Having your wedding on a sandy beach in Mexico is a dream come true. The beautiful blue waves, tropical foliage, and sunny skies naturally create an ideal setting for a romantic ceremony. All you need to do is add a few small personal touches to pull it all together. Take a look at these beach wedding ideas for decorations, photos, and more so you can create and enjoy your picture-perfect destination wedding.
Beach Wedding Decorations
You don’t have to be from Mexico to take inspiration from the beauty of the country and its culture for your beach wedding decorations. Pull in some bright colors, festive music, and delicious local cuisine to create the celebration your special day deserves.
Color
Choose bright colors that complement your tropical surroundings and create a cheerful atmosphere. Colored lanterns, pottery, flowers, and fruit all make beautiful centerpieces for the tables. Tie the chairs into the decor by tying colorful ribbons to them. You can also dress the bridal party in colors that pop and complement the couture with gorgeous flowers and greenery.
Pro Pick: Keep your guests cool and add a pop of color to your wedding ceremony by giving your guests fans that are coordinated with your wedding colors.
Culture
Mexican culture has lots of fun traditions that can be easily incorporated into your beach wedding decorations. Flower girls can wear Mexican Puebla dresses, you can learn traditional dances, or hire a mariachi band for entertainment. You can even use maracas or piñatas as favors for part of the celebration.
Pro Pick: Mexico also has beautiful pottery styles and designs. Add some authentic Mexican flair to your beach wedding decorations by incorporating Mexican pottery in your table decor.
Food
The hardest part about using local food at your wedding is deciding which of the many delicious foods you want to serve. Serving local dishes, fresh fruits, and local cocktails is the perfect way to highlight your wedding location. Check with your wedding vendor to see what they offer and find the perfect food options for you and your guests.
Pro Pick: Beach weddings are a great time to go casual. Guests love buffet-style food, like taco bars.
Ambiance
With a beach wedding, your surroundings do most of the work for you, but you can still add to the ambiance with beautiful lighting for when the sun goes down. Try setting up candles on the tables or tiki torches around the perimeter, or consider booking a fire performance for your wedding entertainment. If your venue can’t go the candle or fire route, using electric candles can be a great alternative—plus they won’t blow out if the ceremony has a bit of a breeze.
Pro Pick: Decorative lanterns or strings of lights add warmth and romance.
Tropical Touches
Another great way to include the beauty of Mexico at your wedding is to add a few beach wedding decorations like seashells or starfish. You can also use palm leaves and tropical flowers to keep in line with the surrounding foliage.
Pro Pick: The cake is the perfect place for white shells, edible sand, white chocolate seahorses, or colorful coral.
Beach Photo Ideas
With a destination wedding, you may feel like you can never have too many photos. In fact, in addition to images of the ceremony, reception, bridal party, and other wedding details, the beach is the perfect place for romantic couple poses or a “trash the dress” photoshoot after the wedding. Try some of these fun beach photo ideas or add your own!
The Happy Couple
When the wedding is over and you head back home, which pictures will you want to frame and hang on your wall? Of course, there will be some in your wedding clothes, but you may also want some of the two of you dressed more casually and enjoying the beach or other activity in the area. Booking a romantic honeymoon photoshoot is a great way to record the first days of your marriage in an intimate and relaxing way after the craziness of the wedding is over.
Adventure Photos has professional photographers who can help you capture these intimate and quiet moments with just the two of you on your beautiful destination honeymoon.
Pro Tip: Mexico offers many resorts and wedding venues to choose from in beautiful locations. Puerto Vallarta is an especially popular spot for destination and beach weddings and includes venues such as Las Caletas—a private beach accessible only by boat—as well as nearby hotels and resorts that cater specifically to beach weddings.
Trash the Dress
If you are not familiar with the idea, a “trash the dress” photoshoot is when the bride wears the wedding dress somewhere unexpected, without worrying about what happens to it, and captures images of the experience. For example, in Mexico, you might wear your dress while wading in the pool, laying in the sand, or strolling down the beach.
Pro Tip: Mexico has unique trash the dress opportunities in the plentiful cenotes. Cenotes are pools of freshwater that have collected in limestone sinkholes and provide a unique and beautiful photography experience for a “trash the dress” shoot.
Themed Props
In addition to having professional photos taken of the bridal party, you may want to create a space where guests can commemorate their visit to Mexico. Have cute and festive props nearby like sombreros, scarves, beach balls, fake mustaches, and signs to hold as they pose in front of the beach or trees. They can use this space to take selfies with their cameras and you can also leave disposable cameras for them to take pictures for the bride and groom.
Pro Tip: Hire a professional photo booth. Hiring a professional photo booth means you will have a professional photographer on hand to provide you and your guests with fun props to create memorable photos you can add to your wedding album. Plus, your wedding guests can leave special messages in the photo album as a reminder of who attended your wedding.
Hire a Professional
Your wedding day only happens once, so you want to make sure you have a professional photographer on hand to help you capture your big day. Shooting weddings involves a lot of specific details that are easy to overlook if you don’t have a plan in advance. In fact, many photographers work alongside videographers and photo booth companies to make sure they have everything covered.
On top of the specifics of wedding photography, you also need to be sure your photographer is familiar with taking pictures on the beach. The lighting is much different than an indoor wedding venue, and even most outdoor locations because there is very little shade and a lot of direct sunlight.
Pro Tip: Use a photographer that is familiar with shooting beach weddings and with your venue. Photographers familiar with your venue will also know the perfect places to capture the best images and where the best shade is to keep you cool while shooting. Plus, a professional who is familiar with your venue will also have a good plan B in place should it start to rain.
Adventure Photos
For more great beach photo ideas or to book an experienced photographer for your upcoming destination wedding, contact Adventure Photos—an industry leader in international destination photography and videography in Mexico and the Caribbean. We offer professional photography, videography, and photo booth options to help you capture the perfect images of your special day.
