Plan A Fun Beach Wedding
By L Hayes
The beach wedding. Fun, carefree, and you get to jump into the ocean afterward. It's such a gorgeous setting, with the sound of waves and, if you are lucky to be facing the western hemisphere, a fabulous sunset. You can hold the wedding ceremony on the sand (convincing guests to wear flip flops or go barefoot), on the boardwalk, or on a cliff overlooking the sea. The last two are better for when your guest list has a lot of older relatives who might not enjoy walking in the sand like younger folks.
As to having your guests go barefoot, this all depends if the sand on your selected beach is fine and white and not full of sharp pebbles and seashells. You could include a short list of do's and don'ts with your invitations: do/don't go barefoot, do bring bug spray, don't leave your sunblock behind, etc. When choosing your beach wedding reception venue, think also of how popular the beach is - you wouldn't want to share your nuptials with a dozen skimpily clad sunbathers. Some beaches really have special areas designated for weddings, go ask around. Also, do get a quiet beach for the ceremony. Your favorite summer destination may have the best surfing waves, but you wouldn't want to miss that part when the pastor asks your groom to kiss his bride.
Dress up your bridesmaids and groomsmen in soft, breezy fabrics, and remind them relentlessly that a beach wedding will prove hotter than your ordinary church or garden wedding. Encourage them to fit hats into their couture! On your part, do time your wedding either early in the morning - and have a shaded area for a barbecue lunch, or late in the afternoon. Sunset beach weddings are quite romantic, with torches burning around you. Also, they guarantee that the sand will not be too hot for your guests' feet.
The wedding favors will be an exciting part of assembling a beach wedding. Hand out engraved fans, tiny and colorful parasols, or rubber flip flops. There are also charming starfish-shaped soap, shell-designed tea lights, water design glass coasters, and dolphin-shaped bottle openers, among other beach wedding favors. Classic beach wedding favors are those jam jars you can fill with sand, a snippet of poetry and a couple of seashells. You can also give out specially designed bride and groom rubber duckies. Hand the duck brides to the groom's friends and relatives and the duck grooms to the bride's, a token gesture that you're welcoming them into your life as well.
You can incorporate your beach wedding favors into the table settings at the reception. There are mini-sandcastles hardened and hand painted which you could use as centerpieces instead of flower arrangements. A variety of place card holders come in beach themes - beach chairs of all shapes, sizes and colors, tin pails and miniature flip flops.
There are many planners who are becoming experts at coordinating beach weddings, including all the legal stuff, but with a little creativity and tenacity, you can also do the planning yourself. It will take a lot of preparation, however, including several trips to different locations for oculars, and return trips to the beach of your choice to iron out all the details. Then again, aren't return trips to the beach a great part of planning a beach wedding?
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