Getting Married on Tybee Island: A Beach Wedding & Elopement Guide

Most people picture a beach wedding as a bare-feet, no-paperwork affair: two people, an officiant, some waves. On Tybee Island the first part is achievable and the second is not. The beach belongs to the City, the City wants to know you are coming, and a handful of firm rules decide what your ceremony can include. None of that is a reason to look elsewhere. It is a reason to plan in the right order.

This guide is written for couples, specifically for eloping or marrying in a small ceremony on Tybee's sand. It covers the permit, the rules, how to think about where on the beach to stand, when to come, and what the rest of the trip tends to look like. We are a 19-room independent inn on Silver Avenue, about 300 yards from the beach, so it also covers who we can and cannot host.

Start with the permit

A beach permit is required for a wedding. The City of Tybee's wording is that a Beach Permit is needed for any type of activity beyond that of usual beachgoers, and standing in a ceremony with an officiant qualifies. What you are applying for is a Beach Event Permit, which reserves a specific beach area for a specific date and time. Reservations run from 7 AM to 9 PM.

The process is online, and it runs in a set order:

1. Create an account on the City's online reservation site.
2. Reserve a specific beach area, using either the list or the map view of the Beach catalog.
3. Check out. Your application goes to the City's Special Events Division for review.
4. You receive an emailed receipt marked "pending approval."
5. Once the application is approved, the non-refundable application fee is processed.
6. The City issues the final permit.

Two things are worth knowing before you start. First, a permit and an application fee are both required. The fee is non-refundable and is taken at the end of the process. The City's page lists it: cityoftybee.org/363/Beach-Permit.

Second, timing. Special-event applications are first-come, first-served, and review can take up to 60 days. If you have a specific date in mind, such as an anniversary or a weekend your officiant is free, the permit is the first thing to secure, not the last. Book the room and the photographer after the permit is approved, or at least with the permit well in hand.

The rules for the sand

The City's beach-event rules are specific, and a few of them catch couples by surprise. Here they are as the City states them:

• You bring and remove everything. The City rents no chairs, arches or decorations. Whatever you set up, you take down, and you leave no litter, props or containers behind.
• Stay off the dunes. They are protected. Plan your ceremony space and your photo spots around that.
• Petals must be real and undyed. Real, non-dyed flower petals only. Dyed petals are out.
• Keep off the rock jetties. They look dramatic in photos. They are off limits for photos too.
• No open flames, no glass, no dogs, no motor vehicles. That rules out unity candles, champagne flutes, a dog as ring bearer and anything on wheels driving onto the sand. Dogs are banned on Tybee's beaches year-round, which settles that question.
• No helium balloons and no sky lanterns. Remove any temporary signs right after the ceremony.

The glass rule is the one most likely to affect your plans. A toast is entirely possible, but it has to happen in something other than glass, or somewhere other than the beach. Many couples skip the beach toast and do the celebration over dinner instead.

A related point on lighting. Evening beach lighting is a sensitive subject during sea turtle nesting season, and the City and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources are the right sources for what applies to your date. If your plan involves lights, string lights or anything glowing after dark, ask the City when you apply rather than assuming.

Last, parking is enforced on the island. If your party is more than a few people, think about shuttling rather than having everyone hunt for spaces near the beach.

Choosing where on the beach

The permit lets you reserve a specific beach area, so the real decision is which one. Here is how different stretches feel.

North Beach, by the lighthouse. This is the stretch most people picture when they think of Tybee: the lighthouse close by, a postcard backdrop for photos.

Back River, on the west side. It tends to be calm, which suits a two-person elopement that wants privacy. It gives you marsh and water instead of open surf, which is a different look altogether and a more sheltered one.

Whichever you pick, scout it first if you can. Look at where the dunes sit, how far you will carry your gear from the nearest legal parking, and where the sun will be at the time you have reserved. The beach faces the Atlantic to the east, which tends to flatter morning ceremonies. An early slot also tends to mean fewer other people, which suits an elopement.

Elopement or small ceremony?

The permit process and the rules are the same for both. What differs is the logistics around them.

An elopement is the two of you, an officiant, perhaps a photographer, and maybe a witness or two. You can carry everything you need in one trip. There is little to coordinate, and the whole thing can be over in a matter of minutes, leaving the rest of the day free. This is the version Tybee handles best, because the beach asks you to be light on equipment and the rules assume you will be.

A small ceremony adds guests, and with guests come chairs, an aisle, a sound plan and a larger footprint to set up and then remove. All of it is yours to bring and carry out. Parking becomes the bigger worry, so shuttling starts to make sense. It is entirely doable. Allow more time on either side of the reservation for set-up and tear-down.

Whichever way you go, make sure of the legal side separately. The marriage license is handled through the Chatham County Probate Court, not the City of Tybee, so direct any license questions there. The beach permit lets you stand on the sand. It does not make the marriage legal.

When to come

The seasons here work the way they do for any visit. Summer on Tybee is hot, with afternoon storms that can interrupt a plan with no warning, and it is the busiest time on the beach. Spring and fall are gentler, and the shoulder months of April, May, September and October are when many couples find a better balance of warm water and manageable crowds. Our September piece on the island's quiet season for couples goes into the shoulder-season appeal in more detail.

Whatever season you pick, build in a backup. Weather decides a lot on a barrier island. A permit reserves a date and time, so talk to the City about what happens if the day turns out to be unusable, and keep your photographer and officiant flexible if you can.

Where to stay

Atlantis Inn is built for two. Every one of our rooms sleeps two people, so we are a good home for the couple, and not a base for a wedding party. If you are bringing a group of family or friends who need to sleep under one roof, you will want lodging with rooms for more than two.

For the couple, the inn has things that suit a wedding trip. We have four room types, and two of them are signature rooms: the Red Room, a bold, romantic room with crimson walls and a whirlpool tub, and the Penthouse, with a raised, column-framed king bed and a separate sitting area. They are signature rooms, not the only ones. The King Suite and the King Room are the straightforward standards, and any of them works for a wedding night. Guests also get rooftop access above the property, a quiet spot to be alone after the ceremony.

A few things to be clear about, since people plan around them. We do not have a pool of our own, though guests can use the pools at other Tybee Lodging Group properties. We do not serve breakfast. For the morning after, Sunrise Restaurant and Mi Vida are the nearby places to go. Parking is free and on-site, one car per room. The inn is on Silver Avenue, about 300 yards from the beach: close, but not beachfront, and our rooms do not have ocean views. The guest who books and checks in must be 21 or older.

If you want to see the rooms before you decide, they are on our rooms page.

Making a trip of it

A ceremony on the sand takes a short part of a day. The rest of the trip is yours, and Tybee gives you plenty of ways to fill it.

For the evening, our guide to the most romantic restaurants on Tybee covers where to book a table for two, and Sea Wolf, the island's occasion-dinner table is a sensible pick for a wedding dinner. If you are not yet engaged and are reading this ahead of the big question, where to propose on Tybee comes first. For everything else about the island as a couple, Tybee Island for Couples: A Complete Guide is the long version, and a romantic weekend itinerary lays out the days hour by hour.

Savannah is about 18 miles away, a 20-to-30-minute drive on US-80, which is the only road onto the island. A day in the historic district before or after the wedding is easy to fit in. Our things to do page lists what is nearby on the island itself.

A short planning order

If you take one thing from this guide, make it the sequence:

1. Pick a date and a beach area, and apply for the Beach Event Permit on the City's reservation site.
2. While you wait, sort the marriage license with Chatham County Probate Court.
3. Once the permit is approved, book your officiant, photographer and room.
4. Plan your ceremony around the rules: no glass, no flames, real petals only, everything carried in and carried out.
5. Check the City's Beach Permit page again close to your date for anything that has changed.

Planning a wedding-night stay? See our special offers or check availability for your dates.