Although seashells and sand dollars are still widely used as design elements and accessories in Cape Cod weddings, couples have begun to expand upon the ocean theme to create their own decorative flourishes.

Many brides are using Cape Cod’s simplest, most natural elements to decorate their special day, says Connie Nye-Clark, owner of the Perfect Plan, a wedding planning business in East Sandwich.

“One bride is doing beach grass in her centerpieces, beach grass with starfish at the top of her napkin, beach grass with candles,” Nye-Clark says. “(So it’s a) little bit of the beach feel” – without shells.

“I’ll have brides go out and buy assorted flip-flops and arrange them in a nice presentation next to dance floor for guests to change into,” Nye-Clark says. “If (the wedding) is on or near the beach and guests don’t want to wear good shoes, they can put on the flip-flops.”

Nye-Clark’s clients also think outside the sandbox when it comes to wedding favors and place cards.

One couple used tiny, ceramic Adirondack chairs that were actually a place card holder but doubled as the wedding favor. The couple even went so far as to place two of them on top of the wedding cake and surrounded them with brown-sugar sand.

Other couples like to incorporate local businesses into their wedding favors.

 Nye-Clark had a couple who gave out Beach Plum Jelly from the Satucket Farm Stand in Brewster as place cards. They decided to create custom-made labels with the wedding date and the guest’s name on each jar, making the jelly the wedding favor, too.

Allison Wildes Liset, owner of Elegant Engagements, a Sandwich wedding planning company, says that one of her clients is incorporating the nature of the seashore into her wedding.

“A bride in a current wedding that I’m working on decided to hang mini-starfish on a ficus tree as her favors/place cards,” Wildes Liset says. “And she’s hanging votives on there, too. (A lot of customers) bring in natural elements – seashells, grass, branches and organic (things).”

For some couples, the Cape touch they’re looking for is best expressed on the menu for the reception dinner.

“There’s always some sort of clam chowder,” Wildes Liset says. “Lobsters are so messy, we usually do them at rehearsal dinners, but the day of the wedding, (couples) will have filet mignon, crab cakes for appetizers, scallops wrapped in bacon. We’ve done raw bars and displayed them in a boat full of crushed ice to kind of bring the outside in.”

Jaime Marie Burge, owner of SeaMist Event Planning, an Orleans wedding planning business, also says couples like to use natural elements such as dune grass and seafood to add a Cape flair to the dining experience.

“Everyone wants to do their own twist with seafood. Presentation-wise, (I’ve seen some) cute ideas like shrimp on a skewer over a shot glass of cocktail sauce,” Burge says. “I’ve also seen fruit growing out of wheat grass, so it looks like garden with a seafood presentation placed around it. For raw bars, there are lobster pots as decorations.”

   Some of her couples have made their own chocolate or white chocolate lollipops, molded from a lobster or crab, and tied guests’ names around the cellophane as a favor and place card.

By Katelyn Harding