Something Blue for your Beach Wedding

Lately, I've been so tickled with the creativity of our Brides when it comes to their Something Blue so I thought I would share a few pictures with you. I've seen everything from Blue toenails to Blue Garters but I think that these two are so fitting for the Beach. They are simple, understated, and yet beautiful.

This bride chose a crystal starfish brooch that had blue crystals at the tips to pin to the back of her dress. You can find a ton of starfish brooches on the Internet, I just loved that she pulled her Something Blue for her Beach Wedding in with a simple pin.

For some reason, this ring has stuck with me. It was so adorable and fit right in with the theme of her Beach Wedding. It was a Blue Plumeria ring that she fell in love with and decided it would be a perfect fit for her Something Blue on the Beach. I have to say, I agree!

So what will you choose for your Something Blue? Whatever it is, remember you are on the beach so make it creative, simple, and of course beautiful!

Tropical Sunset Beach Decor

We've been very hard at work coming up with new designs for our decor packages that will be posted to our website soon. This past weekend we had the pleasure of setting up our Tropical Sunset Beach Decor for one of my sweet Brides and it was a hit with everyone!  Thanks so much to Susan and Alex for "going with the flow" and giving us the freedom to set up their Ceremony with our new decor package.

When I started thinking of our new designs and color schemes I thought it was important to pull from the natural colors that surround our beautiful beaches. I have seen some of the most amazing sunsets at our Florida Beach Weddings that I thought it was fitting to have a decor package that mirrored the bright pinks, oranges, and golden browns that we see as the sun sets on our St. Pete and Clearwater Beaches. The sugar starfish and raffia add to the tropical, yet simple feel of this beach themed decor.  I am simply in love with this color scheme!

If you would like to see some additional pictures from our new Tropical Sunset Decor Package, click here

Stay tuned for our next color scheme...it is almost done and I am so excited about it! Think Caribbean Sea goes Nantucket ;)

Why you should have chairs for your Beach Wedding

Believe it or not, chairs are an important element to your Beach Wedding. They are not just an add on that should be discarded easily, they serve a real purpose...more than one actually!

It is important to remember that you are getting married on a Public Beach. For this reason, you will want to define your Wedding area and chairs do just that. When you see our white garden chairs set up on the beach everyone knows that there will be a Wedding there. Sunbathers and tourists respect this space and keep their distance. Additionally, having chairs set up for your Ceremony carves out the aisle for you to walk down. There is no question about where you are supposed to walk.

Chairs also act as a form of crowd control. Guests know exactly where to go when chairs are provided. More importantly they are sitting during the ceremony so the photographer is able to get all the great shots without having to step and weave through a crowd of guests that are crowding the Bride and Groom. Guests tend to move around alot at ceremonies where there are no chairs to get a better "view" of the ceremony and this can make it very difficult for the photographer to do their job. Our photographer would have never been able to get this shot if all 50 of their guests were standing around them.

Another often overlooked reason is elderly guests. If any of your guests have difficulty walking, tire easily, or have a medical condition you definately want to take this into consideration. Our beaches can be large and deep in some areas and your elderly guests will apprecite a chair to sit in after they have made the hike to your Wedding site.

So whether you have 10 guests or 125 guests, I always recommend that you have chairs.

Including Children in Your Beach Wedding Ceremony

If you or your future spouse have children you might want to consider including them in your Beach Wedding Ceremony. We work with many couples that want to include their children in the ceremony but don't want to expand their bridal parties to include flower girls, ring bearers, or Jr bridesmaids and groomsmen.

One of the simplest ways to include them is during the Sand Ceremony. There is a container filled with sand for each person and an empty container. Each person pours their sand into the empty container symbolizing the uniting of the bride, groom and children into one.  There is a part of the Sand Ceremony that says, "Just as these grains of sand can never be separated and poured again into the individual containers, so will your marriage and your family be united as one for all of your days".

 This ceremony is kid friendly and with the option to upgrade to colored sand you can bet that even the shyest of children will want to take part and pour their favorite color of sand into the jar just like Mom and Dad!

If you would like to see a copy of the entire Sand Ceremony, please email me and I would be happy to send it to you.

Beach Wedding Hair Accessories

Ok ladies I have something that I just have to share with you! I have a love for all things vintage and my youngest daughter who we call our "Fashion Diva" loves accessories. When I found Little Hatchlings I knew that I would be feeding into my daughter's addiction to headbands and hair accessories. Our friend Uyen over at Little Hatchlings recently made some headbands for my daughter that are amazing. She wears them everyday and even wants to sleep in them!

Uyen recently shared some pictures with me of some hair accessories that she made for a wedding and I just flipped over them. I knew that I had to share them with you. They are SO perfect for a simple, chic, or even vintage beach wedding. All of her pieces are lovingly handmade and unlike anything I have seen. And ladies, I will let you in on a secret....she takes custom orders!

Just imagine one of these on your Flower Girl...

Or even better, a beautiful hair comb like this one for you...

If you would like to see more examples of her hair accessories or custom order your Beach Wedding Hair Accessory, visit www.littlehatchlings.com and tell Uyen that you found her on our blog!

Treasure Island Beach Wedding for Two

Tricia and Tony eloped down to Florida all the way from Niagara Falls for their beach wedding. They wanted a beach that was private for their ceremony so we chose Sunset Beach in Treasure Island for their wedding location. Tony told me just before the ceremony that it was a dream come true to be getting married to Tricia on the beach. Their family was coming into town a couple of days later and they were going to surprise them with the news. (Tricia emailed me later to let me know that their family was so excited when they heard the news!)

We had a great time working with this sweet couple and it was very apparent that they are very much in love! Romantic couples just make me happy.

They giggled through a lot of the pictures and ended up with some great moments. As always, our Tampa Wedding Photographer, Booray Perry, was there to capture it all. We wish you many happy years of love and laughter!

Choosing Your Beach Wedding Flowers

One of the many decisions you'll make when planning your Florida Wedding on the Beach is what type flowers you want in your bouquet. This seems simple enough, right? Especially with all the dreamy pictures of bridal bouquets on the Internet! I mean, you can find so many gorgeous pictures of bouquets filled with Hydrangea, Calla Lillies, Peonies, and Tulips to name a few. One might think it would be as simple as finding a picture and saying "I want this one"...kind of like shopping from a catalog.

 There is one little fact that these beautiful pictures fail to mention. A lot of these flowers are grown in cooler climates.  Florida has beautiful, sunny, tropical weather most of the year and in some months the temperatures can reach above 90 degrees. This is in important fact to take into consideration when choosing your beach wedding flowers. The flowers you choose for your Florida Beach Wedding must be hearty enough to withstand even a small amount of time out in the sun. Hydrangea's for example, will start to wilt soon after being exposed to the heat. Flowers like Roses and Daisies are a much heartier flower and can withstand the heat longer.

Some of our packages come with a bouquet of hand tied Roses. I am sometimes asked if the Roses can be substituted for another flower. My answer is always the same, "Yes it can but, choose your flowers wisely" Whatever you choose, it must be able to withstand the heat. Gerber Daisies are usually a good substitute if they are in season.

If you really don't know what you want, don't worry...we are here to help you with this decision too. If you would like some additional tips or ideas for your beach wedding flowers, our Florist is happy to talk to you and give you suggestions that fit both your style and budget.