Beach Wedding FAQs

It depends on where you're getting married but it assumes that a permit will be required if you get married on the beach. If your wedding venue has a private beach, you're less likely to need an additional permit than if it's a public beach. A local wedding planner with experience working at your wedding venue can help you if you need help navigating the permit system (especially for destination weddings). They will know what to do and be happy to assist you. 

Beach weddings are attractive options around the country (and the world). U.S. beaches are trendy for beach weddings in Florida, Cape Cod, Southern California, and Hawaii. There are a lot of oceanfront venues and luxurious beach resorts in Mexico and the Caribbean if you're considering a destination wedding. 

Beach-themed weddings are still possible even if your venue isn't on the oceanfront -- especially if the water is nearby. Yacht clubs, lake houses, and bayside lawns are some of our favorite venues for this style.

Bright and vibrant color palettes are perfect for a beach-themed wedding. Choosing a playful color scheme like green, orange, yellow, purple, or fuchsia is the easiest way to achieve a tropical look. If you're having a nautical wedding, stick with a classic color scheme that includes navy blue, white, coral, and blush. Do you love boho style? Use warm colors like rust orange, marigold, and dusty rose for a free-spirited, earthy feel. 

Pastel and neutral colors will give your wedding a vintage, beachy chic feel if statement hues differ from your thing. You might also consider light blue and gray, ivory and peach, or white and turquoise if you go this route.

You can choose statement flowers that will work well with your beach wedding color palettes, such as stargazer lilies, orchids, hibiscus, anthurium, plumerias, palm leaves, and proteas. Choosing flowers in white or pastel tones will make your beach-themed wedding classic or vintage. The list is long, but just a few of our favorites are hydrangeas, roses, peonies, ranunculus, anemones, sweet peas, and delphinium. Add lots of greenery or pampas grass if your wedding theme is boho-meets-beachy to give bouquets and arrangements a wild, untamed look. 

Add seashells, starfish, or sailing rope to your flower arrangements if you want them to have a beach-inspired feel. Bananas also look incredible, blowing in the breeze. The centerpieces of beach weddings are often hurricane vases or antique lanterns. Leave them uncovered and add votives or floating candles for a romantic touch, or fill them with sand or seashells and top them with flowers.

Having a beach wedding ceremony is wonderful since you don't have to worry about decorating and let the scenery do the talking. The ocean view will wow your guests; you wouldn't want to hide it from them! Your ceremony decoration should include an altar, arch, chuppah, aisle markers, and a sign. Consider whether you'll be allowed to use certain kinds of decor and the time to set up for the ceremony on a public beach. Lastly, be careful with the decor at beach and waterfront venues since they can get windy. 

You don't have to go overboard with beach wedding decor. If you choose beach-inspired accents for your wedding, choose carefully -- you want a wedding that still looks like a wedding, not a beach town souvenir shop filled with mismatched items. Beach-themed weddings are perfect for seashells, starfish, and sand but should be used in moderation. You don't have to use beach-themed decor every time. Sometimes less is more. Balance and cohesion can be achieved by mixing in non-beachy items.

Tropical beach weddings often feature citrus fruits and pineapples as accents. The pineapple is believed to symbolize hospitality, and its cheerful appearance can easily be used as an aisle marker or centerpiece accent during a wedding ceremony. The orange, lemon, lime, and kumquat fruits are great for creating centerpieces, escorts, place cards, or cake decorations for beach weddings.