Throwing A Nautical Wedding: All The Tips & Tricks For The Perfect Day

A nautical wedding is a festive, cohesive theme for lovers of ships, sailing, and everything maritime! We at Peerspace have put together advice regarding nautical wedding venues, decor, bridalwear, and photography to help you ensure that your wedding day goes as smoothly as possible.

So what makes us experts? For starters, we’re the largest online marketplace for hourly venue rentals. This means that couples across the globe use our platform when they want to book the perfect wedding venue. It’s fair to say we’ve seen our fair share of weddings, and we’d love to share what we know with you!

Ahead, we share everything you need to know about throwing a nautical wedding. We’ll even share a few Peerspace venue suggestions that fit your theme to a T. Let’s get started!

Choosing a venue for your nautical wedding

A beach would, of course, make a wonderful location for a nautical wedding. In fact, it might be the first option that comes to mind when you’re considering where to hold your nuptials.

And if you’re, say, located in the Midwest nowhere near a coast and are completely landlocked, not to worry. You might very well have a lake near you with a beach that would serve just as well as a beach on the ocean.

But if there are no beaches near you, you’d prefer to have your wedding indoors, or you’re simply interested in other kinds of venues, your wedding can still have a thoroughly nautical theme!

How about finding the beach or other venue of your dreams? Your best tool for doing so has to be Peerspace, the most extensive online marketplace and premier online destination for hourly venue rentals.

The site connects users to thousands of listings located in hundreds of cities across the US and the globe. It also has an easy-to-use, intuitive search engine that makes browsing for the right space/location super simple.

Next, we share a couple of examples of Peerspace venues that we think would make the ideal location for a nautical wedding.

Beach Villa for a Small Wedding Ceremony and Reception in Panama City Beach

If you’re looking to hold a small wedding with up to 30 guests at the ceremony and reception, then this beach villa is the perfect location for your elegant yet intimate nautical wedding. In addition to renting out the space itself, the host of this Peerspace listing is actually a wedding designer.

You can hire them to design your wedding decor and florals. Plus, the property also comes with a guest suite that can be included in your rental – making it a little more of a one-stop-shop than many other wedding venues you’re likely to find. But rather than taking our word for it, take a look at the photos of this venue in the listing to get a sense of how beautiful and tasteful it really is.

Outdoor Green Space in the heart of Pacific Beach, San Diego

If you’re anywhere near San Diego, consider renting this outdoor green space venue for your nautical wedding. It can accommodate medium-sized weddings of as many as 150 guests and is a relatively simple “blank slate” that’s been rented out for everything from wedding receptions to baby showers to comedy shows. It’s versatile enough that you can decorate it with whatever nautical decor you like and set up the furniture in the space however you wish.

The hosts describe it accurately as “one of the most unique and affordable spaces in [the] Pacific Beach area” at just $125 per hour. Plus, this venue is only a few blocks from the beach if you’d like to walk there to take photos or just to spend a few hours relaxing and burying your toes in the sand with some loved ones.

It also gets a lot of love from the Peerspace community, judging from its user reviews! Here’s just one example: “I had a great experience with the host and the space from the moment I inquired about interest until I finished and wrote my review. The hosts are amazing, welcoming, and great communicators. The space is equally as great as the hosts. The space is perfect for events/gatherings. The design is cool and there is enough space for plenty of friends/family. 5 stars isn’t even high enough. I had an amazing event which was created through a perfectly crafted space. Thank you!”

A beautiful yacht club in Lawrence, NY

We love the idea of hosting your nautical wedding at this Lawrence, NY yacht club since it is both sophisticated and utterly on-theme. It provides space for 50 guests and includes a nautical-themed clubhouse, a kitchen, and an outdoor deck on the water.

Aside from gorgeous views, you can ask the host to link you up with a local catering team so you can provide your guests with a sumptuous seafood feast befitting the day.

“Such a stunning location! Perfect backdrop for our photoshoot,” shares a Peerspace reviewer. “The team and myself loved it. Claudia and her team were absolutely wonderful to work with. A seamless and easy experience all around. We will certainly be back and would love to work with Claudia again on future bookings.”

Nautical wedding decor

For a nautical wedding, the go-to color combination would be blue and white like the classic sailor’s uniform, and we agree there’s a reason it’s a classic. However, we’d also recommend you add additional colors like gold and warm wooden neutrals. Martha Stewart Weddings suggests “choosing navy blue, emerald green, or soft sky blue as the anchor (pun intended!) color for your celebration’s design.

Alternatively, layer in coastal motifs, like boats, buoys, anchors, and stripes, to help achieve that seafaring vibe you’re after.” These are thematic suggestions you can incorporate into any aspect of your wedding decor.

A wedding arch provides the focal point for the entire ceremony, and you can bring the nautical theme front and center with an arch made of driftwood. Optional add-ons include seashells, flowers, palm fronds, and the foliage of your choice.

Fruit is even an option if you’re being particularly creative. Another nautical arch possibility from Wedding Forward: “For a modern and aesthetic touch, opt for geometric arches and adorn them with greenery, fruits, or pampas grass.”

Lanterns are beautiful in any context, and they just make sense for a nautical wedding. Consider hanging lanterns, especially for outdoor wedding ceremonies.

Nautical wedding bridalwear

Consider gowns and accessories in colors other than the classic shades of white! Martha Stewart Weddings suggests that “an ocean-blue wedding gown or blue-and-white striped bow tie would do the trick, style-wise”. But if you’d like to wear your white gown (and we can’t blame you), then adding blue accessories like shoes and even nails would add a subtle infusion of the nautical theme.

In their list of 27 gorgeous and trendy nautical wedding dresses (take a look for some major inspo), WeddingOMania also recommends that you “try a retro tea length wedding dress with black or navy trim or a creative striped wedding ballgown with pockets, which is a fresh take on traditional nautical stripes.”

Nautical wedding photography

If you decide not to hold your wedding ceremony itself on a beach, consider instead having some of your wedding photos taken on a beach. There are a ton of fun beach-specific photo opportunities that you can take advantage of.

For instance, have you and your future spouse both kick off your fancy shoes and bury your toes in the sand. You can also enjoy less formal photos of yourselves goofing around together. These are sure to be the photos that you look back on years later with fondness because they’re a true-to-life representation of what your relationship is really like.

Looking for more inspiration when it comes to beach and nautical wedding photography? Check out this article from Enchanted Celebrations, which has beautiful example photos from several different beach weddings.

Throwing a nautical wedding: conclusion

We hope this guide has you looking forward to your nautical wedding more than ever! As you can see, hosting a beautifully themed wedding doesn’t have to be too challenging. We suggest you start with the perfect wedding venue courtesy of Peerspace. That way, you can see how much, if any, decor is needed and instantly find out what types of amenities and services the host offers.

Who knows, with the right venue, you may find that everything you need for the perfect wedding day is already on-site. Then all you have to do is show up and have a blast!

Find unique wedding venues on Peerspace