Event Home Recommendations

shan527 · August 2012

Hi OBX Brides (and Grooms),

I am just starting to plan my October 2013 wedding in the outer banks. I found an event home I love but am having trouble getting the final contract and am fearful it will fall through. So, I guess I am looking for recommendaitons of other event homes I can look into. I really want to have the reception outdoors so I am looking for places that allow tents. Thanks in advance for you help!

OBX2011 · August 2012

Congrats and welcome!

Most rental companies will not release the contracts until mid to late October. This is when the busy season has ended and the owners determine whether or not they want to renew their contract with the management office and/or possible raise their prices. I absolutely had my heart set on an event home, even paid $50 to pre-reserve it until the contract was released, only to discover the owner raised the price by $2,000!! I was crushed.....but I later realized it just wasn't meant to be b/c I had more guests that I thought and found a venue that I absolutely fell in love with, 108 Budleigh in Manteo.

What is the mgmt company telling you about the rental contract?

shan527 · August 2012

Thanks! This board has already been a huge help in guiding me throught this daunting process!

The issue with the event home is mostly a lack of response. We were given a qoute and set up a date to tour while on vacation in OBX in two weeks. I was told the date I am interested in is available but there is now way to lock it in without a contract and deposit. Which is completely understandable however In looking into vendors I noticed that a lot of them are already booked for the weekend we want. This started to make me nervous about the venue going before we visit so my FI and I decided to go ahead and reserve the home. I emailed the venue and let them know we were ready to proceed with moving forward and was told they would work on the contract and get back to me. That was over a week and half ago. When I called to follow-up I was told they were really busy and not to book any vendors until I hear from them. This is sound advice but seriously, a lot of the vendors recommended on this board are already booked 14 plus months out. I don't want to lose the opportunity to work with some of these people so I feel a lot of pressure to get everything lined up.

scharles0917 · August 2012

Shan- we used PawPrints from seaside vacations. It worked out really well and they do allow tents. The even fee was $1000 and refundable security deposit was $1500. It was 7 bedrooms I think and has a yard with pool and view of the sound.

ksj10032782 · August 2012

Let us know some details about what kind of house you are looking for and where and I'm sure we can all help! Although, I wouldn't think you could book the house until a year out.. so I guess you would need to decide what is most important, location, or a particular vendor (photographer, officiant, etc).

shan527 · August 2012

We are hoping to have a beach wedding and then the reception at an event house outside. The house would need to allow a tent and 100 people. Most of the event homes I have looked up have a max of 50 people. Originally we wanted an oceanfront home but sound side could be nice too.

I am little confused how event homes work with the check-in dates mainly being Saturday. How does that all work if you are having a Saturday wedding? Even a Sunday check-in would be difficult with having to check-out the day after the wedding...

Thank you all for your help! I didn't expect to be this overwhelmed

peaksarah · August 2012

Have you thought abount having your wedding on a Friday with a Sunday check out? I was set on having my reception at a rental home up in Corolla, knowing most homes rent Sunday to Sunday or Saturday to Saturday, I picked Friday for our wedding date with a Sunday check out. This way we were not rushed to check out the next morning and people attending still did not have to take the whole week off of work to travel to the wedding. A Friday Wedding date may also open up your vendor availability.

ksj10032782 · August 2012

We are also having a Friday wedding, although not using an event house. I think you wouldn't want to have a wedding the Saturday you check in, that would be tough! I think there are some houses that do a Friday-Friday rental, but I would suggest doing a Friday wedding and a Sunday-Sunday check in. Have you looked at Pelican's Landing in Corolla? That might be something that would work for you.

hibiscus118 · August 2012

You can also do a midweek wedding. My wedding was on Tuesday and the event home we rented was Sun-Sun. It was so nice to have the wedding early on and having the rest of the week to relax with family and friends.

depotmode · August 2012

My fiance and I are planning on renting an event home. However, we are planning on renting it for two full weeks and have the wedding on the Saturday in the middle of our stay. That way we can do any last-minute wedding errands before the wedding and have our honeymoon after the wedding (and we kick the family out). That may not be in your budget, though. We are deliberately keeping the wedding small and renting a 6-bed event home, so it will be in our budget. We're also having the wedding in the off-season (April) to keep costs down. October is also off-season, so that may help in terms of pricing.

missm810 · August 2012

Our wedding is 5/20/13 at Joshua's Tiki Hut through Seaside Vacations. We loved Joshua's Tiki hut because in addition to the pool and deck, there is a tiki bar with a swim up bar and the pool actually has barstools in it! It also has a back yard which a lot of the homes we looked at did not have. We thought the back yard would be beneficial because we could set tables up there. They allow up to 100 people for an event. Hope this helps!

llilley · August 2012

We used Gertrude's Breakaway. 125 guest and a very large and ncie yard for a tent. I highly recommend the house. I'm happy to share more info/pictures if you're interested. I also had trouble finding houses with tent space and a large enough guest capacity.

shan527 · August 2012

llilley - Our coordinator recommended Gertrude's Breakaway today. It looks like a great location! How far is the beach from the home? Did you have the ceremony on the beach? Where did your guests park? I would love to see pics from your wedding!

llilley · August 2012

@Shan:The house is wonderful! The beach is like one or two houses away. And yes we had the ceremony on the beach. between Gertrude's Breakaway and several other houses our guests rented on the same street (Belle of the South, R-Idyll, Beach Dream Inn) we were able to park the majority of the guests in those driveways and the driveways of empty houses also owned by our realty company on the same street (we were the last week of "shoulder season" so it wasn't too busy). I was supposed to have some friends out there directing cars to those driveways but then they got caught up with another pre-ceremony disaster so a few people ended up parking on the street, but it didn't turn in to a problem. You can see pictures here https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150902904622405.403883.303321297404&type=3 . And I have many more pictures if you want the full gallery!

shan527 · August 2012

Thank you so much for the link! Your wedding looks like so much fun and you looked stunning!!! I loved that you switched up the hair style between the ceremony and reception. IUnfortunately I found out today that Gertrude's Breakaway is already booked

So the search continues...

ACJD714 · August 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina-outer-banks_event-home-recommendations?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:598Discussion:9f67c8bd-bc34-4738-b164-204b9e6a6d50Post:747d7e78-b790-498c-9801-4ee4b8b3fc10">Re: Event Home Recommendations</a>:
[QUOTE]Thank you so much for the link! Your wedding looks like so much fun and you looked stunning!!! I loved that you switched up the hair style between the ceremony and reception. IUnfortunately I found out today that Gertrude's Breakaway is already booked :( So the search continues...
Posted by shan527[/QUOTE]

<div>We're having our July wedding at Journey's Reward through Beach Realty although I've haven't seen it in person yet! They have 3 homes right on the beach and I believe they are all event homes. If you go to their website use the house numbers 4227, 4226 and 4225. The house numbered 4226 looks really nice but it was already booked for the week we needed! I believe our home holds 125 for the event, not sure about tent space though! Good luck as it seemed to take me weeks to decide on a house but when I did I just knew it was the one for us! :-)</div>

OBX2011 · September 2012

Look into "Big Mama's'" with Seaside Vacations. It's an 8br oceanfront event home at MP 14-15 or so, and has a large grassy yard for a tent. They even show a tent set-up in their pics. This is the event home that we had originally chosen and I had been by it and everything, but the owner raised the price by $2,000 and we just weren't willing to spend that much more with the cost of the rent itself and all of the other fees. We ended up booking 108 Budleigh and it worked out perfectly for us in the long run!

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