Island Photography (Mike and Allie) = A+++! I can’t even find the words to describe how much I love them. Mike captured Ryan getting ready while Allie was at my house with me. They were so fun and didn’t miss ANYTHING. They suggested great shots and were able to capture all the natural moments too. We had our teaser video the Monday after our Friday wedding. Allie helped pin boutonnieres, had blot papers, coached me on how to get in and out of the car with my dress, and rearranged our cocktail and dinner hours when the weather was just too hot to get the shots before dinner. We also met with them the week after our wedding for a trash the dress session, which was really fun too. We had over a thousand edited pictures from the wedding day alone and they are all so beautiful. It’s hard to narrow down my favorites! Mike and Allie were definitely our wedding budget splurge for the size of our wedding and worth every penny.
Sugar Snap = A Shirley is awesome! She always replied to emails within 24 hours or less and made it really easy to plan from a distance. She was always open to changes and really wanted to make sure her work matched my vision. The flowers were gorgeous. My only (tiny) complaint would be that the freesia in the boutonnieres was mostly buds, so instead of having little purple flowers we had closed green buds. I would have substituted something else if I had known that was the case, but it was a minor thing that probably only bugged me.
The Pearl Food = A+Service the day of = A+Contact up to the wedding = B- We were married on the beach in front of The Pearl and had our dinner and cocktail hour inside. We had planned to do cocktails on the outdoor deck, but it was just too hot so we easily were able to move inside. As a result, we moved dinner up about 30 minutes without issue. They took care of all set up the day of, so I only had to drop off the labeled boxes ahead of time. It was a little hard planning from a distance on this one, but Trish did make it all come together the day of. We had some trouble initial locking in our date and sometimes our questions went unanswered or we’d have to follow up multiple times, but I think that’s just because Trish does this all the time and she knew it wouldn’t be an issue. Sometimes it was hard to be on the other end of that though.
Pat Walden = A We met with Pat the summer before our wedding and she was very friendly and put us at ease. We wrote our own ceremony from top to bottom and she was fine with that. She did a great job the day of and I’d recommend her to anyone.
Bombshell’s Hair/Makeup = A+ Amber was so nice. She arrived early and spent about 3 hours doing my hair and makeup at the house. My hair is pretty difficult to work with because of its natural curl and mind of its own. I had a few pictures to show her, but really was open to whatever she thought would work best with all my layers. She kept working at it until we were both happy. Her makeup was gorgeous. I don’t typically wear that much makeup, but I wanted something that would look good in all the pictures the whole night. I was a little surprised when she first showed me the finished makeup because it was more than I had expected, but she listened to me and was willing to tone the makeup down if I felt like it was too much. I’m glad my sister-in-law was here when Amber finished because she convinced me the makeup was perfect, and she was right. So even if your makeup looks like way more than you’re used to wearing, you’ll probably just want to go with it. J
Hot Heads Nails = A+ I do Shellacs regularly back home, but needed to get a fresh manicure and pedicure out here before my wedding. It was so nice to relax before the wedding events started and my nails looked perfect. Sofia was really personable and gave a great massage. Just make sure you call well in advance because she books up quickly this time of the year. I almost missed out!
The Dunes Restaurant = A+ We called about a month in advance to inquire about brunch the day after. Even though they couldn’t really reserve us a spot that far in advance, they recommended we call the day before and ask to be seated at the bar. It worked out really well and we were able to pretty much take over the bar area. We went at 11:30, which is when they start serving lunch but also still serve breakfast. Our guests ate both, but the most popular was the breakfast bar (at just $10.99). The food was delicious and the service was great too. We even went back another morning during our stay.
OBX Cleaners = F Ugh! We dropped my dress and Ryan’s suit off on a Monday and they said to pick them up Wednesday afternoon. Both were just being steamed or pressed. When I picked them up on Wednesday just before closing, I took them straight home and opened them up there since I didn’t want to drag my white dress out on their dirty floor. Ryan’s suit looked fine. My dress still had a few wrinkles down the back and train, but I wasn’t too concerned about that. However, I realized immediately that the straps of my dress were missing. The straps were in a little Ziploc bag straight from the factory still attached to the dress. I called them right back and the lady told me she’d have to call the Manteo store, where everything is actually cleaned. Twenty minutes I hadn’t heard from them, so I called back. She said the Manteo store wasn’t answering the phone and she couldn’t get a hold of the manager. She said she’d look into it and call me back by 9am Thursday. She called right at 9am and said she spoke with the women at the Manteo store and she said my dress didn’t have straps on it, that she didn’t cut anything off of it, and that they couldn’t have been lost because she didn’t even take it out of the bag to steam it. Oooookkay. I wasn’t sure what to say to that one day before my wedding so I said thanks for trying and hung up. Ryan followed up with them first thing Monday morning. He was told the manager/owner was on vacation all week and wasn’t available. He asked to be refunded the price of my dress steam and was told he’d have to talk to the manager, who again wasn’t available. The employee offered to call the manager and have the manager call us. It’s no surprise that we haven’t heard back from them.
Ocean Atlantic Rentals = B They set up and broke down our chairs without issue. We also rented a sound system from them, which caused us nothing but trouble. ha! Ten minutes before our ceremony, Ryan realized the system hadn’t been set up. He tracked it down inside The Pearl and quickly worked with his brother to put it together (later we found out they didn’t have it down to set it up, not sure what happened there). It worked well outside and sounded great for our music, but they forgot to deliver the lapel mic we paid extra for so our officiant had to go without amplification. Then, when we moved the speakers inside for reception the lyrics were no longer coming through. This was a known problem that happens with a connection inside the speaker sometimes, but the guys handling the chairs were unable to fix it. So, our special dances were instrumentals only. It was kind of a bummer, but not the end of the world. They ended up refunding the entire cost of the speaker system.
Linen Hero = A+ We rented chair covers, sashes, and napkins from Linen Hero. They arrived several days early and came with a prepaid bag to return them in after the wedding. They also sent sample swatches that were true to color and were very friendly and easy to work with.