Beautiful seashells make wonderful decorations for a summer wedding. They are marvelous for a nautical wedding, a beach wedding, or anytime that you want to bring the flavor the ocean to your wedding. Take a look at the myriad of ways to use seashell wedding decorations for your own special day.

Certainly any wedding motif begins with the invitations. While not exactly a decoration, they are the perfect way to set the stage for your event. For a very classic ceremony, a white heavy cotton invitation embossed with a pearlized white seashell is the perfect invitation. Choose a coordinating envelope lining pattered with classic illustrations of shells in either a blue and white palette or in neutral sand tones. For a less formal wedding by the water, select an ivory invitation with shells painted in a watercolor style. They look great as a design in one corner of the paper as a great little accent and dash of personality.

When your guests arrive at your wedding reception, there are a few cute ways to welcome them with decorative shells. A beautiful shell can be glued to each escort card. Use a variety of different shells, and lay them all out flat in nice rows. The effect is very pretty, and as a bonus, the weight of the shells will keep your escort cards anchored should a breeze come along. Another idea is to use place card holders with a silver shell motif for a formal wedding. They would work equally well for the escort cards or the place cards.

On the dinner tables, there are lots of great ways to wow your guests with shells. Martha Stewart has a wonderfully unique craft project for using large clean shells as salt and pepper caddies on the tables. Then of course, there are the centerpieces. You can opt for a traditional floral arrangement, and add a scattering of seashells among the blooms. Another idea is to design a shell based centerpiece. Take a number of large shells in different forms and combine with red faux coral, large pillar candles, and a bit of sand on a tray. This is a fun diy project that also looks fantastic.

Let’s not forget about decorating the bride. Try beach theme wedding jewelry made from stunning Swarovski crystals in the shape of seashells. Or choose wedding jewelry which is created from genuine shells for your beach wedding, such as a monogrammed pendant made from a flat piece of shell. So pretty and so unique. The bouquet can be decorated just like the centerpieces, with small seashells wired into the flowers. For a bold accent, create a cuff of large translucent capiz shell discs around your flowers. It is very offbeat and perfect for an oceanside ceremony.

Certainly, your wedding cake should also be adorned with your chosen motif. You can have the baker decorate with real clean shells (be sure to remove before serving!) or create them from sugar or fondant. A dusting of pearlescent shimmer powder will give the faux shells a natural luminosity. This is one cake that might end up too pretty to cut!

From napkin rings to cocktail picks, there is almost no limit to the ways you can use a shell motif to decorate your wedding. It is a timeless
summer motif with a classic elegance that will never go out of style. Whether your wedding will be at ocean’s edge or in a landlocked location, you cannot go wrong with this wonderful summer motif.

Do not ruin the perfect wedding dress with the all-too-wrong, all-too-inappropriate jewelry lest you find yourself less-than-the-radiant bride on your most important of days. You have to strike the right balance between the size and shape of the jewelry vis-?-vis the color and cut of your wedding gown for that all-too-desired vavavoom effect.

You must never fall into the tacky trap of over-accessorizing precisely because you want to call attention to yourself, not to the bling-blings strung all over you like a rap star with a serious fetish for chunky, clunky gold chains and big rocks. Channel Grace Kelly, snub Snoop Dogg. You get the point.For example, if you are wearing a tiara, skip the necklace. Or if you are wearing diamond earrings, skip the necklace, too. Or if you want to wear a statement necklace, skip the rest of the jewelry set. The important point is to wear jewelry that will both complement your wedding gown and draw attention to your radiant face. This brings you to the next point.

Your wedding jewelry must complement the cut of your wedding gown to provide you with the perfect fit. (And here you were worrying about fitting into your gown on the day itself! But this match is a must-do)

For the strapless bridal gown, you can wear a statement necklace with bold design that can draw attention to your neckline. Again, you should skip piling on other jewelry otherwise you will be decked out like an out-of-season Christmas tree.
For the halter dress, you can don diamond stud earrings to highlight the gown’s cut. If you feel naked without hand jewelry, then you can add in a simple and stunning bracelet.
For the sweetheart neckline, you can opt for a lariat necklace for that sexy effect
For the heavily beaded and heavily embroidered bridal gown, you must lay off on the elaborate jewelry. Your bridal gown will be the focal point of your aura already!

For the simple bridal gown, you can go bold and daring but steer clear of brash and tacky

Again, the important thing is that your jewelry must complement instead of distract from your wedding gown.
Lay On the TraditionOr you can create one of your own! Your jewelry can follow the age-old adage about “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue and a lucky sixpence for your shoe” but definitely not all at the same time. Again, less is more when it comes to bridal jewelry.For example, you can wear sapphire jewelry for the something blue part. Or the heirloom tiara for the something old and the small albeit contemporary diamond stud earrings for the something new part.