The Mark Twain House (Twiddy Rentals)

Re: The Mark Twain House (Twiddy Rentals)

• ACJD714 member

  

  April 2013 edited April 2013

  My story is a little different because I don't have any family and my FI has a big family! He wanted us to get house on the beach for our wedding to share with his parents and both of his brothers and their families! He was deployed with the military while I was house hunting so I was the one who contacted everyone. They were all interested in the idea but when I sent them all the information no one gave me any feedback. One of his brothers has 3 kids so they were a family of 5 and that made the difference in one house or another house and that sister in law said yes, she wanted to do it! In October we put down half of the deposit! Well, in January, his brother, with the family of 5, said they can't stay the week, his wife has to work. Even though his wife has to work he could stay the week with the 3 kids but I don't think they want to pay the money! Needless to say I got very upset because we could've picked the smaller more affordable house.

  
  

  Now, we are letting our friends know about the availablilty we have in the house but so far no one can stay the week so we will probably just rent the rooms out to our friends for a long weekend and just absorb the financial loss! It is a beautiful house so I am accepting the idea that we needed the family of 5 for me to actually find that house and therefore that is the house we are meant to be in for our wedding week!

  
  

  My FI was also hoping other family would rent houses close to ours and then the week would be a big family reunion. That isn't working out either as no one is interested in doing that and everyone keeps complaining about the price of hotels! He was home briefly and tried to convey to them renting a house is SO much more affordable than hotels in OBX! 

  
  

  It is such an awesome idea to get everyone together and stay in the same house. Unfortunately for us it didn't work out because no one was familiar with the OBX and because it is his family and I am not close to any of them as they live in Ohio and Florida. I would definitely put the word out there early enough so you can have an idea about who wants to attend. It is tough sometimes to get everyone to coordinate their vacations for the one week you want to get married!

  
  

  Sorry for such a long message. I know a lot of girls had good experiences renting the houses with their friends and family unfortunately I wasn't as lucky! Wishing you the best, the houses you like are awesome! 

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• OBX2011 member

  

  April 2013

  In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_north-carolina-outer-banks_the-mark-twain-house-twiddy-rentals?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:598Discussion:d69a4be0-6ccd-48d0-a133-ed920d2e22b0Post:284d5458-708b-47c5-973a-1afb807553a5">The Mark Twain House (Twiddy Rentals)</a>:
  [QUOTE]I have found a home I love and am interested in feedback from any bride out there that used this home for their wedding/reception location. The idea is to book this house and offer rooms to our wedding guests as a lower rate than their expenses would be at a hotel in the area.  The house has 18 bedrooms and ample space to do this.  Have any other brides out there done this?  If so, how did you present this idea?  I"m torn because it feels a bit rude of me to say "Would you come to our wedding and pay for your room at our beach house"?     Is this something you discussed with guests BEFORE booking? The house is definitely out of our budget without the commitment from guests to stay there and help pay.  I'm sure many family members and close friends would be on board...but 18 rooms are a lot of rooms to fill.  Feedback? Oh, here's the link to the home.  Photos are weddings here are just gorgeous!! <a href="http://www.twiddy.com/homes/4x4/ocean-beach/the-mark-twain.aspx" rel="nofollow">http://www.twiddy.com/homes/4x4/ocean-beach/the-mark-twain.aspx</a>
  Posted by Sunshine805[/Q
  
  A lot of us have done this.  I think the majority of the people that we had staying in the home were the immediate family and wedding party though.  Not to say that your guests can't stay there with you, but there are just a few things to think about when considering that.  Will the guests be staying the entire week or just for a night or two?  Are the comfortable paying for this upfront, knowing they can't back out unless you have someone to take their room?  If guests only come down for a night or two OR if all rooms aren't filled, are you & FI/family willing to cover the extra costs?
  
  If the house is mainly going to be family & WP, I would just talk to everyone whom you would think would stay in the house and see if they are interested.  We had a few extra rooms at the "wedding house", so I just asked a few of my close friends if they would be interested and a few of them took advantage of it. 
  
  I think most of your family/WP and close friends would really like the idea of staying together and cutting down on costs, travel time back n forth from a hotel, etc.

   

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• doceri member

  

  April 2013

  Hi!  Before booking our house for our wedding week this July we asked people in our immediate family and close friends if they wanted to take part of the house.  We definitely needed to know beforehand b/c there was no way we could afford it without everyone saying yes.  We came up with a spreadsheet based on the prior year rental rate (added in an increase) and came up with costs so that people had an idea of what it would be.  Luckily we were only $800 off from the cost we estimated so it wasn't too bad. 
  
  We basically just sent an email to our families/close friends with pictures of the house, potential costs, and how that was comparable to staying in a hotel.
  
  As noted in a previous post the rental companies make you pay deposits up front so we basically had told everyone in our families that they pay half of their rooms to lock them in.  Honestly it worked out for us as everyone paid their deposits but if they don't at least you have an idea of who may bail and see if you have other people that could possibly fill the room.
  
  Good luck!

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• Sunshine805 member

  

  April 2013

  Great input! Thanks so much for your responses!  The Mark Twain is out of the budget, I think, in considering what level of commitment I want to make.  The other 8 or 9 bedroom homes are more practical for a small wedding and we could eat the cost of that a lot easier if we can't get the rooms rented.

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

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• chrisrabady

  

  April 2013

  Hi
  I looked at Mark Twain it is amazing it was also out of my price range. I booked "the dream" a few houses down and a few thousand dollars cheaper. My family and my FI's family are splitting the price.
  I just wanted to mention that Twiddy adds on an extra "special event wedding fee" which was 2,000 on top of the rental price. I'm still super happy with my choice but wanted to mention it to you since you are in the early planning stages. One last thing, I have found is that vendors charge more to travel to the 4x4 area. I'm in no way trying to discourage you, cause i'm doing in on 8/22/13.
  
  

  yogi Bride

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• cynful4847 member

  

  June 2013

  I too am looking to book this house for a wedding in September of 2014.  I would love to know more details as well if anyone has done so in this house, etc.  It has been a dream of mine for years now to get married in this particular house.
  

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• 3catmom member

  

  June 2013

  This was my story in a way too. I have hardly any family and my fiance has a large family. I sent out save the dates nine months in advance, plus sent outer banks travel guides at the same time so they could familiarize themselves with everything and make plans in advance. The problem was that everyone was so wishy washy and whining about costs of accommodations (Not that most of them were struggling; I could understand that! What irritated me was there seemed to be plenty of money to travel to all the kid's hockey tournaments  in Detroit, Chicago, Maryland, etc., go to Myrtle Beach for some big week, and so on. But for us there wasn't time or money to come for a few days) In the end,my fiance's closest brother and family, son & his wife, neighbor, maybe my brother and a few close friends are coming. I've come to the conclusion that it is a blessing, because it shows me who are the ones who really care are! What irritated me too was the fact that the rest were all griping and trying to lay a guilt trip on me about how selfish I was for not having my wedding in Greensboro where I grew up and Hated living! Now why should I have my wedding in a place I despised? Anyway, I've learned a lot and I am at peace with my decision. I am having my wedding on the beach in front of one of my favorite motels where I'm staying. An event house would have been nice, but after all that went on, I know I'm still going to have the wedding I dreamed of! I hope everything goes well for you and that you have the wedding of your dreams no matter what happens! Mine is now exactly a month away!

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