How to Have a Great Wedding on a Riverboat

If the idea of a wedding aboard a ship excites you, but you don't want to travel all the way to the ocean for a cruise ship wedding, you can basically get the same experience from having a riverboat wedding. Riverboat weddings are unique and a fun experience for you and your guests alike. With several rivers and boats to choose from, you need to get an early start compiling a list and making eliminations.

Decide on a location. Obviously, the wedding will need to be held in a city on a river that offers riverboat weddings. Some examples include the Chattanooga Riverboat on the Tennessee River, the Riverboat Angela Louise in Newport Beach, the Tom Sawyer Riverboat on the Mississippi River, and the Scarlett Belle in Oxnard, California. Unless you already have a special location in mind, choose one that is nearby so that guests won't have to travel as far to attend the ceremony. Check out several local riverboats to decide which one suits you best. Some offer a theme while others might be more elegant. For example, the Tom Sawyer Riverboat is a 19th century replica steamboat. See References for link. You also need to consider how many guests you will be inviting because some riverboats can only accommodate sixty people or less.

Select a wedding package. How many guests will you have, and how much to do you want the riverboat coordinator to do for you? Find out what packages the riverboat cruise has to offer by calling or searching their website. Wedding packages are generally categorized according to the number of guests and how formal the ceremony will be. One package only offers an informal reception while another offers a sit down dinner cruise meal. If you want to find a caterer on your own and do most of the decorating, you will need to choose a smaller package that has less to offer.

Decide on a theme for decorations. Would you like to stay with the riverboat cruise theme and base the décor around that? If so, you can find favors and décor for nautical themed weddings at Cruisenfavors.com. See Resources for link. They have adorable nautical candle holders and sailboat place card holders. Maybe you desire the riverboat wedding because of the romantic factor and would rather have an elegant ceremony. Then you might opt for traditional wedding décor such as tulle and floral arrangements consisting mainly of roses.

Order invitations. No matter what decorating style you choose to go with, your invitations should incorporate the riverboat wedding theme. Michelle Mospens designed some beautiful hand-illustrated invitations. Visit the My Personal Artist website to view them. See Resources for link. These invitations are elegant so they would work with any style. The Invitation Consultants also have a wide variety of cruise ship theme invitations to choose from. See Resources for link.

Consider guests who might suffer from motion sickness. Some guests might suffer from motion sickness and won't be able to enjoy the ceremony without dealing with dizziness and nausea the entire time. In fact, if they haven't already been on a riverboat before, they might not realize that they are prone to motion sickness. In order to help these guests enjoy the wedding without having to make constant trips to the bathroom, provide a basket filled with an over the counter motion sickness medication such as Dramamine. That way, if anyone starts to get butterflies in their stomach that aren't just caused by seeing you get married, they will have an antidote readily available to them.