Beach themes can be hard to love. If there aren’t starfish in every corner, there will be too much blue and yellow. There can also be that blurring between Tropicana, nautical, even under the sea. Where’s the line?
We think that the key to Beach Wedding Themed Cards is maintaining that relaxed tone you want for your wedding. Let those lines blur and don’t be afraid to stick to your guns on the things that you really, really like. If that means that there has to be star fish and swathes of blue, then make sure they’re done well. We’ve found a couple that find the perfect balance, although we’ve also found some beach themed things that made us want to cringe.
TOP 10 BEACH INVITATION IDEAS
1. WATERCOLOUR OCEAN
Watercolour done well can be quite subtle. Here, the standard blue is lost in the stroke variation and brush tip that fills in the texture of the paper. We like the idea of a silver foil press, even a curling wave typeface if you can’t let that traditional beach theme go.
2. ABSTRACT WATERCOLOUR
This is another example of subtle watercolour. We think the effect of the colour, shape and typeface is relaxed but chic. Contrasted by something to make this green-blue stand out, the colour scheme could easily carry over into the wedding day itself.
3. SIMPLE OR STYLISED WAVES
Okay, this isn’t strictly beach themed. Or Tropicana. Or nautical. Still, we think this is appropriate for a beach themed wedding because of the repeated round shape that might be a wave. Or, in a different colour it might be any number of things, which is a nice way to keep things understated.
4. FEATURED ARTIST: TROPICANA
These are all colour and maybe a little Tropicana but why not? We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: we love Camilla Frances! With a bold serif typeface in a contrasting colour, the wedding invitations can be hung up as art, not just on the fridge.
5. NAUTICAL
A common trap with nautical is that blue and white sailor stripe. This invitation set has escaped by playing by using soft colours and simple nautical symbols.
6. UNDER THE SEA
Under the sea can often be quite busy. This under the sea wedding invitation uses all the symbols, with an understated blue that doesn’t overwhelm those essential wedding details.
7. THE COASTAL SCAPE
This coastal scape could easily have gone wrong: another colour scale and it would look too much like an over filtered Instagram post. As it is, the muted colours of this image are perfect. The circle in the middle is a good way to bring text out of the image.
8. BY THE SEA SIDE
Show where you’re getting married with an image of the place. To avoid the sun bleached photograph, be inspired by this invitation and try an illustration.
9. PATTERNED
We stumbled across this one and started to wonder why we hadn’t thought of a seaside inspired invitation that uses bright colours and gives room for a fun font. We especially love the pale grey dots of sea spray around the edges.
10. ELEGANT AND SIMPLE WAVES
Here is an idea for an elegant Beach Wedding Theme Invitation to Love. After some hunting around, we founf something relatively simple and effective that creates an elegant feel.
OH-SO-TRENDY CHALK BOARD
We love this idea. The black chalk board. You’ll have to borrow someone with legible hand writing, but the chalk board is fairly versatile – use it to display the menu or if you think that’s a waste, you could try using it to provide details to guests (saves having to be constantly asked where the toilet is or when the cakes being cut).
CHIC FRAMED TABLE MENU
This is less an alternative to the wedding menu card and more of an acknowledgement of the art form that is printed paper. Frames can quickly rack up the costs if you’ve got a large number of guests. Like the black board, this is easily positioned somewhere in the room that everyone can see (make sure the font is large enough to be seen over the top of other curious heads). While this frame has been draped with classic flowers, make it beach themed with.
CUTE STAMPED PAPER DOILIES
If you’ve gone for a boho beach wedding, this is another idea to add to the ones we’ve mentioned before.
Paper doilies are a little less kitsch if you’ve got something printed on the front. One per guest and it’s a cool keepsake.
KEEPSAKE CHOPSTICKS WITH PRINTED MENU ON THE SLEEVE
Very cool right? The menu sleeve might be disposed of, but make those chopsticks a personal keepsake for your guests.
SIMPLE PRINTED PAPER BAG FAVOURS
sourced: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/496733033875858474/
The paper bag of your guest favours can be put to good use with the menu printed on the front or back.
VERSATILE TABLE NUMBERS OR PLACE CARDS
The place cards are also something that can do two things at once – name on the front, menu on the back or printed on the inside. Easy. And a good way to save paper by not having to print cards for every little piece of information.
With all of these alternatives, the most important thing is that the menu is legible for the oldest guests to the youngest.
In the end, a beach themed wedding invitation is essentially the same as any other wedding invitation;while you want it to be a beautiful print object that’s appropriate to the day you’ve planned, the most important thing is that you provide the information your guests need to come and celebrate with you. If everyone asks where you got such wonderful wedding stationery printed, well, that’s just a bonus.
Thank you for featuring our Cape Cod invitation design!