Emily & John’s Wedding with Ocean Atlantic Event Rentals

How did you meet?

John and I met back in 2002 when we were both in 9th grade! My best friend and I were out at Old Navy shopping when John and his best friend Steve walked in. Steve and I had known each other since the 6th grade so he came over to say hi. I didn’t say much to John then because I was very shy back then.
The next day at school, Steve approached me and said that John wanted my number, so I gave it to him. We started talking online & on the phone, and then on May 14, 2002 – even before our first date, John asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes and then we planned our first date (hehe!) We went back to the mall, (such a teenager date!) and it was love at first sight. We’ve been together ever since!

How did you get engaged?

For our 7th anniversary, John and I decided to take a trip to the Outer Banks. We had a nice relaxing weekend planned. The first night we just hung out at our condo and cooked out. At this point John and I had been talking about getting married for a long time, but we were waiting until school was done & everything had fallen into place.
He told me that he really wanted to propose to me this year but that he just could not afford it, and he really wanted to wait until he could get me the ring I deserved. I told him that as much as I wanted to get married, I didn’t mind waiting because we would still be together anyway. So for our anniversary dinner Saturday night we went to Prime Only.
We had a wonderful dinner, but John kept saying we have to get to the beach by sunset. So we finished up and made it to the beach at sunset. We took a nice walk and he asked me if I loved him, and wanted to love him forever and of course I said yes. Then he got down on one knee & asked me to marry him!! I fell to my knees and said “yes”!! Then we each called our famillies to tell them the wonderful news!

Why OBX for your wedding day?

I have been vacationing on the Outer Banks since I was born, so its like a second home to me. Plus I’ve always wanted a relaxed beautiful beach wedding & the OBX is perfect for that! What really made my mind up was the expo and talking with different vendors.
Back at home we do have some other beaches but there was no substance or structure to what they had to offer. The expo put everything right there in front of me and all the vendors knew each other, so I really felt like I would have a “dream team” of professionals working with us, not just a few random companies.

How did you decide on your ceremony and reception location?

We had a 2 year engagement so I had plenty of time to look up different places. The first place that caught my eye was the Hilton Garden Inn. The pier was so different than anywhere else. Plus how cool is it to get married at the beach & then have your reception literally over the water?! So during the expo we went to check it out.
We LOVED it – it was beautiful, perfect for my concept & the staff was so helpful. It was exactly what I was looking for, and even after looking at a couple other places, nothing even came close to the Hilton/Kitty Hawk Pier House.

How many guests did you have?

50

How long did you allow for the wedding planning process?

We had a two year engagement. We did this for a few reasons. First of all we didn’t want to be stressed. Second, we wanted to make sure that we got all of the vendors we wanted & didn’t miss out on anything. And finally, and most important we wanted to get married on a Saturday & on May 14th.
Since that day had always been our anniversary, we couldn’t even think of having it on any other day, and we wanted to make a whole weekend out of the wedding – so our families could get a minivacation in as well.

Share with us some planning details that were important to you.

For me, I really wanted the wedding to be fun, bright & unique. I wanted to be beachy, but still be casual & preppy. So the main things I cared about were my little details, the venue & making the night go smoothly. One thing when I first started that I didn’t think I would care about what photography – until I looked into it!
Then I realized that was the one thing we would have forever…not the dress, or the flowers. So the one thing I needed to go all out on was the photos & I am SO glad I did. One other thing that I didn’t think I would get was a wedding coordinator, but I don’t know what I would have done without her! Finally, I think the most important things for me were the DIY projects.
I did the save the dates, invites, programs, escort shells, bubble tubes, custom drawn coloring books and John and I even made a sand box to put the escort shells in. I really think by adding personal projects really made the wedding our own.

Looking back, what was your favorite moment of your wedding day?

That is a tough question! The whole day was perfect. I really can’t choose one moment…I would just say that spending time with my family & friends was great and finally getting to marry my best friend! One other thing that was really cool was me & my dad’s dance. We had talked about doing a fun dance for the longest time, and with my hours at work, we just never had time to practice.
So two days before the wedding we started practicing & the dance came out perfect. It was hilarious! Everyone loved it, and it was a fun thing to do with my dad.

If you could do one thing different either in the planning or actual day, what would it be?

I really can’t think of one thing. We got everything we want and everything went so smoothly! The only thing that kind of went wrong was that the tides were super high so we had to move the ceremony to the pier instead of the beach. However I think this was a blessing in disguise because the pictures turned out beautiful & it was easier to walk on wood than sand. So we rented a couple things that we couldn’t use, but oh well…there was no way of telling that, so I’m glad I was over prepared.

What advice would you give to another bride planning her wedding in the Outer Banks?

I would say give yourself plenty of time to plan. You don’t want to rush through it. Planning the wedding was so much fun! I enjoyed every minute of it. I almost didn’t want the wedding to happen yet because I wanted to keep planning! You also want to go to the expo!! You will meet all the vendors there face to face so you can see if you want them to be a part of your dream team. Plus you will get tons of ideas!

Did you have a theme or style that you carried through the planing process?

I wanted the wedding to have a beachy feel, but not be too over the top. I wanted to keep it casual & preppy at the same time. My favorite color is pink, so we kept our colors as pink, black & white so it would be classic with a fun preppy twist.We had sand dollars as escort cards, John had a star fish as his boutonnière’, and the girls had starfishes in their hair too. The ring pillow & flower pail had starfish on it too, but also had orange & pink ribbon to tie in with the flowers. It was just enough to tie everything in, but not make it tacky.

How did you choose your menu?

We just went with what we liked. John is Italian so he wanted to go with mainly pasta. Plus his main thought was, “who doesn’t like pasta?” So we had lasagna & steak & we had a made to order pasta bar, which all the guests loved!
The dinner also came with a very nice salad & some dinner rolls so it really tired everything in together. We wanted some seafood too, but most of our family does not like it, so we had mini crab cakes as our hor’dourves, along with mini cordon bleus and a cheese tray.

What was the style of service?

Buffet

Did you have a specialty drink at the bar?

We had three specialty drinks: The Emilita (Frozen Margarita); OBX Colada (Frozen Pina Colada) and John’s Long Island Ice Tea (a long island with Chambord)

Personalization

Most of the personalization was in the little things. The sand dollar escort cards, we had custom coloring books drawn for the kids, I made the table numbers – which were mile post signs.
I made mini sand pails and put M&M’s in them with our faces on it! I made little signs for everything. I also made all of the stationary, Save the Date Magnets, Invites, Bridal Shower Invites, Programs, etc. That saved a little money and it was SO cool to see my ideas come together all in one day.