Seaside & Beach Weddings


White Plastic Sailor Hat	Captains Hat	White Sailor Hat	Beachcomber Hat	Bridal Paper Goods

Sunset Scene Setter	Beach Scene Setter	Ocean Blue Scene Setter	Beach Balls	Sunglasses

Plastic-Ware	Weddings Supplies	Wedding Party Items	Bridal Showers Supplies	Bachelorette Party Supplies

Does the beauty of a sunset, the fresh sea air, and the calming effect of ocean waves create the romantic atmosphere you want for your wedding & reception? Make your beach wedding dreams a reality with some ideas from our wedding consultants.

The most common questions we get asked is "How do I have a Beach Wedding & Reception that doesn't look like a Beach Party"?. Of coarse if you want that casual Beach Party mood for your wedding and reception, it's your wedding, go for it!

The key to pulling off a coordinated event: Evoke your theme throughout the affair. Whether that theme is as general as a season or a feeling, or as specific as a special flower, it should be the subtle thread that ties everything together. Your location, invitations, flowers, menu, cake, and favors should all cleverly reflect one common concept. Then, get as creative as you can! In this guide we will give you some ideas for presenting your beach theme in a way that is both romantic & beautiful.

Use the Ocean as Inspiration

When choosing the layout of your ceremony, remember you have chosen a theme with a million years of spiritual pretext. Incorporate the spiritual influence of the ocean into your ceremony with beach-inspired readings, poems, and vows that reflect the power of your surroundings as well as the power of your love for one another.

Locations

Of course you may want to actually have your wedding & reception on the Beach, but if that is not possible, try a Yacht Club with a banquet room. Have your ceremony & reception on a Yacht or Paddle wheeler, or find a beautiful country club, aquarium, or ballroom. You could even transform your backyard pool area into a beach scene. A beach inspired theme can be achieved anywhere.

Talk to the Local Beach Council

If you plan to actually have your wedding & reception on a beach, before you rent items like chairs, arches & etc. to use in your wedding ceremony or reception, check out local ordinances regarding your beach wedding. Find out if there are guest maximums, if you can put chairs & tables on the beach, if you can scatter rose petals, if food and alcohol are allowed, if there are restrooms nearby, if you can light a bonfire, if you can pitch a tent, the tide schedule, what time does the sunset, and other mandatory information.

Have a Great Backup Plan

Good luck or no, if it rains the day of your sandy nuptials, your dream day will be a bust. Make sure you have a sturdy alternate plan in case of rain. Secure a location away from the waves and have a tent prepared, just in case. Include alternative plans and directions in your invitation.

Prepare Your Guests

Send a save-the-date announcement up to six months in advance so your family and friends have a chance to prepare for the special location. In addition, when you send your invitations, remind guests to bring extra clothes in case it gets chilly.

Invitations

Our Carlson Craft Invitation Shop has a nice selection of Beach and Tropical Invitations, do a Refined Search for Beach/Tropical. There are many designs to choose from.

The bridal accessories section also has lots of items such as: place cards, napkins, and favor bags, that can be imprinted with seashell and other designs, like those shown below. You will also find cake tops, seals, favors, servers, guest books, registry pens, garters, pillows, decorating items, gifts and more!.

Decorate Wisely

If you plan to have your wedding ceremony & reception on the beach and you want to line your "aisle" with luminaries or put up a trellis laden with flowers - consider what will happen to your decorations if the wind kicks up 2 minutes into the ceremony? Will all your decorations go flying? Be sure and test all your ceremony special touches before the Big Day so you know what to expect in terms of wind, sea spray, and sand.

Beach Motif & Special Touches:

The motif is the visual representation of your theme, which is created by the use of objects or symbols. This symbol may be repeated on your invitations, program, plates, or decorations. Sometimes the use of several different symbols will be used as components of the theme. Develop your motif using a list of words related to the theme. Brainstorm a list to create your pool of ideas. This list is very important for generating ideas that can be applied to all areas of your wedding from the bridal shower to the wedding & reception.

For a Beach theme you might come up with words like: Seashore, Ocean, sand, sea shells, sea creatures, lighthouses, driftwood, sailor hats, sailor collars, dockside pilings, fishnet, coral, seaweed, pearls, rocks, bamboo, teak, oak, aquarium, sandcastles, seashells, clams, oysters, starfish, dolphins, fish, lobsters, crabs, pelicans, seagulls, octopus, whales, sharks, sea turtle, waves, water, mermaid, treasure chest, lobster traps, decorative glass floats, nautical signs, sundial, message in a bottle, salt water taffy, boats, yachts, sailboats, beach umbrellas, bamboo torches, New England, Cape Cod, and lots more.

Beach Wedding Flowers

Your best option is to choose a beach with naturally growing foliage, which will minimize the need for additional flowers & etc. However, beach weddings have spread from coastal communities to more inland venues.

If you are not in an coastal community, adopting beach wedding flowers for your ceremony and reception may be different from what your local florist is used too or immediately equipped to handle, but chances are they can easily order the materials and products necessary to come up with attractive and interesting beach wedding arrangements.

You may want to use flowers influenced by the English garden style seen in Cape Cod or more exotic flowers like those seen in Hawaii or other tropical ports. You can use traditional and non-traditional flowers and containers like sea shells, Nantucket baskets, lobster pots, watering cans, beach buckets & etc.. Bouquets can be bright bold colors to the more traditional soft pastels. Some ideas might include:

Calla lilies, Roses, Freesia and Alstromeria in a pink Conch Shell.
Hibiscus, Callas, Freesia, Gerbera Daisies designed in a Spider shell.
Hibiscus and Alstromeria in a frog shell.

Other flower chooses might include: Asiatic Lilies, Hydrangea, Gardenias, Passion Flowers, or a 3ft Palm or Banana Tree. Accents like berries, sea shells, sea glass and sea grasses can be added to your arrangements.

Today's brides carry bouquets ranging from traditional all white and cream flowers to pastels to all bold bright flowers. The bride is no longer limited in her choice of style. Most flowers are available year round. Bouquets can be Hand Tied, Cascade, Presentation or Single flower.

Attendant’s bouquets can be bright bold colors to the more traditional soft pastels, they even can include berries, sea shells and sea grasses. They range from a single flower to tied garden bouquets to a single variety of flower. A perfect opportunity to put your imagination to work.

Flower girls can steal the show. They can carry mini bouquets, baskets of flowers or petals, balls of flowers, or a small flower wreath. Other containers are often beach pails, watering cans, and other small containers.

Church Arrangements

Arrange flowers in containers like: Nantucket baskets, watering cans, beach buckets, vases, or urns. Tropical flowers arranged in shells (Conch Shells and Nautilus Shells work well) are lovely. A church that has a mantel over the altar lends itself to a long arrangement representative a of seaside garden.

Interlace rope and string pearls into floral rings, swags, floral arrangements & etc.
Add seashells, starfish, sea horses, driftwood, coral & etc. as accents.

The focal point of an outdoor beach wedding is often a trellis or chuppah. They can be elaborate with flowers or with simply white fabric or tulle.

Decorations for Pews and Chairs can be either formal or simple. They vary from sprays of greens, to sprays of beach grasses & Caspia. You could also hang baskets with Roses on pews or beach buckets with Hydrangea, Roses, Gerberas. Accent with strings of pearls, strings of flowers, or any unique idea to enhance your wedding day.

An alternative to the unity candle! Simply fill the two, 7 3/4" tall decanters with craft sand (sold separately) in single colors that represent the bride and groom. During the ceremony, the bride and groom pour sand from their decanters into a larger, 10 3/4" tall decanter. Decanters will be engraved with one initial each to display your married monogram.

Stairways can be wrapped with greenery or tulle with the addition of sprays of flowers or sea grasses.

Center poles of a tent often need to be covered, Organza and Tulle are good choices for this. Use round Japanese lanterns for lighting.

Gazebos can be decorated with greenery, sea grasses and flowers with addition of tulle.

Wreaths are often used on the Front Door of the Church, above the Altar, and at the entrance to the Reception. They can include elegant flowers, shells, coral, strings of pearls, sea creatures, and even fruit.

The sky is the limit, use your imagination to make your Wedding Day unique!

The Beach Reception

Use a brass "captain's table bell" to get guests' attention for the wedding toast, first dance, cake cutting, garter tossing & departure of the bride & groom

If your budget is low, but your dreams are grand, consider the depth of a giant photo mural. They fill an entire wall, and better yet, they provide guests with the most realistic setting imaginable. We would suggest this Pebble Beach Mural, Cinnamon Bay Wall Mural, or Dolphin's Paradise Mural.

Inexpensive Coral Reef & Beach Scene Setters can be used to bring the feel of the beach to any room.

Under the Sea Wedding Idea

Our consultants recently did a wedding reception where the bride decided not to take a chance with an outdoor beach location, so the reception was held at a local aquarium.

The glass aquariums which flanked both sides of the event room served as wonderful scene setters for this Under the Sea Wedding Reception.

Remember the tops of the tables provide you with a very large surface area and covering them with a beautiful tablecloth is the easiest way to change the feel of a room. The guest tables were covered with a specialty linen tablecloth called Oceana, a swirling pattern of blue, green and yellow. Another option our bride considered for her table linens was a Coral Reef Nights overlay over a teal lamour tablecloth. Your wedding consultant can refer you to a vendor who supplies these specialty linens.

Napkins were sapphire blue, folded into a triangle and placed in the center of a silver charger. A single Sand dollar with the guests name was placed on top of each napkin. Other table accents could be assorted seashell, sea glass, starfish, or sea horses.

The centerpieces were 25" tall lighted clear glass vases filled with water & seaweed (dendrobium orchids which have small florets along a central stem also work well). Four small tea lights with lime green shades were placed around the seaweed vase. Or you could fill a bubble bowl with water, add a couple of blue ice cube lights (inexpensive lighted centerpiece), then add a floating beach candle.

Seashells can also be used for table centerpieces, they work great alone or as a centerpiece vase for holding flowers. Two seashells that work well for centerpieces are the Conch Shells and Nautilus Shells.

The wedding cake at our Under the Sea themed wedding was decorated with seashells and coral with a Pearly Nautilus shell cake topper (these are the very best shell to use, but remember the nautilus shell requires a stand in order to sit upright). Sea glass also accented the cake table.

Faux Cakes (or fake cakes) are perfect for an outdoor wedding, as heat, humidity and small flying insects are no problem, they are also a cost-effective alternative to the traditional wedding cake, whether purchasing or renting from a local vendor. Your guests can then be served from economically priced sheet cakes. If you choose, one tier of the faux cake can be replicated by your local bakery for use in the wedding cake cutting ceremony. Ask your wedding consultant about this option.

We completed our design with gold Chivari chairs with sapphire blue cushions.

Links:

For the Bride planning a beach wedding this V1 Coral by Allison Blake would be perfect. Raylia Bridal Designs also has some lovely Bridal Gowns and Bridesmaids dresses this year, many of them would be lovely for a Beach Wedding. Your Bridal Consultant can help you find a gown in your price range.

Sasha Souza Events, Napa, Ca was awarded the Special Events Magazine prestigious Gala Award for Best Dining Table Design for their "Night of Fire" flaming beach theme tabletop. They used a custom designed fire pit filled with volcanic rock and sea glass and bordered by terra cotta tiles. Visit their website at www.sashasouzaevents.com, click on hot off the press and locate the Gala Award Nominations, January 2006 to see a photo of this design.

Marker 1 Yacht Club banquet rooms. The newest facilities in Seabrook, Texas on Clear Lake for weddings, receptions, parties, and corporate events.

Star Fleet Entertainment Yachts, Imagine a Houston wedding chapel on the water! Have a wedding portrait made on the bow of a Houston yacht with a magnificent sunset behind you.

The Colonel Paddlewheel
Galveston, Texas 77550
Phone: 409-740-7797

Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau
This site has a wedding guide (located under general information) for planning your wedding on Galveston Island, TX.