Creating Nautical Themed Wedding Centerpieces

Wedding season is upon us. Wedding season is actually all year round these days! As a June bride, cliche that it was, I wanted to lessen the stress upon my shoulders as much as possible, so I could enjoy the time leading up to the wedding, planning it, and the wedding day itself. I lived on Cape Cod, and because it was my beloved home I wanted to bring the Cape Cod theme into the reception. It was already in the church; our Episcopal chapel where we worshipped was named for Saint Peter, and featured many nautical touches including a seashell with which to baptize the babies.

Our reception took place in a hall on the bottom floor of a local hotel that had views of both the Bourne Bridge and the Cape Cod Canal. Many of our guests were from out of town and had never been to the Cape, so they loved the backdrop to our photographs, the bridge itself. The reception hall had a huge seaside-themed mural on one whole wall behind the head table. We were on a budget and I wanted something other than flowers as the centerpieces. I wanted something memorable, something that “said” Cape Cod.

If you are from the New England area, you know what the Christmas Tree Shop is. If not, this is a chain of stores where you can get a huge variety of “things” for very low costs….from paper to lamps to food. I found plate-like candle holders that were molded white ceramic with seashells around the edge. I bought enough of these for all of the tables, at a dollar each, along with clear glass domes to go over them for a dollar fifty. I purchased a bag of pink sand (three dollars) and a bag of clean, small seashells that had been gathered from the local beaches (two fifty), and for very little money I created the centerpieces for all of the tables.

I spread out the sand in the center of each table, and placed a variety of the seashells in the sand. I placed the candleholder and candle in the center of the sand (the candles were pink to match the sand) and placed the dome over the lot. It was a special touch that all the guests just loved, very simple and inexpensive. In keeping with this theme, the bakery who made our cake put it on a platform with sand-colored sugar scattered at the bottom to look like sand, and white chocolate seashells nestled in the “sand”.

Wedding centerpieces do not have to be expensive or elaborate. Choosing a theme for the centerpiece that matches the surroundings of the wedding is an interesting change from the traditional flowers or flowers-and-candle arrangements. Pulling in a local flavor definitely adds to the festivity of the occasion, and will be remembered by your guests. And for a seashore wedding, sand and seashells are a simple addition that is not expensive. Dried starfish would add interest to the centerpiece as well.

Another interesting centerpiece would be a ship-in-a-bottle, placed atop sand as described above. Use white beach sand (purchased, to ensure it is clean) or colored sand to match the wedding colors, as I did with the pink sand. Get creative with your beach theme!