What Every Bride Should Know When Planning A Wedding

Beaches, parks, meadows, backyards and campgrounds are all popular choices for weddings. If you are one the many couples who have chosen an outdoor location for your special day. Here’s a tip to make things a little easier and more comfortable.

Outdoor weddings are wonderful but can pose unique challenges. One important challenge is lighting. Lucky for you there are now several choices available in solar lighting and though the initial cost may be a little high. Considering the multi-use options for holidays, backyard parties, camping and beach trips the long term value makes solar lighting a great buy. And here’s another tip: lighting can define your space which makes decorating an outdoor area much easier, after all how do you compete with mother nature?

You may think that with solar lights the sun will have to shine or you’ll be in the dark but that is no longer true. Many of the solar lights are not only solar “charged” but come with a battery back up. These little wonders will stay lit for several hours and since they use LED lights, the lighting is more than adequate.

I recently decorated an area at the beach using solar lighting and here is what I did…

Using several 10″ bamboo poles I drilled pilot holes for hooks which were screwed in at the top of the pole to hold the lights and fabric. The poles were driven into the sand using a hammer and a flat piece of wood placed on top of the pole to protect it while hammering. I then placed the poles about 5 to 6 feet apart and making sure they where at least 2 feet into the sand (for greater stability you can fill the hollow of the pole with sand).

To the hook I added chiffon streamers in the brides colors which had been threaded through rings and secured. I was careful with the length of the streamers so they weren’t blowing into fire-pits or candles. The lights were then strung from pole to pole in a drapped fashion and secured to the hooks with mini electrical ties. A  series of smaller poles were placed with lighting as a lit walkway to the bathrooms and parking lot. Because the use of floral was kept at a minimum, only the bride, groom and their attendants had flowers, hand charged flashlights along with a pair of thongs were given to guests as favors.

I loved this wedding, the elegance was in the simplicity and the fact they did not try to compete with the location. They embraced the wind, sand and twilight and in the end they and their guests were left with a beautiful experience and wonderful memories.

There are several sites that sell solar string lights and it’s certainly worth the effort to take an afternoon and do a search. Happy surfing!

© 2008 Mary Spies All rights Reserved