Guide to Beach Weddings
Photo courtesy of Pinterest. All rights reserved.
If you’re a beach lover, like me, a beach is the perfect place for a wedding. However, planning any kind of wedding is a complicated process, often fraught with emotion. While I can’t help you with the emotions, this guide to beach weddings ought to help you cover the basics as you plan your beach wedding.
Beach Weddings
In general, beach weddings are smaller, less formal occasions than most traditional ceremonies followed by receptions, but a beach wedding can literally be anything you want it to be as long as it’s held at a beach. With so many options, it can be difficult to begin.
Steps to Planning a Beach Wedding
- Pick a beach. Do you want a destination wedding where everyone will have to travel to attend the wedding or is there a beach closer to home you love? Maybe you want to get married at a beach that has special meaning to you and/or your spouse to be. The location of your wedding will guide many of your other decisions.
- Set a budget. Before you get totally carried away with the number of guests you’re going to invite and all of the myriad details that go into planning a wedding, set a budget and stick to it! Yes, your wedding is an important and magical day in your life, but it is only one day. Actually, it’s only a few hours.
- Draw up a guest list. The number of guests you invite makes a big difference to the wedding you end up having. Why? If your budget is, say, $25,000 and you invite 50 guests, you can spend roughly $500 per guest (don’t forget to include non-guest related expenses like your wedding clothes). If you invite 250 people with that same budget, you can only spend $100 per guest. That’s a big difference in everything from food to alcohol to decorations.
- Decide how involved you want to be in the wedding planning. Are you a do-it-yourselfer who likes to be immersed in every little detail, or would you prefer to leave the details to a professional wedding planner?
- Choose an overall theme. Are you a romantic? A nature lover? A boater? Are your favorite beaches warm and mellow, or wild and windswept? What are your beach colors: natural tans and blues, or bright and tropical?
By answering these questions in advance, you’ll have an easier time managing the smaller details like décor and attire. Plus, your wedding will be a reflection of who you are. Now, on to the details.
Beach Wedding Attire
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Obviously what to wear to a beach wedding is different if you’re the bride or groom, a member of the wedding party, or a guest, but the overall theme of the wedding can serve as your guide.
If you’re the bride, look for a wedding dress silhouette that flatters your figure, but stay away from the big princessy ballgown with long flowing train. Heavy dresses are hot and you definitely don’t want to be uncomfortable on your wedding day. Fabrics like silk, chiffon and jersey are lightweight, but elegant. Let the details rather than the fabric guide your decision. For example, do you want a short or long dress? Bare shoulders and arms are nice for a beach wedding. How much detail in the form of beading, ruffles, bows, etc. do you want? Keep the same criteria in mind when selecting your bridesmaids’ dresses.
If you’re the groom or a groomsman, this is not the type of wedding to wear a tux. Keep things cool, but stylish in a lightweight suit or even just a shirt and trousers. Some classic beach wedding looks for men include:
- A navy blazer, white shirt and light-colored trousers.
- A linen suit in a lighter color such as sand or wheat. Avoid white.
- A white linen shirt and dark trousers.
If you’re a guest, you also want to stay with lightweight materials that won’t leave you hot and sticky, but still look luxurious. Check with the bride and groom as to how formal the event is and plan your wardrobe from there.
Beach Wedding Decorations
I’m going to let the pictures tell the story here. However, a final decision related to your choice of decorations is if you’re going to have wedding favors. Beach wedding favors are most meaningful if they’re tied to the overall theme of your wedding, so when guests look at, and use, their favors in the future, they think of your wedding and the wonderful time they had sharing your special day with you.
Photo courtesy of Pinterest. All rights reserved.
Photo courtesy of Pinterest. All rights reserved.
Photo courtesy of Pinterest. All rights reserved.
Photo courtesy of Pinterest. All rights reserved.
Photo courtesy of Pinterest. All rights reserved.
To many joyful beach experiences!
— Lisa Dworkin
