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Top Ten Tips for Outer Banks Weddings
- Plan well in advance
Local wedding professionals recommend planning a year ahead, or more. Since the Outer Banks is one of the top destination wedding locations on the East Coast, there is a lot of competition for locations and vendors. The first thing you should do is select locations for your ceremony and reception and book your accommodations.
- Choose an off-peak date
If you just can't bear to wait more than a year to get married, choose an off-peak date. The main Outer Banks wedding season is from April through October, though the most popular months by far are May and October, not only because the weather is nice but also because the accommodations rates are off-peak. If you get married in the less popular months, from November to March, you will have more dates available, more options for service providers, less expensive accommodations and fewer crowds to contend with.
- Get married on a weekday
or Sunday
Saturday is, of course, the most popular wedding day. If you're having trouble
finding availability of dates in the time of year you want to get married, consider a Sunday or a weekday. Also consider that cottage rental accommodations usually run from Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday. If you get married mid-week, your family could stick around and relax after the wedding or you could send everyone home and spend a short honeymoon in the rental home.
- Always have a Plan B
If you're getting married outside, you should always have an alternate indoor plan or a tent. But, remember, you cannot always count on a tent in harsh weather with lightning or extreme winds. Weather is extremely fickle on the Outer Banks. If you're getting married on the beach,
consider renting a large house that could serve as a backup location just in case.
It might be a little crowded indoors, but at least everyone will be dry. If you're getting
married outdoors, try to set up a church to use as a backup location.
- Get the wedding insurance
Be sure to inquire with all vendors, accommodations and locations about their policies concerning unforeseen causes for cancellation. Wedding insurance is an inexpensive way to make sure you're covered in the event of an emergency or hurricane evacuation. (Hurricane season runs from July through November, with the definite peak in September.) Ask a wedding planner about wedding insurance. You can also buy accommodations insurance if you're renting an expensive home; your rental company will offer it to you when you rent.
- Make personal contacts and see things for yourself
If you live far away and are traveling to the Outer Banks for your wedding, it's worth it to make a trip or two to the Outer Banks to meet the people you're hiring and to see the locations you've chosen. Go to your ceremony and reception locations
and to your chosen accommodations. Jot down notes about these locations or take photographs so you won't have to call and ask questions about every planning and decorating decision. And remember, email is great for routine correspondence, but you shouldn't rely on it for all of your planning. For initial contacts and conversations on important issues, definitely make the phone call.
- Get everything in writing
Well, this tip goes for any wedding anywhere, but it bears repeating here. For your sake and the vendor's, make sure you have a contract that specifically spells out what you and the vendor have agreed upon.
- Plan carefully for sunset weddings
If you want to get married at the romantic hour of sunset, carefully consider the location and time. The optimal location for a sunset wedding is on the west side of the island, on the soundside. The beach gets darker as the sun goes down, which is not good for photographs. Remember that the sun sets quickly. If you're saying your vows as the sun drops into the sound, there will not be enough light for your photographs. Tammy Keller, of The Whale head Club, recommends that you start the wedding about 45 minutes before sunset. That way you'll still get some color and wonderful light during the ceremony and have the setting sun in the background of your
photographs.
- Plan for the elements
If you're getting married outside, you must plan for the elements of nature, and that doesn't just mean rain, for which, of course, you already have a plan. Consider wind. A light breeze coming off the water is perfection, but you could also get a gale blowing in your face and sand on your guests. Wind can do wonders in blowing biting insects away, but if you get no wind you might find mosquitoes or biting flies as unexpected guests. For outdoor summer weddings, you might light Citronella
candles or have a supply of bug spray on hand, just in case. Speaking of candles, some brides plan candle-lit outdoor ceremonies or receptions, only to have the wind blow out all the candles and tiki torches. Always have a backup plan, which might include hurricane lanterns or glass globes around the tiki torches.
- Make sure the accommodations are close to the locations
The last thing your guests want to do is drive all over the Outer Banks between your wedding locations. Have your guests stay near the wedding locations. This simple factor makes for relaxed and happy guests. Even better than having your guests drive around looking for locations is to hire shuttle buses and vans to bring them to the wedding.
Top Ten Tips
For a Beach Wedding. Beach weddings are so popular and so potentially fraught with problems if you don't plan ahead that we decided to give them their own set of tips. There are a lot of unpredictable elements involved in a beach wedding, so people who get married on the beach need to be easy-going, flexible and ready for anything.
- Make parking plans
Choose your beach-wedding location with parking in mind. This is the number one problem couples run into in relation to beach weddings. Get married near a public beach access that has plenty of parking or rent a house that is near a beach access with plenty of parking. Some brides make off-site parking arrangements and then shuttle guests to the site in vans. Contact the town hall (see Sites and Accommodations) to discuss parking laws.
- Consider lighting
Lighting is an issue on the beach, especially if you want to have your wedding later in the day, when there is too little direct sunlight, or at mid-day in summer, when there is too much sunlight and everyone will be sweating and squinting. Consult with your photographer about the best time of day to get married for your date and
chosen location.
- Choose your location carefully
All North Carolina beaches are public and there is no way to close off an area for your wedding. To avoid the possibility of random strangers stopping to gawk at your nuptials or a stray Frisbee crashing the wedding, choose a location that is typically crowd-free, or wait until most of the beach crowd has gone in, usually around 4 p.m.
- Get wired
The roar of the ocean is romantic until you realize your guests cannot hear a word of the special vows you wrote. Consider wiring the bride and groom, minister,
musicians and speakers with tiny, unnoticeable microphones for amplification. Speak to your videographer about this.
- Check the tide
Tide levels are definitely a factor in beach weddings. Figure out the time of high tide on the day of your beach wedding (the most reliable source is a nearby pier or tackle shop). Get married at low tide, when there is more beach and harder sand.
- Make a plan for the less ambulatory guests
How is your grandmother or a disabled guest going to maneuver their way through the sand? You might think about getting married close to an oceanfront deck or
gazebo, where less ambulatory guests can sit and watch. The National Park Service offers free beach wheelchair rentals; call them at 252-473-2111 for information.
You can also try calling the local fire
departments; some of them have beach wheelchairs.
- Keep it short or rent chairs
If your wedding is short, everyone will probably be OK with standing in the sand, especially if they're barefoot. If that's the case, you may want to rent just a few chairs for elderly guests. Lots of beach brides make the wedding extra fun by renting a bunch of colorful beach chairs and umbrellas
from a local rental company and allowing everyone to kick back and enjoy.
- Plan for wind
Wind is a constant on the Outer Banks, and you'll need to make plans depending on its direction du jour. If you're planning an elaborate updo for your hair, know that the wind might ruin it. If you're planning for the long and loose look, know that your hair may be blowing across your face in the photographs. If there's no wind at all, you might have a few flies to worry about. None of this is terrible, but just be aware that it could affect your plans.
- Pick up trash
Assign someone to go out to the wedding site an hour before the ceremony to pick up any trash or debris from the beach and to clear a nice path for the walkway.
- Have fun!
Getting married on the beach says to the world that you are a carefree, casual, cool couple. Go with the flow and have fun. Go barefoot. Take zany pictures. Wade in the surf. Have fun.
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