Posted on 1/9/2019

How to Plan a Low Stress Outer Banks Wedding

With the Annual Outer Banks Wedding Weekend and Expo taking place in less than 2 weeks, we thought we'd share our Low Stress Outer Banks Wedding Planning Guide.

Letâ??s face it; weddings are stressful, especially destination weddings. You want your special day to be perfect, but you also donâ??t want to go crazy in the process. Fortunately, when you have your wedding at the Outer Banks, there are several things you can do to make your wedding as stress free as possible. 

1.  Choose A Location That Is Both Venue And Accommodations   

The biggest stressor of a destination wedding is finding someplace to hold the wedding, the reception, and someplace to put all your guests. However, the Outer Banks has special event homes that can double as both wedding and reception venue as well as vacation home for your guests. These event homes can sleep anywhere from 40-80 people and accommodate more than twice that number for the event. Need even more room?  Many of these homes are next to each other, so you are able to rent multiple homes to house everyone on your guest list.

Our special wedding homes, known as â??event housesâ??, are large oceanfront homes that have huge kitchen, dining areas, gathering spaces, entertainment areas, and of course, plenty of bedrooms. With one single reservation, three of your biggest headaches; finding a place for the wedding, reception, and accommodations, are all taken care of. 

What a relief! Now, letâ??s look what else you can do to lower the stress and raise the enjoyment of your special day.

2. Pre-Plan

One of the best things about the Outer Banks is that itâ??s far enough away, and beautiful enough, to be a destination wedding location, without the hassle of passports, plane fares and other travel issues. In fact, many people can drive to it in a day. You can even make it a fun week or weekend. Come down and experience the Outer Banks and even tour the event house you saw online so you can be assured that itâ??s the best place for your Special Event.

Going to be in town the weekend of January 19-20th? Check out the Outer Banks Wedding Weekend and Expo; all the vendors, homes and everything else you need for an Outer Banks wedding in one convenient place.

3.  Set The Date

Of course, youâ??ll want to book your event house as soon as possible. Some of the more popular ones, book up as far as two whole years in advance. Once you reserve your venture, send out â??Save the Dateâ?? cards so your guests can make their plans. The earlier you secure the home and send out the cards, the more people will be able to come, and more friends and family youâ??ll get to see on the actual day.

4. Choose The Vendors

Now, choosing the vendors is one of the hardest parts of setting up a wedding, especially when you donâ??t have firsthand knowledge of most of them. Fortunately, Event homes keep a list of preferred vendors; everything from caterers to cakes, to music, beauty, flowers, chair rentals and more. These preferred vendors are used to working with these homes to ensure everything goes smoothly for you big day. If you want additional choices, you can also check out the Outer Banks Wedding Association for their list of local vendors.  Have questions? Atlantic Realty's concierge is a wealth of knowledge of not only the area, but the local business and vendors available to make your event one of a kind!! 

5.  Remember The Marriage License  

Gone are the days when it used to be complicated to get a marriage license out of state. Today, you can get one at any County at the Register of Deeds Office. There is no waiting period, no physical examinations, and same sex marriages are valid too.

6.  Choose your Officiant

You can have a religious wedding or a non-religious wedding, thatâ??s entirely up to you. In North Carolina, you only have to be an ordained officiant. Or you can hire a magistrate to perform your ceremony. You can get one of those by contacting Dare or Currituck County.

7.  Know The Rules About Beach Weddings

A lot of weddings are held on the beach. After all, itâ??s right outside your door at an event home. And just by the search volume on Pinterest, beach weddings are the newest trend. The rules of a beach wedding are simple,and you don't even need a license in most cases. If your wedding is extra-large, then you might need a â??mass gatheringâ?? license, but there is no special permit needed for a wedding. You can set up music as long as you don't violate noise ordinances, and tents and chairs as long as you donâ??t block any public beach entrances. Of course, that last part is easy since most event homes have their own direct and private accesses to the beach.

 

Your wedding day doesnâ??t have to be stressful. The more planning you do, the less stressful it will be. Reserving your home early and taking the local recommendations for vendors eliminates most of the stress right there. Then, when you arrive, everything will be perfect. You can look back at your wedding and be reminded what a perfect day that was.

 

View all of our event homes here:

https://www.atlanticrealty-nc.com/vacation-rentals/luxury-homes

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