Submitted by Lori Douglas PHOTOGRAPHY. Interviewed by Emily Moliken
Accommodations: Crew’s Quarters Pine Island
Transportation: Corolla Trolley
Event Rentals: Ocean Atlantic Event Rentals
Wedding Coordinator: Coastyle Wedding & Events
Ceremony & Caterer: Currituck Club
Officiant & Florals: I Do Weddings & Events
Photographer: Lori Douglas Photography
Videographer: Heart Home Film
Music: Emerald Empire Band
Cake: Publix & Crumble Cookies
For some couples, a wedding on the Outer Banks is more than a dream destination, it’s a homecoming. That was certainly the case for the born and raised bride Chelsey Ryberg, nee Fenyak, in her marriage to Minnesota native Zach. “I kept calling it my ‘hometown destination wedding,’” Chelsey breezily laughs.
Breezy may be the operative word for this wedding. If you forego Chelsey’s easygoing nature, about which she says she was almost too laissez-faire with planners and vendors when asking only for “greenery and muted neutrals” then you are left with a late September wedding on the Banks, primetime for hurricanes Chelsey’s mother reminded her. In true sandbar fashion, Hurricane Fiona threatened to rain on the Ryberg’s parade but merely flirted with the coast and the wedding week had a certain unforgettable breeziness to cool down the near ninety-degree days.
“You can see how windy it was in our pictures, my veil is flying all around me,” Chelsey giggles, clearly in love with the whimsy of it all. But even an expatriate local isn’t always equipped for what the weather can bring here on the beach. That’s where the coordinators come in. “The best advice I can give anyone getting married down here,” adds Zach, “is to spring for the wedding coordinators.” The couple nearly went without the coordinators from Coastyle Weddings & Events but decided to hire them a month out from their big day to take care of some last-minute touches.
“They knew everything,” Chelsey exclaims, “including what equipment to add to our Ocean Atlantic Rentals order to accommodate the wind.” The couple admits they had about eighty percent of the work done, but the last twenty Coastyle added was crucial and would have been glossed over entirely without their expertise. The wedding took place on the ninth tee of the Currituck Club, with welcome and after parties at the Crew’s Quarters, one of the many event houses Corolla has to offer.
The affair was simple and elegant, Chelsey’s greenery and muted neutrals allowing the beauty of the destination to shine through, accented with sentimental details like her Colington crabber father’s buoys inscribed with her family name. The couple’s Minnesotan friends and family made up more of the guest list than beach locals, the two laugh, and now their Midwestern crew hopes to make a semi-annual return trip to the Outer Banks for an even breezier vacation.
