The trend for beach wedding dresses or any wedding dress for that matter, has been leaning towards simplicity for the last several years. Gone are the wedding dresses that incorporated heavy materials, yards of lace and large fabric flowers. The bride’s arms came uncovered, bare shoulders became stylish and beach wedding dresses became uncomplicated and unencumbered.
If you look up the synonyms for simplicity, you’ll come up with words like ease, effortlessness, minimalism and cleanness. But then again, you’ll also encounter words like plainness or even blandness. If you look at the two groups of words, you probably have an idea of the challenge you’ll have to face if you choose to wear a simple beach wedding dress on your big day.
So what is simple? Choose words like ‘minimalist’ or ‘ease’ and combine that with ‘clean lines’ and you’ll have an idea of how a simple beach wedding dress should look like. If you need a good example of a simple but stunning wedding dress, go back several years and imagine what the late Carolyn Bessette wore for her wedding to John Kennedy, Jr. That was a simple gown with no frills – just clean, beautiful lines, a long sheath dress cut on a bias and made to hug the bride’s enviable figure perfectly.
Whether short or long, a simple beach wedding dress will work perfectly if it fits you to a T. Consider your silhouette and go for clean lines that follow your natural curves. Choose materials that work great with beach weddings such as linen, chiffon, tulle and organza. They are light, are available in different colors and will work well with your desired cut.
A simple beach wedding dress can either be a formal or casual number. A full-length gown is perfect for a formal beach wedding while a knee length wedding dress will work well for a more casual affair.
You can also go for a sarong-style dress. A simple length of fabric can be wrapped around and worn as a beach wedding dress – no frills, no need for sewing and it doubles as appropriate beach wear.
By: Anthony Lee
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Filed under Relationships by on Jul 4th, 2010. 
We all want that perfect dream wedding day. And a beach wedding with gorgeous reception centerpieces is a great start for many, but the sun and the ocean breezes that makes the beach so magical also poses challenges for your wedding plans and really impact beach wedding reception centerpieces.
Most any bride who has been married on a beach will tell you that the wind and the sun are the biggest challenges to overcome when designing the centerpieces for the beach wedding reception. The question is what to do about them? What works under those circumstances?
Indeed, the intense sun of the seaside is not kind to many kinds of flowers, causing them to wilt or change color. Thus, if a bride desires to use flowers in her beach wedding centerpieces (or in any other part of her wedding) it is wise to do two things:
First, talk to a florist that is experienced in staging weddings on or around the beach that the couple intends to use to determine the kinds of flowers that are likely to hold up during the ceremony and reception.
Second, make a test run. Whatever flowers are chosen still should be tested so there will be no surprises on the wedding day. This is a great excuse to take a day to relax during the time in the wedding planning process that can be so stressful. Bring the flowers or floral centerpieces and set them out in comparable conditions to the expected wedding day conditions while the new couple enjoys some quiet time together relaxing at the beach.
Likewise, the wind is often an obstacle. Especially for those who desire to make use of candles as the sun sets at their ceremony. Fortunately, there are more than a couple ways to overcome this obstacle. The easiest, and most reliable option is to replace candles with flickering tea lights. These are battery operated lights that use led technology to give off a flickering candle like light. Place these in luminaries or other tea light holders that accent the light coming through the texture of the holder instead of the candle and the problem is solved.
Another option that helps overcome the wind while still using candles in a beach wedding reception centerpiece is to choose tall, slender cylinders that will shelter the candle from the effects of the wind as the focal point of the wedding reception centerpieces. Complete the centerpiece designs in any number of ways, such as by filling the bottom of the cylinder with sand and shells in the bottom supporting the candle, or ‘drowning’ several sea shells in water and floating a candle above them.
Of course, candles are not a requirement. A beautiful centerpiece can be made by filling a glass bowl with water and sea shells. This carefree design has no danger of being impacted by any but the most violent winds and only needs another handful of shells scattered around it’s base on the table to be complete.
Likewise, a fun option that is perfectly suited to overcome the problem of sun and wind at a beach wedding reception are the premade sand castle centerpieces . Since they are made of sand, there is no chance of wilting, and anything that can be shipped across the country is unlikely to be impacted by the wind.
Finally, a bride can create a stunning centerpiece for the tables at a beach wedding reception by making use of silk flowers. For instance, choose a vase that is a couple inches taller than the silk flower spray, fill the bottom of the vase with sand and/or seashells from which the flower spray will emerge for the basis of a beach wedding reception centerpiece that is not endangered by the sun or the wind that is so common to the seashore. Surround the centerpiece with beach themed wedding favors and the theme is pretty well established.
Just like anything else, beach wedding reception centerpieces truly can be put together than are not vulnerable to damage by the wind and the sun. That’s important, because while ultimately the only thing that is important is the celebration of the new marriage of two best friends, it would be a shame to have a detail like the beach wedding reception centerpieces fail to live up to expectation when a little planning could be enough.
By: Jeanette Shinn
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Filed under Relationships by on Jun 30th, 2010.
Beach weddings in general have been very much the most popular thing as far as destination weddings are concerned. That said there are a variety of ways as to how the beach weddings are organized and how the venue is decorated.
Most of the beach weddings are organized during the time so that weddings can be easily solemnized before the sun goes down and the couple of have some photographs of the sunset and the wedding. The beautiful part of this whole scheme of things is that you can have the wedding reception in the night. For the night time wedding reception there a couple of things that want to keep in mind and you will have to make sure that you have adequate lighting.
For that adequate lighting the best thing is to have a tiki torches for the wedding. This is basically irrespective of the fact that whether you are having the wedding in Hawaii or your local beach.
The bamboo tiki torches are generally considered to be part of the Hawaiian culture and hence mostly used when you have the wedding in Hawaii but the fact remains that wedding in any beach irrespective of the style or theme can have these tiki torches.
The bamboo tiki torches provide that elegant slow burning flame which will spread the light throughout the wedding venue as well as transport the guests to a mystical environment.
As far as the planning of the beach weddings goes you can either buy these tiki torches from your local hardware store or you can have these tiki torches ordered online and delivered to the venue.
Apart form the bamboo ones you can go for either the stainless steel or the copper ones but these do not have that old world charm that you are looking for. For putting these bamboo torches at the venue you can either have holes dug up for the purpose or you have the special brackets from the hardware store. These brackets can help you put the torches on to the railings provided at the venue.
The precautions will have to be taken as far as the fire hazard is concerned and that will mean that you should have a fire extinguisher ready at hand and if the wind is blowing hard at the venue then make sure that you put these off or at least remove all the inflammable articles nearby.
By: Bruce Victor
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Filed under Relationships by on Jun 28th, 2010.
Not everyone is able to have their wedding on the beach, even though they might like to. If a couple is in, say, Iowa, a beach wedding might just be too much for the budget. That does not mean that the beach can not be the theme of the wedding reception, though. Here are a few tips on how to have beach wedding far from the shore.
If you want a beach theme for your reception, check to make sure that the location you have booked can accommodate it. There should not be a problem as long as you aren’t planning to bring in truckloads of sand. They may even be able to help in locating some items to help with the beach theme, like colorful nets and artificial palm trees. If you have a beverage bar, it can be set up to look like the beverage bars on some beaches.
Anything you would find on a beach can be used for decoration. Ice buckets can be plastic sand pails, for instance. Large conch shells can be incorporated into centerpieces for the tables. Beach balls and inflatable sea horses can be placed around the room and suspended from the ceiling. Whatever you can imagine finding at a beach can be used.
There are great wedding favors possible with a beach theme, too. One great idea is a blue gel candle with seashells in the bottom and fish or seahorses suspended in the middle. I bit of netting tied in a bow at the top of the candle would set it off perfectly.
Another wedding favor that would be wonderful for a beach reception is a scallop shell with a picture of the couple and their names and wedding date on it. The shells can be attached to a stand that allows them to stand up nicely. By extending the front of the stand and having a slot made in it, it can also serve as a wonderful place card holder. Your guests will be enchanted by favors like these.
If your reception is to be held in the evening, everything can be geared toward a night on the beach with candles in holders to resemble tiki torches. It can be very romantic to have a full moon on a wall as though it were just coming up. The opposite wall could have a mural of the beach with moonlight glistening on the water.
The music at the wedding reception can all be beach themed music, too. For dancing, the Beach Boys would be great. When there is no dancing, there could be sound effects of the waves gently coming ashore and seagulls calling. This would all play quietly in the background, adding to the nautical effect.
Finally, though you may be too far from the beach to actually be there, you can still have your beach themed wedding reception indoors any time of year. Just use a bit of imagination and have fun with it. It will make for a fun memory in years to come.
By: L Hayes
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Filed under Relationships by on Jun 16th, 2010.