How to Plan a Beach Wedding Your Way?

This article is written by the owner of Linens & More Florida Keys, Akalia Martin,about reducing stress and simplifying decorating plans for beach weddings. Her company is in a position to give great advice. Akalia Martin is the most sought after decorator in our entire area. We are privileged to have her services on our property for almost all of our beach weddings. Akalia also plans all our standard all-inclusive decor packages.

beach wedding ceremony

Meet Lauren

Meet our bride, Lauren. Lauren did something very smart in planning her beach wedding. I am compelled to pass this great approach on to other brides. Lauren used a strategy that simplifies planning your destination wedding and keeps stress at a low level.

Pinterest reinvented communication between the planner and bride. If a picture is a thousand words, then I can reap volumes from a bride’s Pinterest board in seconds . In the past I had to make a lot of guesses and many times my guesses were wrong. With Pinterest I get to see the same picture my destination bride sees. But, this technology has an unexpected downside. Brides feel more stress and pressure today because of the endless options and package ideas clamoring from the palm of their hands.

Lauren correctly selected a beach venue and then decided on a great decorating package that agrees with her style and budget. Lauren did not fall into the trap that many destination brides do.  The problem occurs after we create a beautiful, custom decor package. For some reason the brides go back to browsing and frighten themselves into thinking that they grossly overlooked something. I get way too many nervous phone calls from disturbed brides who have worked themselves into outright alarm. They suddenly imagine that they should create an entirely new decor package.  It is needless and pointless worrying.

Bridemaids flowers
Florida Keys Beach Wedding

Your destination wedding package

How do you use technology wisely? Lauren made planning this wedding look simple. Of course it wasn’t really, but she had a very logical approach. The question is, how do brides use this new technology wisely to reduce, not escalate their stress levels.  What she did is something we can sum up as a three step low stress guide to planning your beach wedding in today’s environment:

1. The vision for your beach wedding is innate.

Planning needs to begin at gut level. Who you are is the sum of everything you have seen and felt since your first memory. And those lifelong experiences mix with your own individual DNA that create a picture. The picture of your perfect destination wedding is already there in your mind. That perfect beach wedding picture was there long before your engagement. Even if you never thought about it, it was there. It is as unique as you, and only you can see it. Lauren had that picture when I met her.

2. Plan your work.

Make a plan for your beach wedding on Pinterest with the fewest photos possible. Save only those photos that demonstrate your vision. The internet has an infinite amount of wedding photos and somebody has already done things similar to your vision. Now you and everyone involved in your beach wedding has a map, your Pinterest Board. You are able to show a planner, a decorator, a florist, a rental company, or a family member what your beach wedding will look like, the goal. It has never been easier to communicate abstract ideas and feelings.

From those photos, decisions can be made:

  1. What do we need?
  2. What will it cost?
  3. Who will do the work?

In my initial meeting with Lauren she had the photos ready. We quickly decided what my planning responsibilities were. And she took responsibility for many items that she brought with her to be used in the wedding. I took on the grunt work of chairs, setting tables, and flowers. She brought items with her that weren’t yet defined like personalized glasses, gifts, and signature table.

3. Work your plan. Don’t look left and don’t look right.

Now comes the hardest part, staying with the plan. All too often brides begin to have doubt. That doubt is created by endless searching for more ideas. At some point they have seen so many things that they are confused. They begin to doubt their plan and their vision.

I can tell you firsthand that brides often call me after a sleepless night with a new strategy, a totally different direction. Invariably, I price it and start putting the new plan in action only to have them call me back when they wake up and realize that is really not what they dreamed of. So we go back to the original plan. All this stress is only due to a fogginess created by studying too many wedding photos.

How to Plan a beach wedding your way
happy bride and groom at Key Largo Lighthouse Beach Weddings

A beach wedding plan

Lauren used her vision from day one. Through the months of planning the main concept always remained. I think she is proud of and has fond memories of her beach wedding. It looked like it was really fun for her.

Congratulations, Lauren, for teaching all of us a valuable lesson in planning a beach wedding that is exactly what we want.