There are few things more romantic than a beach wedding. "Mother Nature" supplies so many wonderful (and free) accessories: the sea and the sun, the stars and the moon and of course the beautiful beach. Beach weddings grow in popularity every year, and in order to ensure a perfect day for you, I will be addressing several of the challenges

Your next challenge will be the wind. Romantic pictures of your veil softly blowing in the gentle breeze are fine, but wedding programs flying through the air and chasing napkins down the beach is not. There is no way you can completely shield yourself from the wind, except to hold the wedding inside, so your solutions are rather limited. Many brides accept this as just a part of the whole beach wedding experience, but should you feel differently and want to address this issue, you could choose a form-fitting wedding dress, wear your hair tightly pulled back, substitute the veil for flowers, and choose not to have printed programs. If your reception is also on the beach make certain your caterers anchor down everything with something heavy. And speaking of beach receptions, you will no doubt have several uninvited seagulls just waiting for their turn at the meat station, so make sure the food stays covered until ready to serve. I should advise you not to feed the seagulls unless you want even more uninvited guests, but on other hand I find it kind of fun, so it's up to you! One last note on beach receptions, I highly recommend holding the reception under a tent to protect your food from the elements, including seagull droppings!

Seating arrangements for a beach wedding can be a challenge. Chairs have a tendency to sink into the sand, so you may want to consider renting flooring to place under them. However, brides who choose to have a more casual beach wedding may forego chairs and have everyone stand during the ceremony and reception. Please remind your wedding planner and caterers to allow plenty of time to set up the ceremony and reception sites, as sand can be hard to walk in, which may slow down the process. Remember your cake will need very special handling!

This brings me to beach access. Not all beaches are governed by the same set of laws, so please check with the city or town officials where the beach is located to determine if you need a permit to use the beach. This should only be necessary if you are having a large gathering and you want to block off a portion of the beach exclusively for you and your guests. Also, there may be fire and music ordinances, so be sure to check on those.

So there you have it, a few considerations that you will need to address to ensure a wonderful beach wedding. Beach weddings are absolutely beautiful, but nature does provide an element of uncertainty, but careful planning on your part will eliminate most of them. Congratulations, and have a wonderful wedding!