Just Married on the Crystal Coast!!

riss0185

Hi Everyone!

My big day (5/1/10) was perfect and was everything I imagined. I got married on the beach like I've always dreamed! Like everyone says I didn't remember all the little details and didn't even barely get to taste the food or cake!

I didn't post on here much before the wedding but got a lot of help from the message boards just by browsing.

I just wanted to extend an offer to help any of those that are on their way to getting married on the coast of NC by answering any questions or giving advise the best I can. I got married on North Topsail Beach (about 30 minuts north of Wilmington). I think its part of the Crystal Coast.

Anyways, any help I can give just let me know!!

Marisa

Puppies4

Hey there! ok so i have been starting to plan my wedding and here is my issue. Im from Pittsburgh PA and my Fiance is from emerald isle NC. I can not decide is i want the wedding down there because i live here and i dont know if i can manage all of that plus i have no idea where to start on a beach wedding. Did you find a vender to do your wedding? or did you just do it yourself and found a spot on the beach and had it there? I researched so much on the beaches there and no one ever has anything on the cystal coast until you, which could be my life savor!!! if you could point in my in the right direction that would be great!!!!

riss0185

Hey there!
Congrats on being engaged!
My mom was basically my wedding planner and did A LOT for me! What we did was rent a beach house that was wedding friendly and had the wedding in front of the beach house. Most house rental sites will tell you what rentals are wedding friendly or not. My mom rented the house for a week before the wedding and a week after. She wanted a vacation after the wedding was done. All of her famiy stayed there as well. We rented the last 2 weeks of off season and saved a whole lot of money that way. What day are you planning on getting married?
You sometimes have to pay an extra security deposit for weddings.

I had a wedding with around 100 guests and it would've been too big to have the reception at the beach house we rented so we rented a venue for the reception.
The caterer that I had said she does a lot of weddings in Emerald Isle and she said alot of them have the reception at the beach house after the wedding. I used Courthouse Cafe in Jacksonville, NC which is about 30 minutes north of Emarld Isle. Renee was VERY helpful and her food was excellent. Everyone loved the food. Usally caterers will be able to help you with finding venues or at least give you ideas.
I moved to Jacksonville, NC a year ago and got engaged 2 months after I moved. I followed my boyfriend (now DH) here. I knew I always wanted to get married on the beach but didn't know the area at all so I did a lot of internet research. Most of the vendors are really helpful and will point you in the right direction.
Anyways, I know that was wordy but I hope it helps. Any other questions let me know!!
Marisa
PS - whats your name?

Puppies4

Hi marisa my name is Victoria
so i love the idea of a beach wedding and your really helping me out alot. so how did you find out about the house? like pricing? and if they did weddings right on the beach access? Did you get someone you knew to come do your ceremony? and did you rent your own arber and seats for the actual ceremony? also was it Renee that told you she did catering at the houses? if so do you have that catering companies email? i would love to know how that works out and what they bring. would they use the kitchen in the rental and i wonder if they would bring the tables and chairs and stuff like that. I was also wondering do you have a facebook or website that showed more of your wedding photos? i would really like to see how that worked out for you on the beach and all! The one you have now is really pretty!

riss0185

Good Morning!

Beach House Rental:
I honestly Googled that along with the beach I wanted to get married on. Most of them go through Realators offices. I would do a search for realtors in the area you want to get married in and on most of thier sites they have vacation rentals. The sites for North Topsail Beach, NC listed if their wedding friendly or not right on the website. If they don't list it just shoot an e-mail to the realtor that takes care of the vacation rental and they will find out for you. Pricing varies depending on what season you are planning on getting married in. Most rentals have an off season and on season. Off season is always almost 50% cheaper.

Pastor:
The pastor that married us was a family friend from TX. Anyone can marry you as long as they are ordained somewhere in the USA. They don't have to be ordained in the state of NC.

Chair/Table Rentals:
We had to rent chairs and tables. The caterer that I used didn't provide them unless you had the reception in their facility. We used the same chairs for the wedding ceremony and them moved them to the reception site after the wedding. I wanted a sit down ceremony but I know a lot of brides who have short ceremony where the guest just stand around the couple for the ceremony.
My dad maid the arbor for my wedding but there are rental companies that rent them out as well.

Caterer:
Renee's catering company is called Courthouse Cafe. Here is the website: http://www.courthousecaffe.com/.
We had a buffet style reception. I know they do sit down dinners as well. They prepare all the food before hand at their facility so most likely they wouldn't need the kitchen but you probably need to talk to her since I'm not 100% sure.

Anyways, I hope that covered everything. Any other questions let me know. I don't mind helping out.

I do have a facebook. I have a lot of tagged pictures that you can look at as long as the albums are private. I haven' t put any up yet. Look me up under either Marisa Somero or Marisa Toomey.

riss0185

I mean arn't* private...lol

caliash207

Hello,
I have a question! My fiance and I are getting married June 2011 and we plan on getting a beach house and having the reception there because we only have about 20-30 npeople there, but my issue is do we just go set up and have the ceremony on the beach? Or is there certain areas where to have weddings only? If not then how did your ceremony go with all the people around. I dont know if we should just go set up chairs and an arch on some random place on the beach or not. We plan on having it around corolla or kill devil hills. Anyways what did you do?
Thanks a lot
Ashlie

riss0185

Hi Ashlie!

We just set up chairs and the arbor right in front of the beach house. Most people will respect your privacy but you most likely will have some on lookers but that was fine with me. The house next to us had a bunch of rowdy college kids but they went inside and up on the porch during the wedding and watched and then went back to partying after the wedding was over. No one even had to ask them! I would definetly call the town police to check with them and make sure its okay and let them know that there is a wedding going on. They were really nice and said to just follow the rules of the beach.

Hope that helps!

lynniegirlie

 I'm getting married in N Topsail Beach at a large beach house we rented. Did you use a DJ at your wedding? I need some recommendations.

Also, where did you get your flowers from? I'm looking at A Beautiful Event but I haven't met with them yet.

Thanks!