Honeymoon
ashashashley
member
Anyone tried a beaching wedding?
in Honeymoon
Hi knotties,
I am burning with the idea of a beach wedding. I don't have much budget, and everyone has kind of told me how expensive a beaching wedding is or else it would end up as something ugly.
I live in LA, it's near the sea, while none of my fam is. They have to travel a long way here pls afford the hotel. There's no way my parents can afford this. But it burns as hell if I thought of giving up.
Anyone had a budget beach wedding? Any ideas? XOX.
I am burning with the idea of a beach wedding. I don't have much budget, and everyone has kind of told me how expensive a beaching wedding is or else it would end up as something ugly.
I live in LA, it's near the sea, while none of my fam is. They have to travel a long way here pls afford the hotel. There's no way my parents can afford this. But it burns as hell if I thought of giving up.
Anyone had a budget beach wedding? Any ideas? XOX.
Answers
If you didn’t have the wedding in LA where would you do it? Where are your parents coming from?
I know the reality of planning the type of wedding you've always wanted, and having a budget that doesn't permit you do that is hard. But keep in mind what is most important to you, is it being married on a beach? Is it having your friends and family there? Or is it simply being married? None of these choices are wrong, you just have to focus on what is most important to you and your FI.
It seems like you're kind of acknowledging that your family may not be able to attend if you have the wedding where you're located. If that's something you're alright with, you could have just you & your FI on the beach.
If you want your family there, is there a beach located nearer to them? Or could you have a smaller wedding on the beach, invite only your immediate families, host them well (a low key dinner at a restaurant afterwards, possibly) and maybe chip in for part of their travel costs?
Would you be comfortable pushing the wedding back until you are able to afford everything you want?
sure. #MUD
Just like other weddings they can be inexpensive or expensive. It depends on your location and the amount of people. We got married on the east coast, so I'm not familiar with other areas, but here are some things we came across while doing some researching.
Timing - quite a few places only gave you 30 minutes to setup/breakdown AND perform the ceremony
Seating - some places only allowed a few seats if any at all. Those all had to be rented and someone has to setup. Seating for ALL guests is generally required.
Beaches are public - You will likely see an old guy in a small speedo or just generally a lot of people. You can't make people move so you can have your prefect spot. You can't really ask people not to walk on the beach while you ceremony is going on.
Permits/Fees - most places required a special permit for a beach wedding. And most did not allow an organized party. So you might be able to have the ceremony on the beach, the reception had to be somewhere else. Fees were all over the place.
I was lucky because we picked a private beach club, which was on the far end of the town away from the major hotels. It happened to be right next to a Coast Guard base and the beaches are restricted in front of the base. So while the beach was public, most people did not come down that far the beach.
However, it came at a price.
Basically you have to do your own research. Each location is different. Even in beach towns next to each other we found differences. Some didn't allow them at all, when the next town you could.
It's a lot of added expense that wouldn't normally be the case for a traditional wedding.
Perhaps you should seriously consider what you can afford versus your dream. You can actually get burned by planning a wedding with a budget that is not reality based.
You can choose to have an informal OR formal wedding anywhere. Beach weddings can be formal or informal. Church weddings can be formal or informal.
And you can choose to have a small wedding (with just VIPs) or big wedding anywhere. Beach weddings can be small or large. Church weddings can be small or large.
My beach wedding had an informal vibe (DH wore linen pants and button down Tommy Bahama shirt). However, we had high end food and premium open bar. It wasn't cheap at all.
We asked many caterers, and they said beach wedding definitely cost more if I want a decent beach wedding. Your park idea is also lovely, and more realistic considering our budget.
However, you see, beaching wedding is costly and if I had it in LA, it's unreasonable to let my BMs chip in. I guess It's so unfair. Also if it's in LA, there's no way you tell people "I am having a beach wedding but you are not invited, because we don't have money". A beach wedding is what I've dreamt for so long a time. But I guess I had to give it up.
How many people are you going to invite? Maybe you can pickup a credit card with good airline rewards points and *responsably* use it for things leading up to the wedding to help with airfare costs. I have friends that earned enough points to fly to Australia for Christmas in business class. But I would not recommend this as a way to pay for the wedding, just to use it for things you would normally put on a debit card.
Eta: not that I think OP would do this, just a word of warning for lurkers.
A restaurant will be able to include table settings, and simple decor. "Decent" does not have to be fancy. Host your guests properly and the rest will be lovely.
Don't reinvent the wheel- a restaurant wedding reception could be incredibly easy for you. And it covers all linens/tables/servers etc (and often they have small candles etc already on the tables). Often times restaurants can work with your budget to offer 2-3 choices of starter/ 2-3 choices of main course/ and a dessert with wine on the table. It doesn't need to be a fancy restaurant- in fact a casual fish restaurant on the beach might be really fun!