Beach Wedding Invitations

Is your aisle going to be covered in sand? Are you saying “I do” in a tropical paradise? Do you plan on having a luau at your reception? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then beach wedding invitations might be the best choice for you. Let's talk a little more about the beach theme.

Basics of Beach Wedding Invitations

Before we talk about when you might want to choose beach wedding invitations, let's talk about when you wouldn't. Basically, if you are having a formal or even a semi-formal wedding, you should stick with traditional invitations. Remember the golden rule of invitations is to choose a style that matches the tone of your ceremony. You don't want your guests to arrive expecting something casual only to find something more formal.

With that said, beach wedding invitations are appropriate for weddings that are going to be casual or informal. However, your invitations should also reflect your theme. If you want beach-themed invitations, then beaches should somehow be connected to your wedding.

You can work in that beach theme in a couple of ways. The most obvious way is to get married on a beach. More couples are opting for this choice, especially since celebrities have been enjoying high-profile beach weddings. Anna Nicole Smith and her lawyer, Howard K. Stern, were married on the beach of Sandy Cay in the Bahamas while Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock tied the knot on a yacht just off of Saint-Tropez. Either couple could have sent out beach-themed invitations.

Another reason to choose this style of wedding invitation is that you are having a destination wedding some place tropical. With the cost of weddings ranging between $20,000 and $25,000, destination weddings are just as economically feasible, even if you choose to fly in a few friends and family members. You can also use the beach theme for your wedding announcements – you'll probably be sending out more of these than invitations.

Finally, you might choose to have a beach-themed reception. Some couples choose a more traditional approach for their ceremony but want something more unique for the reception. We'll talk more about some ideas for this type of reception later in the article.

Beach Invitation Ideas

If you do decide to use beach invitations for your wedding, you have almost complete creative freedom because there are numerous ways to incorporate this theme. It all depends on the look you're after and on how much you'll be able to spend.

One of the most affordable ways to capture that beach feel is with the color of the paper. Blue paper, either in a light shade like the sky or a darker color like the water, can be a beautiful backdrop. Pastel yellow resembling sunshine is another good choice.

If you want a more obvious beach-theme on your invitations, then find a photograph of a beach or tropical getaway and include it on the cover of your invitations. You could also work with a graphic designer about creating wedding invitations shaped like beach items, including palm trees, coconuts, waves, sea gulls, seashells, etc. This might cost a little more, but the creative results might be worth the investment.

You could also choose paper that is pre-printed with beach-related images, such as a pair of swimming turtles, tropical flowers, palm trees, or a boat.

Beach Wedding & Reception Ideas

If you're interested in having beach wedding invitations, but you don't know how to incorporate that theme in your wedding and/or reception, there are some ideas you can consider. Even if you don't live near a beach, you could get married around a swimming pool or you can create a faux beach by bringing in sand and some fake palm trees. Your wedding favors could be seashells, small bottles of suntan lotion, seahorse-shaped soaps, and more.

With your wedding reception, you could have beach-themed foods or decorations. Anna Nicole Smith's reception included apple cider and fried chicken, for example. You don't have to be that casual, but you could have a luau, serve hot dogs and sno cones, or have a surf and turf menu. If you want to be even more casual, you could forgo tables and spread picnic blankets on the ground where people can eat.

Decorations could include shells, tropical flowers in vases and pots, travel posters of tropical locations, and tiki torches. Even your entertainment could keep with the beach theme: you could have your deejay play songs associated with the beach or the summer, hold your reception around at a pool and let your guests go swimming, or hire Hawaiian dancers to perform the hula dance (Hawaiian Wedding Invitations Theme).

Nautical Wedding Invitations | Nautical wedding invitations are sometimes wrongly assumed to be all about destination weddings, but that’s not necessarily the case. If you’re having a destination wedding, particularly in a tropical area, you may consider using nautical invitations, but that’s certainly ...

Exotic Wedding Invitations, The True Definition of Exotic | Exotic wedding invitations can mean different things to different people. If you’re interested in sending out invitations that are in this style, you first need to decide what you mean by exotic. First, let’s talk about what it doesn’t mean ...

Summer Wedding Invitations Theme | Of all the months in the year, June is perhaps the one most associated with weddings. Of course, June kicks off a whole summer season that is ideal for throwing a wedding: great weather, vacation time, no school (in most places), and more create an almost irresistible climate ...

Outdoor Wedding Invitations Theme | Have you always dreamed of having your wedding outside under the sky? Do you want to exchange vows surrounded by the beauty of nature instead of in a stuffy church? In either case, you may be interested in choosing outdoor wedding invitations for your special day ...

Vintage Wedding Invitations, The Antique Way for Wedding Invitations | Vintage wedding invitations have been showing up more and more as part of couple’s wedding planning, but they are not necessarily a full blown trend. Actually, you want to be careful about falling into trendy traps anyway because your ...

Beach Wedding Dresses for the Beach Wedding | Having a beach wedding? Beach weddings are becoming increasingly popular. If sand and surf are where you’re headed for that special day, the big question is, ‘what to wear?’ Of course, a seaside wedding is more casual than a church ceremony. Generally, you can dispense with the ten-foot long train and the long, formal full gown. You probably can go without ...

Choosing Beach Wedding Favors for Your Guests | So you’ve decided on a beach theme for your wedding. Maybe you’ve decided to tie the knot on the beach beside a beautiful watery view or while standing on a fantastic boat. Maybe you’re miles away from the nearest beach but you’ve decided to decorate your wedding and reception site with palm trees, sand boxes, murals of sunsets, and plastic ...

Wedding Invitations with Map or Direction Cards | Part of being a good host is making things convenient for your guests. When you invite people to your wedding, you are taking on the position of host and should want to do everything possible to make things easy on the people attending, including helping them ...

Choosing Perfect Wedding Date & Your Wedding Invitations | Once you've made the decision to get married, you'll have another momentous decision to make: on what day should you tie the knot. While the decision is, of course, important for personal reasons, it will also have practical implications ...

Save The Date Announcement Cards | One of the newest wedding trends has been the use of save the date announcements. The purpose of these cards is to let your wedding guests know farther in advance about the date of your wedding so they can start making plans to attend. You might think of them ...

Foil-Lined Wedding Invitation Envelopes | Foil lined envelopes are sometimes popular with couples choosing their wedding invitations because they look more elegant and expensive than plain paper envelopes. However, you need to use caution when choosing foil lined envelopes for your wedding invitations ...

Outdoor Party Ideas

Classic Lily Flowers for Your Garden Party | Lilies are possibly one of the most beautiful of all the flowers because of their slender stems and their opulent petals. They come in a wide variety of types and colors, but no matter which variety you love they would make an ideal theme for your next garden party ...

Cherry Blossoms & Your Spring Party | When we think of garden parties, we usually think of blooming flowers. However, one of the most beautiful spectacles of blooming plant life has to be the delicate cherry blossom tree. The trees, known as sakura in Japan, come in several different colors. The most impressive is the ...

Chill Out with Black, Lime, and Blue Flowers for your Summer Party | The summer may still seem far away, but now is a good time to start thinking about planning your first parties of spring or summer. When the weather finally warms up for good, you want to have a plan for an incredible celebration. Let’s look at some ideas for a fabulous summer ...