Beach Wedding Ideas
Put your own stamp on your wedding abroad

I've got some great beach wedding ideas to personalise your idyllic marriage in the sun.

While a Caribbean wedding package may include all the essentials for your wedding like a photographer, flowers, a cake and even invitations, it's so much better to add your own personal touch.

And of course you will save money by not just accepting what the hotel or wedding resort offers as part of the deal.

Beach Wedding Planning

• Photographers. Just as you would do if booking a wedding photographer in your home country, you need to check what's included in the package, previous work of the photographer and what/when you will get to take away with you after the wedding.

  Many resort packages only offer a limited number of photos so you may want to enlist the help of friends and family to take extra shots. See our photography tips for help.

• Flowers. A wedding in the sun goes hand in hand with unusual tropical flowers which cope well with heat and won't wilt within an hour making your photos look terrible!

  Consider lovely flowers like calla lillies or tropical orchids which, though more expensive than more traditional flowers like roses, look amazing when only one stem is used. They also double beautifully as boutonnieres if you want to carry the theme through.

  Check out local florists online before you go or better still, order your flowers online to be delivered to the hotel to save money.

• Wedding Cake. You don't want heavy fruit cake for a sunshine wedding, something light will go down far better with your guests.

  There are usually fabulous bakeries in and around the main wedding resorts so either pre-book your cake online or pop into a bakery when you get there and ask them to do something special for you. Putting a screen print of your invitation on top of a simple sponge cake is one way of adding a really personal touch.

• Invitations. Truly personalise your wedding invitations by sticking sea shells or mini starfish onto the cards. These are easy to get hold of in craft shops or online. You can also use the same beach theme on glasses at the ceremony or on your own home made wedding favors.

More Ideas for Beach Theme Weddings

Favors. You can have so much fun here either making your own if you're lucky enough to live near the sea or by choosing from the vast range of beach wedding favors available online.

Place Settings. Be creative and prepare some beach themed place cards with guests names or buy some cheaply online.

Use the hotel wedding advisor. Most resorts/hotels will have a resident or freelance wedding planner.

They will be able to help with wedding suppliers and advise on types of flowers, cakes etc available.

But make sure you check any costs involved in using them first. You don't want to waste all that money you've saved on organising certain things yourself only to find it eaten up by unforeseen wedding planner costs.

Tip: Best beach wedding idea - A sunset cruise is a fantastic way to end your wedding day in true style.