Guide to a Beach Wedding on a Budget
Today, we want to share more budget-conscious ideas with a beach wedding on a budget. There is nothing more romantic than a wedding at the beach! If you go through your city’s parks department, you should be able to reserve a stretch of beach for a lot less than a typical “wedding venue,” and you’re guaranteed to have a beautiful backdrop for all your pictures! For this inspiration board, we envisioned a fun and laid-back 1950’s beach-party-inspired affair.
Last week we shared our ideas for a backyard wedding on a budget – click here if you missed it.
Beach Wedding on a Budget – Essentials
The Decor
We envision a big white tent on the beach with bunting banners draped across it. The tables would have simple, casual centerpieces of mason jars and vintage bottles filled with bright, cheerful flowers. Mason jars can be purchased for $1/jar or less, and you can find vintage bottles fairly inexpensively at thrift stores and antique stores. You could even save wine bottles for an even more budget-friendly approach.
The Food
Barbecue is perfect for a summer beach wedding. It’s casual, delicious, and it won’t break the bank! Trader Joe’s sells mini hamburger patties and mini buns that would be perfect along with chips. Old-fashioned soda bottles are a must for the 50’s inspired beach wedding. If you’re looking to save money, you could follow this DIY tutorial on how to make your own soda out of generic brand soda water. It even includes downloadable templates for adorable retro labels!
The Dessert
Ice cream cones and a spread of delicious cakes and pies would take the place of a tiered wedding cake. You could challenge your friends and family to a bake-off and have them each bring their signature baked good. Stick little flags into each dessert with the name of baker. Then, have everyone vote on the best dessert! At the end of the night, we imagine a beach bonfire and s’mores. You can make cute little s’mores packets as your favors by simply repackaging graham crackers, chocolate, and marshmallows, all of which are very inexpensive. If you need inspiration, here is a tutorial.
The Fashion
Going with our 50’s inspired theme, what immediately jumped to mind for the bride’s dress was something short with a poofy skirt–which is perfect for the beach, because it won’t drag in the sand and get dirty. Stephanie James and Dolly Couture are two great places to look for short vintage-inspired wedding dresses. For the bridesmaids, pick something bright and cheerful that they will actually wear again, like this cute little number (on sale!) from Anthropologie.
The Details
Make ribbon wands for guests to wave at you as you head back down the aisle or as you depart. Provide frisbees and volleyballs for fun and games on the beach–some of the more adventurous guests may even jump in the water! A bonfire with s’mores would end the evening perfectly.
The Invitations
We designed our bunting banner invitation suite with this board in mind–and to help you stay on budget, it’s free!
Image Credits: Soda pop captured by Meg Perotti, Mini burgers captured by Welovepictures, Yellow dress captured by Jagger Photography, Smores captured by Kat Bevel Photography, Beach vases captured by Best Photography, Chip bags captured by Mary Banducci Photography, Tent
and bunting captured by Photographers: Modern Hearts, Camp Fire captured by James Besser, Mason Jar captured by Amanda Thiessen,
Photography, Car captured by Maile Lani, Wedding gown captured by Aubrey Joy, Drift Wood Sign captured by Danielle Gillett Photography, Ice cream captured by Amanda Lloyd Photography.
Meredith
Despite her dreamy wedding blogger lifestyle, Meredith's day job is running ClassicVeils.com and a full-time mom to an active toddler. If she could, Meredith would spend her days taking cruises, helping animals in need, and watching Big Brother!
