DONT SINK YOUR BEACH WEDDING IN A CRUISE THEME

If a themed beach wedding is overwhelming you. Please don't go pulling your hair out just yet. I've been there trust me it hurts and you wouldn't want to end up bald by the time the beach wedding day arrives.

You are not to blame. A themed beach wedding opens up an unlimited world of creativity to express yourself in. Some may seek adventure or romance or just plain simplicity.

As a recent bride, I too was faced with more options that I could handle. If you're a die hard romantic like I was then you will most probably be thinking along the lines of the epic romance on board the titanic.

What better way to combine your wedding and your honeymoon into one I thought. A wedding on board a cruise ship.

Hmm, on second thought, let me take that suggestion back. I too thought that the cruise wedding reception would be the ideal solution to my themed beach wedding dilemma.

Our theme would be a wedding on board the titanic. Though I was a little more optimistic hoping that my cruise ship wouldn't actually sink and not to mention that I would have to work a miracle before I got David 'on board' with the whole Titanic idea.

Still, at the time it really seemed like my most brilliant thought so far. It would be a wedding...reception and honeymoon all in one. How cost effective that is, I thought.

As brilliant as an all in one wedding seemed to me at the time, it was also my motive for sinking the titanic theme.

As much as I love my family and friends I don't think I wanted them along on my honeymoon. Especially not David's prudent Aunt Gertrude, who may just need a second heart by-pass if she saw me in my bikini.

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With that option out of the way, I got back to the drawing board. Hmm, next in line was my Pirates of the Caribbean theme. I was no Kiera Knightly but gosh these ideas had me feeling like a kid again. It was perfect ,a romance for me and adventure for David theme, so I thought.

That idea sunk faster than the titanic one did, when I was brought back down to earth by David who besides refusing to grow a beard or resemble Johnny Depp, reminded me of the importance of our beach wedding day.

It was not about getting dressed up like a fancy dress party. After all we were not pretending to be joined in holy matrimony. Our Love was real and so to should our beach wedding be real.

This was when I put away my pie in the sky ideas and focused on the main purpose of the day. I focused more on David and my interests e.g. our favourite colours, style and our ever important budget rather than fictional romance and movie themes to incorporate into our wedding.

I would like to share with you a few of our selections in little details which went a long way to making our beach wedding day feel like it was too good to be true

CREATE DRAMA AND ROMANCE WITH LANTERNS AND CANDLES

Lighting is a key design element often overlooked in most wedding ceremonies and wedding receptions.

If you are opting for a morning to afternoon ceremony then you have abundant sunlight to emphasise that glow on your face.

But as the sun sets you may want to consider using lanterns, and the inexpensive yet effective tea light candles to create a simple yet dramatic and off course romantic effect.

This can be used both indoor and in outdoor receptions. A few more creative ideas which I used included;

Paper Chinese style lanterns. Be sure to opt for more subtle colours to match your colour scheme.

Collecting sea shells a few days before. Give them a good rinse with clean water. Buy wax from your local craft shop. Melt the wax into the shells. Fit a cotton wick to it and allow to set for your own sea shell candles.

Fill up shallow vases with water add tea light candles and decorate with flowers of your choice. You could also top with seas shells and pebbles.

HOW TO GET YOUR GUESTS TALKING AT THE TABLE

One of my biggest dilemmas for the beach wedding reception was trying to get the seating arrangements right.

Having a meal with my family is challenging enough for me sometimes with all the squabbling that goes on.

I definately know that I didn't want all of my family huddled up together looking across the table from David's family at their own table. That would have been disastrous.

We both thought it would be a good idea to mix the families in the place settings to give them a chance to get to know each other.

We also didn't want a female only or male only table so we had a good mixture of families, for example we put my uncle George and his wife Alice together with their two children matched with David's uncle Carter and his wife Brenda and their 3 children.

We put similar thought into our table decor. We didn't want George and Carter to discuss the floral arrangements so we added some feathered fishing tackle into their place card. Brenda was the best fish catcher of them all, but our plan definitely got them talking since both uncles were amateur fisherman.

It's simple yet personal touches like these that will make guests from both families truly feel like they are witnessing not just a union of two people but of two
families.

For surprise treat we included name sake giant cookies for all the little kids, the big kids in the family were treated to wine.

I hope I have inspired you to forget the pomp and ceremony that wedding's bring.

Focus on what matters most to you and not what other people would like to see.


Wishing you all the best.
Betsy