Sea Glass Wedding
The colour of sea glass can bring back memories – and in the case of a wedding – make new ones. Kawehi and Michael are tying the knot in Hawaii and want to use the beautiful sea glass hue to make their day a special one.
You’ll see in the images below that they did just that. This wedding inspiration will give you ideas, no matter if you live by the sea, or want to include the childhood happiness of visits to the shore in your wedding ceremony.
Details for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
The soft matte colours of sea glass – pieces of clear and coloured glass that have been tumbled by waves and sand – lend themselves well to a variety of colour palettes featuring subdued hues and cool neutrals like sand, driftwood and bone. A beach theme brings all these colours together and offers opportunities for a wide variety of decorations, accessories, attire and venues. The event can be formal or informal – and there are a lot of great options for both.
When it comes to the reception, you can choose delicate meals in an elegant venue, or throw a fun, beach-style luau complete with a tiki bar and indigenous dancers. A beach and sea glass theme also works well at any time of day, from the bright sun of mid-afternoon to the softer colours of twilight or evening. A few sparkling accents can go a long way for both the décor and attire, and feel a bit like finding treasure washed up onshore.
Colour Palettes for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
When it comes to sea glass, there are two options for wedding colours – bright jewel tones or pale, pastel colours. Any piece of glass that is tumbled by the waves can be called sea glass, and that includes bright colours such as red, brown, topaz, blue, green or even purple. Blues, greens and browns are the most common wedding colours, especially paired with warm neutrals.
Our bride has chosen pale blue sea glass and light gray for her colour palette, giving the event the feel of a calm sea on a slightly overcast day. This colour scheme is great for early spring, late fall and winter weddings, which, if you live in an oceanfront locale, can still be held on the beach itself. This colour palette is equally great for an indoor wedding with readily-available accent pieces such as driftwood, shells, nautical accessories and more.
Budget for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
The budget for a sea glass inspired wedding depends entirely on you and your requirements and desires for the special day. If you live near a beach, you can take advantage of a budget-friendly option and obtain a permit to wed on a public beach. You can also go all out and book a private oceanfront venue with in-house catering, entertainment and even guest rooms. Sea glass can often be collected along the shore, so you may be able to take a walk and pick out your own accessories.
If you’re choosing an indoor venue due to weather, religious beliefs or number of guests, you won’t have any trouble decorating an event hall or reception room. Stunning accessories such as a driftwood arch, a collection of seashell and sea glass centrepieces and coordinating flowers can turn any indoor venue into a day at the beach.
Bouquets and Boutonnieres for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
With a pale blue and soft gray sea glass theme, you have several options for bridal bouquets, including a couple that are less traditional but equally stunning. One of the most popular flowers for this theme is hydrangea, and it’s great because it’s large, showy and comes in a naturally pale blue hue. Paired with smaller, cream coloured accent flowers and maybe some silver or pewter sparkle, and you have a beautiful, beachy bouquet.
For a less traditional option, forgo coloured flowers in favour of cream-coloured blooms accented with feathers, dune grasses, cattails and other interesting found objects. You can also incorporate various shades of blue with berries, small blue blossoms such as forget-me-nots or larkspur.
For boutonnieres, hydrangeas won’t work, but a blue-tinged carnation, spring of larkspur or cream-coloured rose with a few stalks of dune grass is masculine and coordinates well with the bride and bridesmaid bouquets.
Table Setting Ideas for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
The beauty of bringing the windswept beach into your wedding is that none of the décor need be elaborate, fussy or particularly ornate. This is where a few tasteful nautical accessories come into play, such as an old telescope or astrolabe, weathered rope or other beach-themed trinkets. Scatter a handful of sea glass across each table along with a few pebbles and seashells.
For the place settings themselves, consider bringing in a range of textures to give your table some interest. Sea grass placemats, texture depression-style glassware, brushed linen napkins and handmade paper for menus or place cards all add texture to the smooth sea glass edges. Considered using weather wooden tables and benches for a less formal event, with plush pillows on the seats to add a bit of luxury.
Favours and Gifts for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
Wedding favours and gifts don’t need to be large or expensive to be special. If you’re getting married on the beach, consider using some of the natural elements around you to create a special memento. Adding some sand, sea glass or small shells to a corked bottle, along with a personalised thank you note, is a special reminder for your guests. For the wedding party, consider some locally-made products such as salt-scrub, candles, fragrances or chocolates.
If you’d like to purchase something special for your guests, specialty sea salts, bath and body products or gourmet treats are great options. If you’re throwing a microwedding or an elopement and you only have a few guests, consider purchasing items such as books by local authors, vintage artwork or other specialties tailored to your friends and family.
Wedding Cake Ideas for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
When your wedding theme involves pale colours such as sea glass blues and soft neutrals, the wedding cake can be as simple as a creamy white buttercream confection or a beautiful beach-inspired work of art. A delicious, vanilla beach flavoured cake is perfect for the occasion, and the black flecks add the image of sand with pale blue frosting as the surf.
If you’d like a larger or more decorative cake, consider using airbrushed or handpainted fondant in various shades of blue to give the feeling of ocean waves. Sprinkle to cake base with crushed graham cracker sand and add marzipan sea glass, shells and other decorations to evoke the beach. The cake topper can be as simple as pewter monograms set off by a few more pieces of sea grass and hydrangea blooms.
Food for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
When choosing food for your sea glass inspired wedding, you have two main routes – the elegant beach club meal or the beach party luau. Both are equally delicious! If you plan on feeding a crowd, including energetic children, consider a luau classic such as roasted pig. It looks amazing, it’s fun to eat, you’ll get to sample the local culture, and no one has to worry about eating with their hands. Pair it with a couple of sides, some fresh fruit and a few custom cocktails, and you’ll have a party everyone will be talking about for years to come.
If you’d like to go the elegant, classic meal route, you’ll also have some amazing options to offer your guests. Light dishes such as poultry and fish can be dressed up and served a variety of ways, and there are several vegetarian or vegan option available too, including salads, pastas or plant-based proteins. Serve with a crisp white wine selection, locally-brewed beer or elegant cocktails for a classic, upscale experience.
What to Look For in a Venue for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
Whether you have access to a beach or not, you can transform any neutral location, event hall, pavilion or private residence into a relaxing beachfront escape. If you live in an area with easy access to the beach, you can save money by obtaining a permit for a public beach – but this means the public will be observing your wedding. This is a good option if you plan on pricing out and coordinating various vendors yourself.
If you’re looking for more of a one-stop shopping experience, consider a private each club or event space with beach access, which often offer catering, bar, staff and entertainment services, as well as other perks, for a fee. Even if you’re not near a beach, an event hall is a good option, as there’s plenty of space, in-house catering options and the hall is generally a blank canvas ready for your imaginative touch.
Photo Props for a Sea Glass Inspired Wedding
One of the most memorable parts of your special day will be the photos hanging on your wall and in your wedding album for years to come. There are several props you can use for a sea glass inspired wedding that will give an artistic air to your photos. Driftwood is one of the most prominent beach props, and you can probably rent or borrow a large piece to sit on, lean against or to hold items such as a bouquet, wedding rings or decorative items.
For a more elegant look, you can also find driftwood furniture such as tables and chairs, and even arches to frame the couple posing or saying vows. Soften the look by draping the driftwood with sheer fabrics in sea glass colours or flowers in coordinating shades.
Sea glass (reader request)
This sea glass wedding inspiration board was created for Kawehi and Michael, who are getting married here in Hawaii. These two love birds are tying the knot in gorgeous Hana on Maui where they will have a beach ceremony and their reception will be held in a traditional thatched Hawaiian hale. Kawehi wrote and said that her color palette is based on blue sea glass & grey and that she’ll be stringing twinkle lights with paper lanterns up in the hale. She also mentioned that they really need help with centerpiece ideas and were deciding whether to use picnic tables or round plastic tables for the reception.
When choosing between plastic and natural wood tables I’m always going to come down on the side of natural wood. It has a more refined look, works well with other decorative elements, and will complement the hale perfectly! For a sea glass color palette play up the blues in all aspects of your decor. Mercury glass with white and blue hydrangea flowers will make lovely centerpieces and the surface of the glass to reflect the twinkle lights.
Mix in fun Hawaii themed elements like gold pineapples next to the centerpieces to glam it up a bit. A fun play on sea glass is to wrap actual sea glass balls in different shades of blue rope and these can be used to frame the entrance to the hole. The bottles in this inspiration board can serve a lot of different purposes. You can use them to store well wishes your guests have written you, as a place/escort cards, or even as favors if you write a thank you note to place inside each of them. Pull the grey into your palette with flag cake toppers and blue depression glassware would be beautiful at your place settings!
Congratulations to Kawehi and Michael on your engagement and I hope that this inspiration board helps! Brides-to-be: don’t forget that you can request your own inspiration board here.
Credits: photo credits: mercury glass & place setting styled and photographed by Branco Prata // flag cake toppers via Happily Handmade Decor on Etsy // white calligraphy on kraft paper envelope via Laura Hooper Calligraphy // vintage airplane model & gold pineapple via Desire to Inspire, photographed by Emma Mitchell // write your wishes & yarn balls on beach via Style Me Pretty, photographed by Millie Holloman Photography, paper goods by Salt Harbor Designs // messages in bottles via Style Me Pretty, photographed by Jose Villa.