NC Coastal Wedding

kelsufr

Hi all, I am planning a NC Coastal wedding on a small budget.  Can anyone recommend a venue (in or outside of the outerbanks) that is affordable?  My budget is 10K.  I've been looking at unique resort spas where i can package everything to keep down on the $$$.:-)  Thanks!Kelly

chrisanderin32809

I got married under $10k. We had ours at the Pier House that is attached to the Hilton in Kitty Hawk. I think it was about $4,000 for the room, food, drinks, linens, tables, chairs, they even have table decor if you choose to use. We pretty much went the middle of the road for the food and drinks. We had it in the off season (March) so they where willing to bend over backwards to accomodate us. If you want to do your wedding on season it will be about double that price. Also you can try the Sandlerling Spa in Duck. They are suppose to be beautiful, I just don't know how much they charge.

goo_2563

Kelly, The Sanderling is no doubt BEAUTIFUL...but, they require a MINIMUM of $10,000 in food and drink alone, not to mention a 3-4000 dollar reservation fee, plus decor, flowers, dress ETC... I will be getting married at the NC Aquarium on Roanoke Island, on a Sunday for a 20% discount, but even without, it is $2800 for 5 hours, and you can use the whole aquaurium. I thought it was unique. The guests can tour it during cocktail hour and the kids love the touch tank! For food, we are using Argyles catering. We're doing a buffet with three entree choices and they're throwing in a free 3 tier cake! (Delicious by the way.) all for about $6000 (including rentals for linens, plates, cups etc) Besides that, we have to rent chairs for the ceremony, $400, and a coordinator, who is also the florist, $1000...and that's pretty much it besides photography, who my fiance and I decided to pay for ourselves, being it was the most important thing to me and I wanted the best:aka: AMMC Photography. Good luck!!!!! )

shigaites

Resorts aren't always a better deal. If you're willing to shop around, you'll often find you save a lot of money booking the things yourself rather than going for an all-inclusive package. It just depends how much time and effort you're willing to put towards it. I contacted the Hilton the other week and they currently require a minimum of $4000 for the catering (alcohol is separate from that) on top of $2500 for the Pier House. If you managed to keep everything else under $3000 I guess it could work. If you go down to the Emerald Isle/Topsail Island area, you can rent Surf City's oceanfront community center for $300. A complete steal. I'm heading down there tomorrow to check it out. Carolina Designs Realty has some event houses that are under $2000 plus the $1500 event fee in the Kitty Hawk/Nags Head area as long as your wedding isn't during peak season.

chrisanderin32809

Are you sure that food minimum didn't include alchahol? Because it did for us and its weird for a company to change their policy that drasticaly in less then 6 months. It may depend on how many people you are having because they also said if we went above 50 people the minimum went up another $1.000. Also doing at a house, you will need to think about table and chair rentals which can cost an upward of $1,000. I think someone mentioned in one of these posts that one of the house rental companies include tables and chairs for their event house, but many of them don't.

kelsufr

Just so everyone is informed...  They did increase their rates to 3,500 dollars for the event rental.  The 4,000 minimum does include beer/wine etc.

chrisanderin32809

That sucks, the place wasen't good enough for that price :-/

shigaites

I double checked my paperwork and it does include the booze.  Oops!Good to know it isn't worth the increased priced (not that I could afford it anyway lol).

chrisanderin32809

haha I know! We would have wound up in my parents backyard if they weren't as cheap as they were.

luinadavis

If you are interested in Oak Island, NC near Wilmington and Myrtle Beach... www.oakislandncweddings.com They have all inclusive wedding packages for under $2,000.

HettieRae

I really wanted either the Walehead Club or First Colony Inn, but there was no way I could swing either...for a number of various reasons.  I fell in love with 108 Budleigh on the Mateo Waterfront.  It is so quaint and lovely!!! I believe it was abot $2,500 for the entire day...7am to 12 midnight...includes tables and gold bamboo back chairs.  One of the other great things about this place...you bring in your own alcohol!!!  We still have a number of things to finalize...such as photographer, caterer, DJ and Florist...but have some good ideas about who we want...just need to put down deposits. We will be getting married on October 9th (2010) at Coquina Beach.