Hints for Organising a Beach Wedding

Hints and Tips for Planning your Beach Wedding

A beach wedding is a unique way of celebrating your marriage. In South Africa we are very fortunate to be blessed with one of the best climates in the world, so there are many wedding venues either on the beach, or offering your ceremony on the beach and your reception in doors. So if you are a relaxed, laid back type of couple opt for the ultimate in stress free weddings!

Cape weddings are very popular in the summer months. Because of the climate in Cape Town, sunny hot days can almost be guaranteed during the summer especially from December onwards to April. So this enables the wedding season five months where the bride can be sure that there is not much chance of rain. Windy days, especially in December and January, have to be planned for. A marquee or free form tent can take care of this problem.

Beach wedding venues Cape offer the prospective bride a wide choice. Very popular with brides is to organize a wedding out of the city of Cape Town up the West Coast. Venues such as Strandkombuis and Blue Bay Lodge offer accommodation as well as your ceremony on the beach. These option are very popular with the many South Africans living abroad who come back during our summer (their winter) to combine their wedding with a family holiday. The weak rand makes these weddings very popular as they cost a fraction of what a wedding in the United Kingdom or Europe would cost.

These wedding venues include the beach restaurants like Strandkombuis, Muisbosskerm, Bosduifklip and others that maximize not only the beauty of the beaches, but the bounty of the sea. They offer the freshest sea foods and shell fish, barbequed, and served with salads, warm breads and local speciality preserves. Outstanding wines are produced in the area thus ensuring your carbon footprint is kept as small as possible by buying and using local produce.

Cape weddings along the Garden Route combine beach with gorgeous scenery. Wedding venues in Knysna like Villa Castollini are very popular in combining a beach wedding with a holiday. Kennedy’s in Hermanus is a wonderful venue that is right on the lagoon and offers the most romantic weddings under milkwood trees in an enchanting setting.

Grootbos is a unique wedding venue situated in a nature reserve that stretches down to an idyllic beach which is perfect for beach ceremonies. The lodge itself is an exclusive venue situated in an ancient milkwood forest where the trees are over 1000 years old. The glass fronted suites offer a sanctuary with a private deck overlooking the bay where you will probably spot whales. The 2 honeymoon suites each have their private splash pool for the ultimate in romantic luxury. They offer horse riding at the lodge, so you may wish to ride to your wedding on a horse!

The cuisine at Grootbos is outstanding and they also make use of local produce, including delicious fresh fish from the harbour at next door Gansbaai. Have your reception al-fresco in the forest, or in their cosy intimate wine cellar. The wines on offer are superb and from the surrounding vineyards.

Further up the coast, Crawfords in Chintsa near East London offers so much to the bride who wants a beach wedding. They also offer accommodation for your guests. Situated on the warm Indian Ocean, their endless golden beaches make this one of the wedding venues that would ensure a memorable day.

Kwazulu Natal, with the warm Indian Ocean has a wonderful, semi tropical climate making for ideal beach wedding venues throughout the year. The Bell and Anchor on the South Coast is a popular choice for your beach wedding. Up the North Coast, Collisheen is a wedding venue that is situated amongst the sugar cane fields with views over the ocean.

A beach wedding is a very good theme to work with as far as your décor is concerned. Fairy lights, shells, shades of blue and green, candles, hurricane lamps and white drapes all contribute to the general “feel” you are trying to achieve. Guest favours can include rubber slip-slops, beach wraps and packs with small suntan lotions included. The bride can ditch her high heels in favour of bare feet (as can the guests).

A beach wedding combines laid-back style with that summer feeling making all guests feel that they are on holiday! What a perfect wedding it could be.