The Beach Party Wedding Theme

A beach party wedding theme is the perfect excuse for a celebration that shouts nothing but informal, uninhibited fun! We can all call up some memory of a beach party that brings about the feelings of youthful adventure, good music and good company. Conjure up those memories and create new ones by incorporating a beach party theme into your wedding reception.

Setting the Scene:

Where else to have a carefree beach party wedding than the beach! If you don't live near the beach, don't dispair, many of the ideas here can be incorporated into a pool party as well. For the purpose of this page I will assume that you are having your party on the beach.

There are three ways you can go about your beach party wedding theme.

1. You can have a totally informal gathering around some bonfires (check if they are allowed first) with a barbeque as the main meal and a help yourself bar stocked with beers, ciders and dinky champagne bottles.

2. The second option is a slightly more formal seated function. Bring portable tables onto the beach and cover with table cloths in your chosen colours (blue or sand colours work well). Use benches instead of chairs as these are less likely to sink into the sand.

Light the area with bonfires, tiki torches or luminaries made from paper bags or cups. The more candles or torches the better the atmosphere will be.

3. Your third option is to throw down some colorful towels, beach mats or picnic blankets. Place some low tables on these and scatter a few comfortable cushions. This is the perfect setting for a beach picnic. A few simple luminaries or hurricane lanterns are the only decor items needed on the tables.


Also make sure to inflate a couple of colorful beach balls and place them all around. These make great decorations, but also make equally great favors! Your guests will definitely start throwing them around. If you are into that sort of thing you might even consider setting up a volleyball court or incorporating some other beach type activities like sand castle building.

Attire:

A beach party wedding theme is casual by nature and calls for casual to smart casual wedding attire. The bride can wear a simple slip dress or even a mini! The groom should dress in some draw string pants and a crisp white shirt or even shorts for a very informal party. Shoes should definitely not be allowed!

Centerpieces:

Here you also have a couple of choices. Whatever you decide apon, remember to keep it simple. A beach bucket filled with sand and a few candles and decorated with shells is one option. Or go for a little more glam with a simple sea-themed gel candle and a few small vases with tropical flowers. Another option is to hammer a few nails into a piece of driftwood, skewer some tea-light candles onto the nails and you have a beautiful centerpiece. If it is a breezy evening, then perhaps opt for some small decorative hurricane lanterns , some sand (plenty of that around) and shells for decor.

Another definite must are some beach party themed disposable cameras! These are a great and informal way to get photographs from your guest's perspectives. You might find it amusing what some of them take pictures of!

The ceremony:

Get married right next to your reception venue under a simple wedding gazebo or arch. You can use the benches from the reception to seat your guests for the ceremony to save on this extra cost, or have a few hay bales delivered to the beach to use for seating for the ceremony. Seating your guests is always preferred as it gives some order to the ceremony and will ensure that your older guests are comfortable.

Have your bridesmaids or flower girls carry your confetti in beach buckets.

Food:

For a beach party wedding theme there is no better food than a seafood barbecue! Try some of the following mouth watering meals:

Greek Salad Toasties - Country bread sandwiches roasted over an open fire till brown filled with tomatoes, spinach, onions, feta and a Greek dressing.

Spicy stuffed calamari kebabs

Lobster tails with passion-fruit and mustard sauce

Avo, nectarine and papino salad

Then have a Greek yogurt cake with fresh strawberries as your wedding cake and the dessert.

Invitations:

A beach party wedding theme calls for some inventive invitations to convey the message to your guests that this will be anything but a formal affair. You could be totally original and send your guests deflated beach balls with your invitation written on it in permanent marker. If this is a little too informal for your liking then perhaps try one of the following sites for more traditional (but still fun) invitations that will be perfect for a beach party wedding theme:

www.invitationsbydawn.com
www.beachwedlockinvitations.com

Music:

Depending on you and your fiance's music tastes, try some Cafe Del Mar , Jack Johnson, Donovan Frankenreiter or Xavier Rudd to set the scene and throw in a few summery/beachy type songs (like the Beach Boys, Under the Boardwalk, In the Summertime, Venga Boys, etc) as well if you like. A good dj should be able to combine your beach party wedding theme with your own personal music tastes and still be able to get your guests dancing. If you are a DIY type, then try one or a few of the following compilations of seriously summery tunes:

Sun Splashin

Dancin' on Sunshine: All-Time Greatest Summertime

25 All-Time Greatest Summer Songs

Beach Party: Garpax Surf 'N' Drag

Beach Party Mix

Summer Beach Party

Biggest Hits of the Summer

Beach Party Favorites (Dig)

Transport:

No better way to arrive (or depart) at your beach party themed wedding than in a colourful beach buggy!

Flowers:

Flowers for your beach party wedding theme should be kept at a minimum, but can be any carefree type of flower such as daisies, sunflowers, gerberas or any other tropical flowers such as hibuscus or plumerias. Another alternative is to leave out flowers completely and decorate instead with palm leaves or sea grass.

Beach Wedding Party Tip:

Wish Lanterns

If you are looking for that wow factor to end off your beach wedding party theme, why not try Wish/Sky Lanterns? These floating wonders have their roots in the East where they symbolize the floating away of troubles to be replaced with future good luck and fortune... now is that not something every wedding should have? And not only are they good for your future happiness, they are also biodegradable, fun and a spectacular feature or finale to your most amazing day.

Your beach party themed wedding is sure to be a hit and definitely a party that will not be forgotten soon. Please just make sure that you find out about rules and regulations regarding the use of public beaches, and that you have a backup plan in case of inclement weather.

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