Let me start off with the houses we rented…holy cow!!! We rented Imperial palace and Royal Palace in KDHs through Carolina Designs and they were beyond perfect. They were the exact same houses and had 12 bedrooms each with their own bathrooms and 10 of them were Kings. The house inside and out was perfect for pictures and to have a wedding – we had 40 ppl and prob could have held up to 50 comfortably. We had our ceremony in front of the house and was a great setting.
The Welcome Dinner/rehearsal we used Tom Thumb cookout and were completely blown away with them. From the day I first contacted them they were on point with returning calls and being able to find crawfish straight from Louisiana in 2 weeks time(Grooms request). We had sooo much country food and and half of the attendees being from the south and owning their own restaurants couldn’t believe how tasty the food was. If you are looking for a REAL southern bbq forget the local places in OBX and go for Tom Thumb, you will not regret it!!!
We used SugarSnap Events for our flowers and decorations, Shirley Cook was a pleasure to work with – due to a lot of personal issues I lost so much time in the planning of my wedding so I asked Shirley to take care of the centerpieces and they were wonderful – if I did them myself it would have been $2 cheaper and I think it was worth it to know it was one less thing for me and my girls to have to take care of. The girls bouquets and mine were exactly what I envisioned and was so happy with everything – I would highly recommend her.
I hired Bombshells Studio for hair and makeup and unfortunately I have mixed emotions. First off I had to pay in full before the day of the wedding which was a little odd to me since some people were not 100% if they wanted to get both hair and makeup done. Then they set up a 9am start when I told them my photographer would not be there until 12:30 and I wanted him to capture us getting ready they told me that I would be last so a 9am start is perfect. Instead of going back and forth I left it as is. Well they had to wait for my photographer to get there to start on me since they finished up everyone else so quick. They did a great job with makeup and hair on all girls except my hair – I let them know I am easy going do whatever you can b/c my hair is so thin and short, well the huffing and puffing was ridiculous because it took longer than 30minutes to get it half way decent – I was so disgusted that I said I liked it b/c of her attitude and I was the bride!!! I did ask during the morning what time will they be there till for touch ups after pictures and she said 330 – well right after my hair they packed up and left and it was 12:45!!! I also told them since one girl dropped out of hair and makeup and one girl dropped makeup to take the money as a tip (about $200) needless to say she exclaimed it don’t work that way, well not my problem at this point since they were running out the door (before I even got my dress on, so I had to touch up my own hair after putting it on), and to top it off gave me a drop of lip gloss for touch ups – I have been in weddings and got brand new Trish McEvoy lip gloss and paid less than their prices in NYC. I would not recommend them and I am far from picky!!!
We hired Chris Nieto for photography and were so pleased!!! He is a great guy and had wonderful ideas for pictures. He had a great sense of humor which was a definite to deal with the groomsmen and Joe and I – we had some funny pictures as well as some touching beautiful ones. Chris is great and I would highly recommend him to all OBX brides. Chris posted some sneak preview pics the next day.
Dj Bruce Jones, He did a fabulous job and was able to play the songs we requested as well as last minute changes. He kept the party going and was a great guy to work with.
Carolina Cupcakery, They we OK to work with – I think they are so early in the wedding game that they need to get a little more organized – I didn’t receive a contract until 2 weeks before the wedding and sometimes they took a while to get back to you – I wonder if it was to find the paperwork? The cupcakes itself were delish but the reviews from our guests were the icing were a little too rich and took away from how moist and delish the cake itself was. The hard part was also narrowing down our decision on flavor, we picked buttercream minis, cookie dough, kahlua, and Caramel Macchiato!!
Then there was Red Sky, all I can say is delicious!!! They were wonderful to work with and everything they promised was delivered and done to perfection. I was nervous that we never tasted their food but I listened to everyone’s reviews and I took a leap and am so happy for those people raving bc it was all true. If you are thinking about using them I would say go for it and make sure you order the Beef tenderloin and bacon wrapped scallops – they were my favorite!!!
We used Metro rentals and spoke with John and he was extremely helpful, I told him how many people we were having and he told me what he thought we should order. They delivered the day before and picked up the next day and it was seamless – another great company in OBX!!!
And lastly, Seafreeze – what a wonderful couple, Helen and Larry!! We order the double drink machine for 3 days and was a hit – we had to go back and order 4 more drink mixes b/c the first day we polished off both tanks!!! I would recommend the Mango Margarita and Strawberry daiquiri!!!
I had a wonderful wedding thanks to the reviews of past brides and I hope these are just as helpful to our future OBX brides!!!