so much fum!! no advice, but keep us updated!!

It's basically a parade that often begins right after the ceremony, where you dance around the French Quarter with a jazz band and your entire guest list, and arrive at your reception venue. There are a lot of videos on Youtube you can look up. The city has special permits for them! It's one of those things that you have do to if you get married in the Quarter. I'm excited for guests to experience how much fun the city is! Random people in the street will most likely join in to dance, because that's how it is there. I've lived in the midwest since moving from there, and people often think my New Orleans love is a bit much, like I'm 'trying too hard to relive my college days." One of my goals for this wedding is that people will leave loving the city as much as I do

I'm going to have the beads and handkerchiefs with a short explanation attached on the ceremony seats for guests to read. The handkerchiefs will also double as a personalized gifts for guests. I'll also probably have someone explain it real quickly before the ceremony starts. I've already told some of my friends (STDs haven't even gone out yet, haha) to make sure they wear comfortable shoes. It might be a formal wedding, but only wear heels if you can dance and march for 45 minutes in them! I actually just ordered a pair of glitter Toms that I'm pretty sure I'm going to wear for the day. I'm also picking out a dress specifically because it flows well in the wind and will look great spinning and dancing. I'll keep y'all updated!

Wow, how fun!!!! I would love to do this.!!

Love NOLA!!! It will be hella hot in late June--but quintessential NOLA IS hot. Sounds like a blast!!

I'm getting married in New Orleans next July! I am still on the fence about a second line budget wise. Kinfolk brass band does a lot of weddings, including some I have been to. I think the Hot 8 brass band does second lines too. I moved away from New Orleans a couple years ago after living there for a long time, and I miss it so very much, so I get you.

Please post pictures if you go through with this! I have always wanted to see/be in one! They always look like so much fun!

We're getting married in New Orleans next year too -love the city, the people, the history, the food, the music... and we were considering a second-line too until I looked into the history of it...

"Some scholars believe that second lining has its origins in traditional West African circle dances, where children formed a periphery circle outside the main circle of adult dancers. The dance was brought by slaves to New Orleans, where it became incorporated into processions, such as funerals, forcing the ring to straighten into a line.[2] Others note the similarity of the steps – exaggerated, loosely coordinated strutting – to dances performed in Congo Square by the enslaved given the day off on Sundays. These dances were officially banned for a time because they were deemed threatening to the white inhabitants of the city, and their resurgence in second lining suggests a similar celebration of individual freedom.[3]

After the Civil War, African and African-American traditions came to be merged with the military brass band parade traditions of the Europeans and white Americans. Insurance companies often refused to cover the recently freed formerly enslaved, so African Americans formed into Benevolent Societies and "Social Aid & Pleasure Clubs". Membership benefits usually included a brass band for funerals and at least one public parade with music a year, so such societies became important in establishing the second line traditions." -Wikipedia

If it's genuinely part of your culture because you grew up in New Orleans or as an African-American person I think it's fine. But as a white person and non-New Orleanian who is a guest/visitor to the city I just don't feel comfortable appropriating African-American culture just because I want my wedding day to have a fun brass band parade.

The "hankie" waving tradition literally comes from hankerchiefs used by crying family members/friends at African-American second-line funerals... I literally cringe when I see videos and pictures of people waving them at second lines for weddings. I would really rethink that portion of your second line, if I were you...

My FH is Cajun (family is from NOLA and that is where we got engaged) but we couldn't find a first line band we could afford here in LA. So instead I got parasols and will be taking pictures with them in a cemetery (which is where the chapel is located). A first/second line is kind of a given in NOLA culture - no matter what your color. Especially if you are getting married in the Quarter. When we went out to the Quarter after getting off the Natchez (the boat we got engaged on) people asked us where our first line was. One bar we went to after said it was improper not to have one (or parasols) to celebrate.

I say do it. I didn't know we were getting engaged that night in NOLA if not I would have had one for our engagement!

Cake pulls

No advice but man does this sound fun!!

I'm not a native New Orleanian, but I am black and FHs (white) family is from New Orleans. Personally, I wouldn't worry so much about cultural appropriation in this instance. A lot of New Orleans traditions performed by people of all races have roots in various cultures (so does the food of course). Second lines are done all the time for various reasons, often celebratory and are often done at events in the city. I mean, they have second lines for the football team, hankies and everything. Jazz funerals are done for musicians black, white and other. This type of second line is of course different than those that are staples in black communities in the city. Traditions evolve, and appropriation is specifically when doing something with disregard to its history. If you acknowledge its significance and history, you're not necessarily appropriating.

I get, though, what PP is saying. If someone had no connection to New Orleans and just wanted a second line because they thought it seemed fun, I might give pause.

Oh my gosh! I love this. FH and I got engaged in Audubon Park on the lagoon bridge and I grew up around New Orleans but live in Seattle and this is where we're getting married. Two months after the wedding we're moving back down to the NOLA area so I can go to grad school. I have no advice or tips but I'm insanely jealous. The only southern tradition I could get away with up here is burying the bourbon.