Ceremony: Our Lady of the Seas | Reception: Koru Village Beach Klub
Planner: The Proper Setting | Photographer: Hope Taylor Photography
Officiant: Father Pat, Our Lady of the Seas
Catering: Steamers; Late night Pizza: Cosmo’s Pizzeria | Cake: Just Desserts
Rentals: Ocean Atlantic Rentals | Transportation: Hatteras Island Transportation Florist
Decor: Bells & Whistles | Hair & Makeup: Bombshells Studio
The Fairy-Tale Summer Romance Turned Engagement
“Eli and I met June of 2013, after his dad hired me as an intern for the summer at Koru Village and Spa in Avon. We were engaged by December 2015. The night of the proposal, Eli took me out for a date at our favorite sunset spot by the water. While we sat on a blanket in the sand, we ‘bumped into’ a photographer we knew and she asked to snap a few photos of us to test the lighting. After a few silly shots, Eli said he wanted to ‘try something crazy’ and just got down on one knee! We celebrated with champagne and engagement photos during the most breathtaking sunset!”
A Wedding Photographer Switches Roles
“What surprised me the most going into the wedding day as a bride, rather than the photographer, was that I fully expected timeline changes, confusion, and a very long day … but the last thing I expected was feeling like everything flew by in a blink of an eye. As a photographer, wedding days are long and you see everything behind the scenes. As a bride, I felt like I walked down the aisle and the next thing I knew, I was saying goodbye to the guests. I was definitely surprised at how fast the day flew by and how much I don’t even remember because there was so much going on!”
North Meets South Style
“Having seen so many different weddings through working at the Beach Klub and being a photographer, we wanted to try something totally different than any of the other beach weddings. We wanted florals on top of florals, greenery, pops of color, and a design that we have never seen at the venue before. We wanted it to be a mixture of our personalities and backgrounds, so we made it a North and South theme given our family backgrounds from New York to the OBX. Plus, since Eli is a musician and I fell in love with him while he played his guitar to me every night of our first summer together, the band at the reception invited him up on stage to play and sing me a song.”
The Confessions
“The funniest part of our wedding was the ‘confession booth’ that Eli came up with! Being a Catholic and having a Catholic ceremony, we thought it would be funny to have a private room with a GoPro set up for guests to walk in and out of throughout the reception. Rather than having a videographer capture the reception, we wanted the GoPro to catch all the ‘confessions’ throughout the night – the funny moments and silly stories! We ended up with some seriously hilarious videos!”
A Local Bride’s Unique Advice
“My advice specifically to an OBX bride is to start your wedding day by waking up early to watch the sunrise by the water in peace and quiet. Give that time to yourself to reflect, to listen to the waves crashing, to watch the sun rise and sparkle over the water, and to watch the colors in the sky change, because that is you and your husband’s wedding day OBX sky. Doing this put my mind at ease and set the tone for how the rest of the day would go… stress-free and beautiful in every way. In that moment alone, I felt an enormous amount of peace and thankfulness come over me, and I will forever remember those sunrays shining down on me that morning. When you start your day like that, you know everything is going to be perfect.”
