Beach Wedding

Over the years many have come to us to do their weddings, receptions, showers and parties. We have helped several, including one at the White House during the Carter Administration for Mrs. Carter. We have found we can not handle such large occasions, but we do offer ideas and the products to produce your own special event. We have a large selection of shells and products to choose from, but because of the large numbers and low prices we do not list them all on the internet.

 

Beach Wedding Tips:

Invitations

  • Get the theme off to a good start by putting a small amount of white sand in each guest’s wedding invitation.
  •  Have the invitations resemble a vacation postcard with a photo of the bride and groom at the beach with the words, “Hope you’ll be here...” written in the sand.

Decorating Ideas

  • To decorate guests’ chairs on the beach, string garlands of shells, starfish or coral between seats to connect them.
  • Use charms of sandals for wine or champagne glass markers at the reception.
  • Have white galvanized buckets holding bottles of water for guests to take as they need.
  • Give each person a palm leaf fan to stay cool.
  • Place four large rattan poles upright into the sand and drape white gauze over the top as a canopy for guests to sit under. Gauze is only about $5 a yard and comes in a variety of colors.
  • Use decorative pieces of driftwood as place card holders.
  • Thread either a beautiful ribbon or natural raffia through a sand dollar to use as a napkin ring.
  • Use candles that smell like tropical fruit such as mango, papaya, coconut and kiwi.
  • Line the base of the gift table, head table or buffet table with real grass skirts – the raffia ones in natural, not the cheap green paper ones.
Wedding Attire
  • Bridesmaids and groomsmen could wear beach wedding colors in shades of ocean green, sky blue, and sand beige.
Wedding Cake, Favors, Music and Other Details
  • Avoid having the wedding in the afternoon, instead choose early morning or dusk so guests do not have to sit in the hot sun, and there will be less people using the beach.
  • For the wedding cake, think key lime or pineapple or chocolate with a mango sauce.
  • Consider having a wedding program fan, so guests can cool themselves with it. (For more ideas, see Wedding Program Ideas for Wording & Design).
  • Set the wedding march to a reggae beat and use Caribbean type instruments for the wedding music, such as a steel drum or a bamboo flute.
  • Have the bride’s arrival announced by a conch shell horn.
  • Decorate a wooden lobster trap with tropical flowers and use it as a money box or, for something more elegant, have envelopes left in a mother-of-pearl bowl.
  • A boat captain’s log book would make an interesting guest book.
  • Disposable cameras have become so popular at weddings, that they now make them in various designs, including a beach theme. 
  • Fun wedding favors to give guests would be a small bag of tropical flower bulbs like plumerias, or saltwater taffy.
  • From a citrus cake to ocean theme decor ideas to sand filled invitations, all of these beach wedding ideas are perfect to use at any type of outdoor wedding and reception. 
  • Think about a “Beach Blanket” theme where everyone eats on the beach on blankets.
  • If you’re going Hawaiian Style, carry that over to the food with island favorites and perhaps a roasted pig.
  • Use the obvious, seafood! Have a restaurant or caterer put together a clam bake, crab-boil or fish fry for beach wedding receptions.
  • Use an old row-boat or dinghy filled with ice and soft drinks, beer and wine coolers. This saves on bartender fees too!
  • Using the same boat idea, fill it with shrimp cocktail or other cold appetizers.