Date & Venue Picked!

afurr1227

So after months of going back and forth, we finally set a date. May 18,2012!

We are very excited! Also, here are the vendors we've picked and the ones we are still missing:

Ceremony Site: Whalehead Club
Reception Site: Currituck Golf Club
DJ: Matt Cooper
Photographer: Need one
Florist: Need one
Cakes: Need one

We rented three beach houses in Corolla. The Wedding Party is all staying at one, my parents are at one and his family is at another. So a big party

Any suggestions for the missing items?

Phillyboy06

Congrats Afurr! 

I'm amazed because my FI and myself STILL don't have a date yet(althought I think we have it narrowed down to first 2 weeks of Sept. '12).  We travel to the OBX every Sept. over the week of Labor day for our vacation.  This year we have 3 venue visits(Whalehead Club, Sanderling, Mallards Marsh), 2 caterer tastings(Red Sky, Coastal Provisions) and one cake tasting(Great cakes) scheduled so far.  We have gone back and forth with venue vs. event house option, and I think we are leaning more towards a beach ceremony with Venue reception option.  We typically stay in Duck/Corolla area, and when looking for the event houses in that area, they seems really expensive(we are looking at about a 12K budget). 

What houses did you guys rent for your lodging?  We still have to get a place and not really sure what we are renting yet.

Any reason why you chose to do reception seperate from Whalehead Club vs having everything there??

jendem8

Not sure what your budget is like, but Just Desserts is delicious (but pricey) as far as cake goes.  Chris Bickford is our photographer; I'm obsessed with his stuff.  You can book him through his website (cheaper!) or through Julie Dreelin's company (if he's available - he travels frequently to take pictures for New York Times, etc.).  For flowers, it depends what you want style-wise, but I'm probably going with Renee Landry for bouquets, bouts, moms', etc. but I'm going to order flowers to do centerpieces through Harris Teeter.

Congrats on picking a date!  Very exciting!

eeforbes

I would recommend Patti Cakes for your cake.  If you are driving down to the OBX, she is on the way and will prepare a box of samples for you.  Her cake is awesome!!!  We are planning on chocolate with peanut butter filling, almond with raspberry filling, and lemon with lemon cream filling.  YUM!

Flip0330

Philly - one thing that i wasn't crazy about for a reception at the Whalehead Club was that they make you end pretty early (9:30?  I can't exactly remember).
I wanted to have a party...so that was a big decision for me not picking the Whalehead Club for our reception location.
At first, I was hoping that we could at least have our ceremony there, but it was making a big dent in the budget...so we decided against it.
However, it is a gorgous spot!!!  I still plan on going there for pics . 

Congrats Afur! So exciting!! 

[Deleted User]

Congrats, afurr! That's so exciting that you've got so much done. Yay!!

What are you looking for for a photographer? I have looked at just about everyone under the sun and can tell you pros and cons. Is there a certain budget you have planned for this. (You don't have to get into this, if you don't want to.) You may also want to consider photographers in Raleigh. Many of them do a full day of wedding coverage, whereas many of the local photographers are 4-5 hours, and they're more than willing to come to the OBX.

As for florist and cakes, make sure you let us know who you pick. I'm still in search fo these myself.

afurr1227

Thanks everyone!

@PhillyBoy - We didn't do the reception there because of the early ending and also there is NO backup for rain! I know i shouldn't think too much about the rain but I do think about it (type A project manager here ... risk mitigation ) It was a little pricy to do the ceremony there but I did not want my ceremony at a Golf club and we couldn't do it on the beach because our grandparents are in wheelchairs and it just seemed hard on them.

The houses we rented ... eeeek let me ge tback to you! We have three oceanfront homes. Don't worry - We didn't personally pay for them, that would have killed us. Our families opted to do it instead of hotels. Houses were hard because there were certain criteria that had to be met along with budgets. For example, our house HAD to be pet friendly (our 2 year old GSD will be joining ALL festivities), my parents had to have an elevator for my blind grandfather and so on.

afurr1227

So regarding photographer ... I am really really picky about this. Like INSANELY picky to the point that I don't trust anyone. This is the only part of my wedding (other than saying I do w/ my FI) that means a lot to me. Being a photographer in my spare time (just for fun) pictures are my world. My style is very modern ... warm and just capturing true emotions. i'm not one for a lot of posed photos ... someone who just captures the joy of the day.

Cakes ... this is hard. My fiance and I are NOT into sweets at all. We like salty food so other than the one bite when we cut it, we probably won't eat any of it. So it' more about what people will enjoy!

Here is our wedding website if you all want to take a look: www.weddingwire.com/austinandamanda2012

tcigal

I highly recommend Matt Lusk for photography.  Check out his regular website (he and his wife do weddings for the money, mostly, but his passion is surfing and photographing it.)  He's got some awesome and artistic pictures on his site.   We also want minimal posed pics (my mom has already specified a few she wants, but that's IT) and he said he much prefers to be artistic and candid with it, so he seemed as excited as we were.

http://mattluskphotography.com/
and
http://www.mattluskweddings.com/

delilahjz

I am getting married on the same date.  Congratulations   I know we are going to have the best weather.

roseygb

Afurr, you are a girl after mine and TeachLibrary's own heart, lol! We just had similar freak out sessions about photographers and not being overly thrilled with what we were seeing in OBX for quality and price and style and all. We ultimately decided to use Bridget (click for the link) after reading a couple of other raves from other knotties. Not sure what Teach decided (or if she has decided) but I think Bridget fits pretty much exactly what you're talking about as far as not wanting a lot of posey stuff. I love her stuff and she's literally like half the price of what I've seen from some OBX photogs whose stuff didn't impress me at all. Good luck!

afurr1227

Thanks for the responses! I will definently check out both of those photographers.

@del that's awesome that we are the same day! where are you getting married?

jendem8

I've gotta say how excited I am to work with Chris Bickford again.

http://beach-productions.com/blog/category/photographers/chris-bickford/
http://www.chrisbickford.com/bickford_weddings_1.html (you can click "clients" and see entire weddings)
http://www.chrisbickfordphoto.com/

If you book through him directly (contact through his wedding website), it's more reasonable.  He has a vintagey feel though, and I'm not sure if that's what you want.

Here's a girl in Raleigh that I went to high school with who takes beautiful wedding pictures as well (and I'm pretty certain travels to the OBX):
http://www.carolynscottphotography.com/

Good luck!

[Deleted User]

Rosey's right- you sound like a girl our own heart. Bridget McEnaney is awesome! She believes in capturing the moments directly before and after people actually pose for pictures so you capture the real moments. She is super sweet. She happened to be booked our wedding day, but she kept contacting me with other photographers that were similar to her style. She was like our own little photography planner. Here's her site:

http://bridgetmcenaney.com/

You may also want to check out Julie Dreelin. She was great too, she was just a hair out of our budget.

Rosey- FI and I found a photographer that was right under our noses. He's FI's roommate from college. He was originally unavailable the day of our wedding, but now he's doing it! WOOHOO! I get a TTD, all day wedding, and rehearsal dinner for a fantastic price!

Good luck, afurr!!