Sarah & Andy ~ Wedding with The Sanderling Resort

How did you meet?

Andy and I both spent time working at a theatre in Alaska, but not at the same time. We’d heard mention of the other from our mutual friend and colleague who works at the theatre and was a classmate of Andy’s in college. We didn’t meet in person until later, when Andy was designing lights for a show at the theatre where I was working. At the time he was dating someone else, coincidentally also named Sarah.

How did you get engaged?

Andy had an elaborate plan to propose during my family’s annual beach trip to Duck, but my dad had emergency heart surgery that canceled the trip. After my dad’s successful surgery, Andy and I planned a weekend away at a B&B with friends. After spending the day at the Prince Michel winery and watching Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal, I turned around to see Andy kneeling — ring still in his pocket, mind you — and he wasn’t even able to get the question out before I started exclaiming “Yes! Yes! Of course! Yes!” You can see that I’m very quiet and shy…

Why OBX for your wedding day?

Andy and I both spent a lot of vacation time at the Outer Banks with our families growing up — me up in Duck and Andy further south. We wanted a venue with a lot of meaning for both of us, and the Outer Banks fit us perfectly. As an event planner in DC, it was a big decision to get married outside the area!

How did you decide on your ceremony and reception location?

I’d driven past The Sanderling dozens of times while on vacation in Duck, but never actually attended an event or stayed at the resort. I met Belinda Anderson at an event conference in July, and got engaged in August. I dropped Belinda an email to see about visiting the venue, and we fell in love with it as soon as we visited.

How many guests did you have?

We had 85 guests, which was a great number — truly our closest friends and family, which made everything super personal.

How long did you allow for the wedding planning process?

We were engaged in mid-August 2009, and wanted a fall wedding, but October 2009 wedding was a bit too soon given our work schedules. So we ended up with 14 months to plan, though most of it was completed by January 2009.

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

It was very important to both of us that it was *our* wedding, not Sarah’s wedding or Andy’s wedding. Marriage is a partnership, and we both wanted to be involved in planning the first day of our life together. Other than choosing the venue, choosing our photographers was our top priority. 20 years from now, it doesn’t matter what we ate, what music was played, or what the linens looked like if you have lousy photos — we want to have strong images to show to our kids, and to be able to look back at the day ourselves. We knew as soon as we met Mike and Allie in person that they were the team for us! It was also important to us to have FUN! We wanted to plan a day that we’d remember, and that our guests would enjoy. Finally, we wanted an officiant who knew us and was a special person in our lives. We knew my Aunt Sharon was that person — very wise, very much someone special to us. I cannot imagine our ceremony with anyone different.

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

My goodness — the whole day was awesome! I spent the night before the wedding alone at The Sanderling — waking up to a gorgeous sunrise over the ocean with a quiet breakfast by myself was an amazing way to start the day. I loved our ceremony — it was so personal, and so emotional! Fun and serious all at the same time. If you could do one thing different either in the planning or actual day what would it be? Make the day longer! We had such a great time and it was sad to have it end. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything I’d do differently!

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

Don’t let go of the real meaning behind the event — I think that brides can often get wrapped up in the details of the wedding, the reception in particular, and lose sight of the purpose of things. It’s ok if a server spills red wine down your dress, if the florist gives you pink tulips instead of red gerberas, if the DJ plays the wrong song for your first dance (which ours actually did, bless his heart) — SO WHAT?? At the end of the day, you’re married to the one you love the most!