A Beach Wedding to Dye For!

Laura Kelly-Walters & husband Ryp planned a colorful wedding on the beach!

Laura Kelly planned an amazing wedding weekend full of activities on the beach in North Carolina.  For many of her guests, a wedding at the beach was a destination wedding.  What would she do with all her guests the day before the wedding?  Laura remembered many family gatherings on the beach and how much fun they had tie-dyeing on the beach.  So she thought this would be an awesome activity for her wedding guests to try the day before the wedding to create an opportunity for everyone to get to know one another.  Who would ever guess the heat from the sun and the salt water would make it possible to tie-dye at the beach?

Here’s how she did it!

Laura needed black plastic buckets to do the tie-dyeing so when the word got around, Romanoff products sent them to her as a wedding gift.  To dress them up for the occasion, Laura tied tulle ribbons to the handles along with a welcome tag and instructions on how to tie-dye!   Before the guests arrived (at least an hour ahead), she asked friends to fill up the buckets with salt water so the sun would heat up the water.  Black heats up quickly and doesn’t show the dye stains so you can reuse them.  Clever! 

Then she set the bottles of Rit dye beside the buckets in the warm sand.  Plus, she had some extra buckets of warm water on hand, just in case someone quickly needed more water.

Here’s Laura telling guests what to do.  Laura offered her guests a choice of white cotton T-shirts, cotton pillow cases or bandanas.  After making their choices, guests wrote their names or initials inside their selection using a customized wedding gift from Sharpie -- permanent markers with names and faces of the new blended Kelly-Walters family!  Laura is a doodle artist and a member of the official Sharpie Squad.

Next she demonstrated some basic tie-dyeing techniques with rubber bands.

When everyone was ready to dye, they chose a bottle of Rit and poured the bottle in a bucket of water (half bottle of liquid dye will color 2 T-shirts).  Then they stirred the dye and water with paint sticks.  Another clever idea and disposable, too!

Then the tied shirts and other items were immersed in the dye buckets for 15- 30 minutes, stirring them occasionally.  The longer the items remain in the dye, the darker the colors will be.

Later, wearing latex gloves, friends and volunteers removed the items from the dye, squeezed out the excess dye and cut the rubber bands.  Then they laid them out to air dry in the warm sun while everyone was swimming and having fun.

At the end of the afternoon activities, friends and guests gathered up the tie-dyed projects and transported them in left-over grocery bags.  Then they were rinsed in cool water to remove the excess dye and washed in warm water with mild detergent, rinsed and dried.  

Guests were given their items the next day to wear for the day’s activities before the wedding.

The bride and groom wore their tie-dyed T-shirts on their honeymoon while taking a kayak ride in search of manatees.  They also made each other tie-dyed pillowcases embellished with love messages written with their Sharpie permanent markers.  The pillows now have a new home on their bed to remind them of their colorful, happy wedding!

Supplies Needed    (for 100 guests)

• Assorted Items for Dyeing   (white 100% cotton T-Shirts, pillowcases & bandanas)
• 5 dz. Bottles Rit Liquid Dye (colors of choice) 
• 30 Black Plastic Buckets by Romanoff products 
• 30 Paint Stir Sticks
• Box of Latex Gloves
• Rubber Bands
• Sharpie Markers 
• Left-Over Grocery Bags (for guests to transport dyed items)