how to have a seaside wedding

Fantasising about the sunset, the fresh sea air, and your darling? Make your beach wedding dreams a reality with these top 5 ways to have a seaside ceremony to remember.

Before you rent those tiki torches, check out local ordinances regarding your beach wedding. Our council approves the conduct of a civil service/exchanging of vows. Though a chair and table used for signing purposes is permitted, receptions will need to be held at a venue. Noosa Council has restrictions on where you may hold a ceremony, guest maximums, conditions on equipment, food and alcohol. Receptions and marques are not allowed therefore you will need to have it at a venue. Visit ceremony locations for more detailed information about where to have your ceremony in Noosa.
(Also see Reception Venues on this site)

See Noosa Council's website here for further information

2. Have a Great Backup Plan

Don't simply rely on nature to go your way. While every beach wedding should be in sunshine, unfortunately it doesn’t always work that way. So have a back up plan in case of bad weather, whether it’s an alternate spot or a venue close by to retreat to. It’s a good idea to outline your back up plan to your guests, so they know the drill if the weather turns sour. Many couples who have outdoor weddings will include a bad weather plan card with their wedding invitations.

Send a save-the-date announcement up to six months in advance so your family and friends have a chance to prepare for the special location. This is especially important if you're interstate or overseas. Your family and guests will need to know in advance when to take time off to travel. Noosa, being a top tourist destination, can often be hard to find accommodation. We also recommend you check that Noosa isn't hosting a crowd-drawing event on your chosen date. Enquire in advance and try to bulk book so that you can offer your guests a comfy bed close to your reception venue. In addition, when you send your invitations, remind guests to bring extra clothes in case it gets chilly. See our temperature table, it will ensure your family & guests pack for the season.

Sure, you want to line your "aisle" with luminaries laden with flowers - but will your decorations go flying into the wind 2 minutes into the ceremony? Be sure and test all your ceremony special touches before the big day so you know what to expect in terms of wind, sea spray and sand. If you're having seating, if only limited, tie them with ribbons and hang sea shells from them. Choose where you and the bridal party will stand so your guests have the wonderfull backdrop of Noosa to gaze upon.

Don't a ssume your voices will be heard by all your guests without the aid of microphones. Beaches aren’t always quiet places, especially public ones. As you read your wedding vows could you be competing with the sounds of surf, voices of playing children, passing planes and boats, seagulls, or the barking of a dog. If you are wired for sound, you don’t have to worry about any of these noises drowning out your wedding vows.

seaside receptions

After all that gushy romance, it's time to party. Here are some ideas for a wedding reception at a your chosen venue with a beach inspired theme. Naturally, you will need to pass these decoration ideas past the coordinator at your venue.

For a fun and frivolous beach reception, have your guests boogie down to the beach tunes popular in the 1960's like the Beach Boys, Jan and Dean, and the Mama's and the Papa's. Hire a local band that specialises in this kind of music, lei's, Hawaiian shirts and all.

Extend the beach theme to your menu and table arrangements. Serving your dishes inside scallop shells adds a nice marine touch and so is using sand dollar place cards at the table or seashell napkin rings. Use sand or water in your centerpieces, like flowers floating in water or candles buried in sand. Sand castles make great centerpieces as well and you can strategically place goodies and sweets on them for your guests to nibble on. Miniature beach chairs piled with shell-shaped chocolates are also an innovative party bomboniere.
For the food itself, choose cuisines that are complimentary to the beach theme, speak to your coordinator or caterer.

If you're having your reception inside, you can still pretend you're out on the beach. Make it a fun spot to spend time by stringing up hammocks, using beach chairs to relax in, hanging fish net around and scattering sea glass and shell assortments about. Line the dance floor with seashells, or stack them in buckets around the room mixed with sea glass.

Extend your ocean dreams even to your wedding cake. Ask your caterer if they can make shells, starfish or seahorses out of fondant, chocolate or icing to decorate your cake. Or accentuate a simple wedding cake with the real deal - surround it with starfish, shells or other beachie items to bring your cake into the nautical theme.

your seaside ceremony

The setting sun, the roaring waves, you're in true love. Have a dream wedding ceremony on the edge of the ocean using our ideas for unique ways to include nature in your promises.

Incorporate the sea's power into your ceremony by using readings and poems that reflect your love for the waves as much as your love for one another. Ask your celebrant to suggest readings appropriate to you, your partner and your beachside theme.

Use music that works well with the natural sounds of the environment. The higher the pitch of the instrument, the better the sound carries without overriding the noises of the surf crashing into the beach and the cries of seagulls. Whether you are hiring a band, a soloist or using recorded music, keep this in mind. Gather a collection of tunes that compliments the ocean's natural music, such as Pachebel's Canon, Debussy's Claire de Lune, or Beethoven's Ode to Joy. All could be played simply and beautifully on the harp.

You may want to incorporate your surroundings into your ceremony. For example, instead of a unity candle, each of you pour sand into one container symbolising both the endurance of time as well as unity. Or, if you're having your ceremony around sunset, create vows that have to do with new days' dawning, planets revolving around the sun, or the promise of a new day with each sunset. For your vows, make a circle of seashells or flowers for you both to stand inside.

Since this is an unusual wedding environment, why not use your imagination when deciding where to walk down the aisle then leave the ceremony? Try making a grand entrance from behind some palms or surf boards, or leading all your guests to the appointed wedding spot on the beach. After the ceremony is finished, you and your new husband can take a walk on the beach while your guests are bustling to the reception. Maybe look into our theme weddings?

Instead of presenting mothers with flowers, give shells instead. Ask your father to walk down the beach with you for a way before the ceremony begins, and then turn around for a gentle stroll right up to your guests and groom. Adorn mothers and fathers with Hawaiian lei's at the beginning of the ceremony, a welcome symbol you can use to symbolise welcoming them into a new family.

seaside decorations

With the help of a few conch shells and a life raft or two, you can turn your wedding into a nautical dream day. Check out some of our suggestions on how to decorate for a maritime marriage and visit theme weddings or Decorative & Unique Effects page.

There are many centerpieces you can make based on a simple beach pail (a galvanized bucket works just as well). You can paint the pail with whitewash or opaque paints and fill it with seaside flowers like verbena and beach morning glories, or pebbles. You can fill the pails with seashells, starfish and beach glass to spill out onto each table and around each centerpiece. Or, you can fill pails with fun beach gifts that can also serve as favours: tanning lotions, aloe vera gel, sunglasses, surf wax and floaties are all cute ideas. Other water-based theme ideas are sailboats, life rafts, fishing equipment, and lighthouses.

Set placecards in delicate pewter shell placecard holders, or line placecards along an oar or inside of life rafts. Write each guest's name on a sanddollar for a truly beachie placecard. Use real shells to hold placecards, or emboss each card with a stamp of a sailboat, a wave or a shell.

Use fish nets, buoys, oars and other ocean equipment you can find at an antique's dealer to decorate your reception room; make sure you include your nautical theme in invitations with embossed shells, sailboats, or wave-like scallops; give chocolate-shaped shells or tiny buckets of sand as bomboniere's.