Marc & Kim’s Wedding featuring Brooke Mayo

How did you meet?

Marc and I met the summer after my freshman year in college when we worked together. He was actually my boss and ended up asking me out towards the end of the summer. We had gone to the same high school but he was a senior when I was a freshman so we only knew of each other. We went out one night and have been together ever since…it will be 10 years this summer!

How did you get engaged?

Marc asked me to marry him in the summer of 2006 on the beach during our vacation in OBX. After a walk on the beach we sat on a blanket to watch the sunset and he popped the question.

Why OBX for your wedding day?

Marc and I have been vacationing on the Outer Banks every summer since we met. I had gone there with my family when I was younger and fell in love! After Marc’s first trip down, it quickly became his favorite vacation spot as well.

Since we have been going together every summer and got engaged in OBX, we decided it was the only way to go. I always knew I would get married on the beach and there was no place more meaningful.

I wanted all of our closest family and friends to have the opportunity to visit the place that we love and see why it was so special to both of us.

How did you decide on your ceremony and reception location?

I knew I wanted to have my ceremony on the beach. The next step was finding an oceanfront home large enough to house some of our family and bridal party for the week and that would allow over 100 people on the property for the day of the wedding and a welcome party the week before. This was by far the most difficult part of the planning process due to having to contact numerous rental companies and having many of them turn me down.

I finally found Big Mama’s House at MP 11.5 from Seaside Realty. Gigi from Seaside and the owners of the home were very flexible and helpful and Big Mama’s could not have been more perfect. The only problem was that I could not do a tented reception as I initially wanted on the property.

After some searching I found 108 Budleigh in Manteo and that is where we ended up having our reception. We had the benefit of having amazing pictures in front of the ocean and pictures in front of the lighthouse in Manteo. Both were beautiful!

How many guests did you have?

120

How long did you allow for the wedding planning process?

about a year

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

I knew that my wedding had to be everything I ever dreamed of and also had to represent both of our personalities. We also wanted to make sure our guests were as comfortable as possible and enjoyed their vacation.

Some of the details that were provided by family/friends were the flower girl dresses which were made by my aunt and the wedding programs and table numbers which were made by one of our close friends. Both the programs and table numbers had lyrics from Dave Mathews songs(our favorite band). Photography was also very important to us because we knew that was the only thing we would take away other than our memories.

I instantly fell in love with Brooke Mayo’s photos and booked her for our big day. She was AMAZING….bottom line! Beautiful flowers and local food were also very important to us.

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

Our ceremony was beautiful and definitely the best part of the day. Rev. Jay Bowman conducted our ceremony and made us and our guests feel like we had known him forever. The weather was beautiful, our closest family and friends were there and the ceremony was light-hearted…everything was perfect!

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

The only thing I wanted but couldn’t have was a tented reception so that our guests did not have to travel in between the ceremony and reception.

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

Do your research and take advice from other OBX brides. I think a word of mouth referral is the best thing you can get. There are so many talented vendors which makes it difficult but spend the time to take a trip down during the planning to meet with vendors and find out who will be able to carry out your vision.

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

I planned everything around our wedding colors green, fuchsia and orange.

How did you choose your menu?

We wanted to incorporate tastes and specialities from the area including bbq and seafood. We worked closely with Bo from Carolina Catering Co. and ended up going with a buffet for the wedding day with a variety of flavors from the area and had a carolina bbq for the rehearsal dinner the night before.

What was the style of service?

Buffet

Did you have a specialty drink at the bar?

no

Personalization:

We had a kiddie table with coloring books, silly straws, slinkys, etc so that the children at the wedding had as much fun as the adults. Our table numbers had different lyrics from our wedding song, Steady As We Go by Dave Mathews printed on them.