Beach wedding!

Your best bet is to contact hotels in the area you want and start gathering their rates. If you try to diy the whole thing it will be a ton of work and probably more expensive. I also don't think you can reserve spots on the beach. Your have to have someone campout early and claim an area for you. You could rent a beach house, just make sure the landlord is ok with parties, and parking will be an issue
Go through the venue search on wedding wire for Beach destinations in the region you want. In Texas, South Padre Island has the most beach hotels that do weddings, I'd say. That will at least give you an idea of cost and location.

I agree! I'd definitely start by looking for hotels or wedding planners that do a lot of beach weddings!!

Also here's a great article you can check out with planning tips, and a discussion with great advice from other WeddingWire couples:

How to Have a Beach Wedding

My beach brides .. any tips ? Regrets?