Hotel vs. event house

ajsarahtyson

I am unsure weather to go with an all included place such at pelicans landing or do an event house. I am very new to all of this of course. What does an event house include? do you rent the house and then rent all venders separetly, such as dj, florist, baker, tables, decor, etc?? I am very familiar with the outer banks since i have previously lived their. our only problem is we only have a budget of $5,000.  We will only be having about 50 people.  Any information is apprectiated.

ajsarahtyson

After getting familiar with this site and reading tons of other blogs i have more of an understanding. i apologize for asking something someone has just recently asked, silly me. my new question would be if an one has any good recomendation for some houses that are not considered event homes but are nice enough to have a reception in, i understand the amount of guest cannot not exceed the homes sleeping limit. so in that case i am looking for perhaps 10 bedrroms, we will have around 25 ppl.  anywhere up and down the oxb is fine with us. But again we do have a limited budget so this is why i am looking into nice houses instead of event homes.

hibiscus118

No worries.  Glad you found out some info from other threads. 

Honestly, it may be hard to find a 10 bedroom house with your budget and then have to feed people.  Others may know of some though.  Plus you'd have to include other stuff in your budget like photography, cake, flowers, etc I'm assuming?  Check out the different realty companies websites and look around.  I know the house we rented was an event home and we paid about 5k in September (considered off season).   We chose not to rent tables, etc but yes, if you rent a home and want all that stuff, most of the time you have to rent everything. 

I would also check out some of the restaurants that do small receptions.  They may be more budget friendy than a large home.  When do you plan to get married? 

ajsarahtyson

 Thanks! Yea I realized that i have to get everything seperatly now. I do have a friend photographer and to cut some cost we are just gonna provide our own beer and wine. We are thinking oct. 2013 or may 2014. My fiance wants it sooner I want the latter for saving money and better planning purposes. I also read some girls wrote that some caterers provide dishes, flatware, etc. I am looking for regular rental homes vs. event because it seems a cheaper route, however we want a nice rental home big enough to hold a mini recption. (hard wood floors for dancing and room for enough tables.)

ksj10032782

Choosing off season will help in your plans, I would suggest looking non-oceanfront as well. Will the people staying in your house with you for the week assist in paying for the house? Some people have opted for charging a per room per night cost. If the house can hold 25 people, they should have dishes, etc., for that many people. In my humble opinion, I think you will have a hard time finding a house that is that large within your price range. I think some of the smaller restaurants will probably be better suited in this case. I would suggest looking on the obx wedding association page for some of those and getting price quotes.

OBX2011

I agree that off season would be a cheaper alternative.  Also consider looking for semi-of, oceanside and even soundside homes as there are several that have great views!

If you do decide to go with 50 people instead of 25, you would have to either rent an event home or just rent a regular home for you and immediate family only and have the reception at a restaurant.  You could still do that with 25 people and have more of your budget go towards the extras.  We originally wanted an event home and even secured one, but things changed all of a sudden and decided to go with a venue instead and it was perfect for us.  We rented an 8br house for the immediate family, which is also where the ceremony was, and my now H and I rented our own house down the street so we could have some time to ourselves too.  We had the reception at a venue, which ended up being cheaper than the event home in the long run, so that made it even better!

I think determining if you want everyone staying in the same house or just you and immediate family, will help guide you in the right direction.  Maybe you and your family in a house and his family in another and guests can get their own place or a hotel room, which they will give you discounts on blocks of rooms btw. This may be a more budget friendly option so you can put more towards photography or catering. 

If you do have the reception at the house, I know that a lot of the brides had catered bbq and raved about several places in the area. 

Hope this helps!

Kathywood16

  (If you do have the reception at the house, I know that a lot of the brides had catered bbq and raved about several places in the area.  Hope this helps!
Posted by OBX2011[/QUOTE])

I have been reading this thread and saw your comment about BBQ... I am just starting planning a wedding in the OBX for 2014 Sept/Oct and possibly renting an event house... can you post some of your seggestions about the catered BBQ... Or have you heard anything about some place that will do a seafood boil?

thanks Kathy

[Deleted User]

Hibiscus - I looked at your pictures and your wedding was amazing! You did exactly what my fiance and I are thinking of doing - renting an event home, getting married on the beach in front of it, and then having the reception inside. Can you give more details? Did you/your family cook all of the food or did you have it catered? Did the event home come with the benches you used for the ceremony? Did you guys have a DJ or anything like that? One thing I am nervous about is having the reception so casual that people are just going to be sitting on the couch staring at each other, or people are going to be wearing swimsuits or something. How many people did you have? How much did you end up spending total? We are really trying not to spend much. Feel free to message me personally. Thanks!

OBX2011

Kathy, here is a recent post about various bbq catering:

http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina-outer-banks_catering-ideas-best-bbq-in-obx

I am sure most of the caterers would be able accommodate a seafood boil too.  My brother lives in Carova and has done several himself, so they are pretty popular on the coast.

hibiscus118

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina-outer-banks_hotel-vs-event-house?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:598Discussion:6b628237-a542-4cb3-b6e2-76a9912f38a9Post:3e8698f9-6889-4643-b7d0-6d27bd0587ba">Re: Hotel vs. event house</a>:
[QUOTE]Hibiscus - I looked at your pictures and your wedding was amazing! You did exactly what my fiance and I are thinking of doing - renting an event home, getting married on the beach in front of it, and then having the reception inside. Can you give more details? Did you/your family cook all of the food or did you have it catered? Did the event home come with the benches you used for the ceremony? Did you guys have a DJ or anything like that? One thing I am nervous about is having the reception so casual that people are just going to be sitting on the couch staring at each other, or people are going to be wearing swimsuits or something. How many people did you have? How much did you end up spending total? We are really trying not to spend much. Feel free to message me personally. Thanks!
Posted by cassied413[/QUOTE]

Sorry for the delay, just saw this post.  Tried PM'ing you but it TK wouldn't let me. 

We had our wedding in Hatteras and had it catered by family friends who offered to do it.  We had about 45 guests total and so much food left over.   The home we rented did not come with the benches, or anything seating/tables for the wedding for that matter.  After looking into how much it would be to rent benches, plus the travel fee to Hatteras, we decided it would be more economical to make them ourselves.  So that's what we did.  Total I think it cost about $80 and that included materials and the stain.  More time consuming but worth it :) 

We did not have a DJ.  We decided to use our IPOD and a dock a friend let us borrow.  It worked out fine and we had a really good friend announce the bridal party and first dances.  There wasn't much dancing because by the time it came to that, most of us were downstairs by the pool/hot tub hanging out and jumping in!  We just moved the sound dock to the deck.  It never felt like people were just sitting around staring at each other, but most of my husbands family did leave early because they usually do at events.  So by the time we began to party there were only about 20-25 people left. 

All in all we spent around 12k.  Most of that was in the house (5k) and photography (2,500).   We also had to get cake, flowers, officiant, dress, etc.  We splurged in some places since we saved in others.  We could have gotten a much cheaper house but we fell in love with that one when we saw it so we splurged.   Same with photography. 

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Bnicia

What were the names of some of the houses you rented? Everytime I find a home that I like there is so many additional fees and I keep finding myself at the $7,500- $9,000 range. I was hoping to stay at $6,000. I'm  having anywhere from 20- 45 people at the reception; which I was planning on it being at the event home. Only immediate family would be staying at the event home. Any suggestions?

mandafite821

Look at the love boat in off season. We were married in early may of 2012, and it was within your budget. One of the plus sides is it rents Monday to Monday, and they no longer charge an event fee because it is rented through spa koru. Also it comes with tables and chairs for 50 people. I rented anyways because I wanted round tables, and they provided rectangle tables, but that could save money. We had our rehearsal dinner around the pool, and we invited everyone ( about 50 people), and there was plenty of space there. Our reception was in the backyard. It is a sound side house though, but with its own private beach area in front of the sound. That is where our actual ceremony was. Good luck house hunting! Also check into Hatteras realty. While I didn't rent through them, when I was searching the lady was so nice, and sent me a list of all the houses she though would work for me.