Your Beach Wedding

Beach weddings can be held in many countries. Pretty well most Caribbean countries, the Mediterranean seaside, off the coasts of Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Cruises are another nice way to have a beach wedding. Some luxury cruise lines will set up your wedding on a private island complete with chairs, decorations, chef, food and band. Your guests will be shuttled by boat from the main cruise ship and everyone will enjoy the day’s festivities. Sometimes, however, the cruise ship must leave port at a certain time not providing enough time to hold the reception on land. In this scenario, the wedding ceremony and refreshments may be held on land and the reception on the ship.

A beach wedding can be very exciting for the bride-to-be as she has some freedom to choose her gown and dresses for her bridesmaids. She might choose a very formal gown, a sexy strapless gown, a special occasion sarong, the traditional gown of the location’s culture, and maybe even a fancy, colorful sundress.

While preparing for your beach wedding abroad, review a couple points and make your decisions well in advance so that you can notify your guests and make your own preparations.

• Will the wedding be formal or informal? Formal is most likely described as wearing a standard wedding dress whereas informal can be shorts for the men, sundresses for the ladies and flip-flops for everyone.
• Once the couple has decided on the formality, it will be important to provide clear information in the invitations for the guests. The invitations should have a separate section clearly outlining details of the wedding location. The temperature and climate are important to know so that the guests can dress appropriately. Details surrounding the terrain are crucial. If the area is not suitable to high heels, the female guests need to know what kinds of shoes are preferable. Should the trip involve different types of activities, add that to the information sheet so guests can prepare. The guests are dependant on you more so with a beach wedding than a wedding at home.
• Buy everything in your own country. Sundries may be expensive or you might not even find them.
• If the guests are paying for their own trips, you might make it known that gifts are not expected as the travel expense and the act of sharing in your special day are the wedding gift.
• Think of little things that add a nice touch to the wedding and at the same time will be appreciated by your guests. The items do not have to be expensive just thoughtful. Things like custom flip-flops, little parasols or pretty hand fans to use on the beach. Another idea that is quite nice is to have small bottles of shampoo and conditioner personalized with your names and wedding date and have them placed in the bathrooms of the guests at the hotel or resort.
• Although most resorts and hotels will set up a tent or gazebo near the ceremony, if the temperature is blazing hot and there will be older guests in your party, be sure to order a covering so that some or all of the guests have shade from the sun.

A beach wedding is somewhat of a unique wedding in that you can be as formal and traditional as you choose while at the same time, the location of the beach allows you the freedom to do other fun things.