DIY Beach Weddings

Before starting the actual planning for your diy beach wedding let your imagination swing - what do you associate with the beach? Going on vacation, feeling the sun and the breeze on your skin, collecting shells, watching the ships go by, listening to the seagulls... Happy moments of carlessness... When putting together the elements of your diy beach wedding, keep these sensations in your mind and heart and try to recreate them for your guests.

The decoration of the wedding reception is the fun part of any diy wedding and a beach wedding will give you loads of possibilities to add your personal touch!

The most important part of any wedding decoartion is the centerpiece. Use any of these items to create your diy beach centerpiece: sand (if you don´t live at the beach, go to a pet shop and buy bird sand), seashells (use the ones you collected during your last vacation or get them at a dollar store), candles (floating ones or pilar candles), accessories like little deck chairs, flip flops, sand forms... Visit your local dollar store (or go online) and see what they have - then create your decoration accordingly. Just don't go overboard with the colours - you don't want to create a carnival... Good colours for a beach wedding include white, off whtie, sand or beige and light blue.

Here are some projects:

Fill a clear glass bowl with sand, add shells and sand dollars and place a white pillar candle in the center. Compliment with more candles in clear glass holders.

Prepare the arrangement of sand and shells described above. Add water and let the sand settle down again. Put some floating candles instead of the pillar candle.

Arrange sand, shells, nostalgic sand forms etc. on a big white plate as a beach scenery. If you have a hand for these kind of things, you might even add little people (go to a toy store and see what they can offer you) to create a family day on the beach scenery.

Don´t fool yourself: doing your own favors is going to be a lot of work! It depends on the size of your guest list how many you have to make, so think well before you start working. As with the invitations you have to calculate, if it will really will save money. Depending on your projcet you might have to spend an amount of money on materials that could easily buy you a ready made favor. There are plenty of pretty favors that go with a beach wedding. If you want to go for diy beach wedding favors, consider baking cookies in the form of a sand dollar. Wrap them in clear celophane, add a ribbon in your wedding colours and tie on a little card with your names and the date.

Another idea: Get little glass bottles or jars and fill them with sand and/or little sea shells, attach a pretty ribbon and a card with your names and the date.