Michelle & Kevin – Unique OBX Wedding

How did you meet?

On the Friday night before the beginning of our senior year at Washington University, Michelle was waiting with their mutual friends for Kevin to get back from a 19 mile run. As soon as Kevin got back and was ready to go out for the evening, the whole group of friends set out for Wild Country, a line dancing club in nearby Illinois. Kevin was just back from a year abroad in London, and surprisingly despite their many friends in common and the relatively small size of the campus, Michelle and Kevin had never met before this night.

At the end of the night, when we separated into our respective (guy and girls) cars, Michelle agreed to go to a party Kevin and his roommates were hosting the next evening. When Michelle was riding away, she turned to look through the back of the car window and they shared a look, that both still remember today. After hours of talking the next night at the party, Kevin asked for Michelle’s number… and the rest, as they say, is history.

How did you get engaged?

The short story:
On a beautiful morning on the Outerbanks, Halloween morning of 2009, to be exact, Kevin asked me to go for a walk along the beach. With a beautiful Carolina blue sky, waves crashing, and no one else in sight, the beach felt all our own. Kevin dropped to one knee and pulled out the ring…

The backstory:
For many weeks, we managed to keep secret our trips to a local jeweler. The day after we ordered the ring, Kevin was able to talk to Michelle’s parents, halfway across the world in New Zealand, with the help of Skype. Hours after telling them of our plans and receiving their “blessing” and congratulations, Kevin’s parents arrived in North Carolina, and heard the news in person. We started spreading the news, and planned a trip to the Outerbanks for a weekend to celebrate and start planning for the wedding. Kevin picked up the ring and was able to “surprise” me on that beautiful morning.

Why OBX for your wedding day?

It didn’t take us long to decide to have our wedding on the OBX. Kevin was drawn to the idea of a beach wedding, we had wonderful memories of the OBX already, and we liked the idea of having the wedding in North Carolina. We had lived in North Carolina for more than a year before we traveled out to the Outer Banks in November 2008 for a half-marathon with friends and family. We rented a house near the beach in Kill Devil Hills and absolutely loved the beauty of the area, the friendliness of all the locals, and how serene and “private” the beach can feel on the off-season. In the intervening years, we returned as often as we could on several special occasions. We knew that our friends and family would also love the OBX and see the same things that we have come to love. We also really liked the idea of spending a week in a house with close family and friends.

How did you decide on your ceremony and reception location?

From the beginning we knew that we wanted to have the wedding ceremony on the beach and the reception at one of the amazing event homes. We had envisioned our wedding as an event that lasted a whole week, staying in the event home with family and friends and enjoying the OBX together. We did a lot of our research online and then arranged to visit many homes during a planning visit. We focused on a house that had a really welcoming and beautiful space that would work for an outdoor reception, but could also accommodate the event inside in the event of poor weather. When we saw the Rendezvous, we fell in love with the beautiful view from the great room inside, the attached cottage house, the great beach access, and the beautiful backyard which even had a pool house with bathrooms.

How many guests did you have?

We had 75 guests!

How long did you allow for the wedding planning process?

In all, we had almost a year to plan our wedding. Our first planning trip was during the Halloween weekend of 2009 when we were “officially” engaged on the Outer Banks. During that trip, we essentially booked our planners, venue, and had decided on BBQ for catering. By the time that the Wedding Expo occurred in January (another great trip to the OBX), we had already booked all of our vendors. We were able to spend the rest of the time getting to know our vendors and thinking of creative ways to incorporate small details that helped make our wedding very special for us.

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

We really enjoyed incorporating many personal elements into the planning. We did all of the planning together and truly enjoyed the process. We thought of ways to incorporate elements of the OBX in our wedding, from our OBX beach key lime bliss cake, the Sanctuary Vineyards wines, the OBX Brewing Station beer, High Cotton BBQ, OBX town table names, and rubber ducks (representing Duck, NC) as “escort cards”. We also enjoyed incorporating special talents by our friends and family from artists contributions to our invitations, thank you cards, guest book, and Daruma Doll, to our homebrews and live band. In all, we enjoyed making it “our own” event!

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

While we had a difficult time deciding on a single moment, both of us feel that the moment we walked down the beach access to the ceremony stood out in our minds. For Kevin, it was the moment that time slowed down and he felt that “it” was really happening. When Michelle walked to the end of the beach access and saw Kevin and all their friends and family on the beach below, “it” really began for her as well. It was the moment that “started” the wedding for both of us and was a wonderful memory.

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

Honestly, we can’t think of anything that we would change. We were so happy with all of the people we worked with and with the wonderful memories we have from our wedding. The only thing we wish is that we could have visited more often!!

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

First of all, we’d recommend every single vendor we worked with. Everyone was so professional and enjoyable to work with that we wish we had another major event to plan so we could work with them all again. We’d also suggest working with a professional wedding planner that knows the area really well. The expertise we got from working with Laura and Shirley at Sugar Snap was invaluable during the planning and during the day of, we were able to completely relax and enjoy it because we knew that all the details were being taken care of. The only other piece of advice we’d give is to try to incorporate as many personal touches into your ceremony and reception as possible. We loved incorporating some of our favorite things and some of the special talents by our family and friends into our wedding. It was a great way to involve more people in the wedding and made some great memories. One last thing that we would suggest is arranging for a post-wedding photo session the day after the wedding. We really wanted to get some pictures at Jockey’s Ridge State Park to take advantage of the unique natural beauty there. We were more relaxed on the day of the wedding knowing that we would have more time to capture photos the next day, so we were able to spend more of the time the day of the wedding with our guests. Plus, we got some of our favorite pictures from this shoot!

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

While we joke that the wedding was made of “all things that we like”… most things were either related to the Outerbanks, Michelle’s Japanese ancestry, or a relaxed backyard “country” atmosphere…. so we say we had an “OBX Asian Country Wedding.”

How did you choose your menu?

From the beginning, we were drawn to the idea of having North Carolina BBQ for our wedding. We loved the idea of having the catering represent something local, filling, casual, and fun. Additionally, on each of our trips to the OBX, we made a point to enjoy the exceptional BBQ! After consulting with our excellent local wedding planners, we booked High Cotton, who helped us to design a well-balanced menu (with all our favorites: pulled pork, green beans, coleslaw, BBQ chicken, cornbread, etc)… even including a separate vegetarian buffet.

What was the style of service?

Buffet

Did you have a specialty drink at the bar?

Maybe? We did have two varieties of “homebrews” that were made by Kevin and his best man, Rod, for the wedding. The other beer and wine available were all local OBX options (from the OBX brewing station and from Sanctuary Vineyards). For our champagne toast we had the bartender mix the blueberry dessert wine from Sanctuary Vineyards with Prosecco to make something a bit uniquely OBX.

Personalization

Some “fun” things that were incorporated in the wedding (in no particular order):