the beach wedding ceremony decoration inspirations

when i told the hubby i want a beach wedding for the civil wedding he didn't have to think twice, he said yes right away....he thought that would be cool and it would be an excuse to have our friends and family come down to the shore and relax...

that wasn't the first thing that came to my mind though.... i was already thinking of how i would decorate the aisle, lol....

i googled for some ideas and this image struck me:

i was so tempted to do that but have to let it go because most of our guests are older people and i don't think they would appreciate sitting that low on the ground....so i decided to just stick with the kind of chairs that wedding by the sea will provide.....then i was deciding whether to use pomanders or paper lanterns but i figured since i'm using parasols for my bridesmaids, paper lanterns would be more appropriate.... but then i have to decide what color to use.... is it going to be tiffany blue (my original motif) or just white but i saw a picture of a white paper lantern and i thought it looks so clean and romantic so i stuck with white....

.... i regretted that decision though....i should have used my motif color (turquoise, tiffany blue so hard to find!) because the paper lanterns sort of disappear in the picture because of the sand and chairs and sky.... or maybe because i should have bought a bigger size...oh well....

the four feather banners and the arbor from wedding by the sea

then, i wanted a second arbor.....wedding by the sea will provide the first arbor ($100 rent), the four white feather banners ($50 each), the sand ceremony table ($25), the chairs ($4/each, we have 40 pcs).... but i want a second arbor to work as an entrance door.....

the arbor and the table for the sand ceremony from wedding by the sea

so i bought one from michaels, they were on sale that time and the hubby and i were decorating it with my ikea mosquito netting curtain and some plastic garland until we're satisfied at how it looks.... below is the final design for the second arbor.... nothing fancy, we just want to make sure the arbor doesn't look "naked"....it was supposed to be just draping at the side (see the right side) but the left side started flying.....it was very windy that day.....but i didn't mind....it kinda add character to the arbor.....although the second arbor started going sideways because of the wind and the plastic garlands started peeling off, lol

the second arbor we brought and had friends help us assemble and disassemble it

for the rose petals i was actually planning to buy the freeze petals, but my friend jefferly suggested i just buy the fresh flowers from the produce junction so it would be cheaper and that's what i did.....i bought 5 dozen of roses at the junction shop for ($7/dozen) 2 days before the wedding (cause that was when we drove down to cape may) and asked my bridesmaids to bring a dozen of red roses each.... and then i asked the help of alve, tonette and chay to help me un-petal the roses and to put the petals in a bin.... so glad they were able to help me out because that day i was too stressed out already.....

i asked my MOH to take the ceremony decoration containers with her because my truck are just too full already!

the paper lanterns were easy to find..... i just went to lunabazaar.com to order the 8" cheap paper lanterns.... the tulle are easy too...i just went to michaels and a.c. moore to get them...it was finding the shepherds hooks that's hard....michaels don't have them, same with a.c. moore, home depot has them but they're too high and had to return them as soon as i picked them up (i ordered them online)... i saw a wreath stand at a.c. moore and bought 8 of them right away....they were on sale for $2 each and its just the right height but it has a round base so i wasn't sure how that would make out on the sand and if it would withstand the windy shore but i didn't care that time..... i just want hooks for my paper lanterns....then one day, i went to joann's fabric store to buy some shells and sand when i saw dozens and dozens of shepherd's hook by the entrance door! i was so ecstatic i immediately grabbed 10 without even checking the price! lol.... it was the right height and thickness.... i returned the wreaths hooks at a.c. moore..... it was priced $4 each.....

our shoes optional sign...

then i wanted to have the "shoes optional" concept.... where guests can just leave their shoes in the "shoe parking bins" during the ceremony, lol..... i bought the bins from ross... i was able to find just one blue bin and the rest were bronze bins.... i went ross hopping hoping i could find another blue bin but i didn't get lucky......so i just bought a couple of blue scarves at a.c. moore and just wrapped it around the bins to kinda match them with the blue bin.... i made sand brushes to go with my "shoes optional" concept too and ordered the shoes optional wood sign from an etsy seller (signsbydiane)....

our DIY sandbrushes

i guess that's it!

i want to share the reception stuff that too... like our mesage-in-a-bottle guestbook.... our starfish/sanddollars escort cards, etc.....  but that deserves it's own kwento din, lol....