A little background. Our "idea" for the wedding was to get a couple large beach houses for ourselves and our friends, right on the beach. The large beach houses gave us an opportunity to see our friends as much as possible during the few days they would be there. We could see folks for breakfast in the morning and before we crashed at night. My parents ended up getting a beach house adjacent to our houses, so the wedding actually occupied three consecutive beachfront houses, which was pretty nice. Folks had the opportunity to go from house to house, seeing old friends and family, and meeting the rest of the invitees. The rest of the friends and family stayed at a hotel a short ways up the road (Ramada Plaza), which generally got good reviews, and they were welcome to come visit the beach houses whenever. With roughly 45 people occupying the beach houses, a visitor was sure to encounter SOMEONE if they were to come down for a visit!
So, we had our rehearsal dinner at the Outer Banks Brewing Station (http://www.obbrewing.com/). It's a reasonable-sized venue at milepost 8.5, right on 150. It wasn't REALLY a rehearsal dinner, as we didn't have a rehearsal. It was really an opportunity for friends and family coming into town to get together and chat, hang out, have a nice meal, and enjoy some brews before our big day. It also allowed wedding-goers to discuss where they were staying, and make daytime plans for the day of the wedding (wedding wasn't until 5 pm).
Anyway, the Brewing Station proved to be a great place to have the rehearsal dinner. First, the folks at the Brewing Station were some of the friendliest and easiest to work with people I've ever dealt with. Karen (our email POC), was friendly and hospitable, answering all our questions (and there were plenty) , and working with us on the seating layout, cuisine, open bar options, and pricing. Eric was the "head janitor," and made sure our evening went smoothly. He was friendly and engaging, and our evening DID go smoothly. Mark was our bartender, and like any good bartender, he kept the drinks flowing with a smile. And finally Scott is their brewmeister... and I'll get to him in a minute.
From a logistics perspective, it was reasonably centrally located to everyone's accommodations. Also, the meal was buffet-style, so people that couldn't make it into town until later were able to arrive at their convenience. The Brewing Station provided us with exclusive access to their loft area (upstairs dining area), which gave us our own area to be loud and jocular, without having to worry about disturbing other restaurant guests. The upstairs area also has its own bar, and for a fee, can be staffed, which was nice.
The consensus on the food was that it was great. We started the evening with an hors d'oeuvre segment, so everyone could arrive and get themselves a drink. We had several children (~10ish), and while some of them were trying MY patience, the wait staff was super-accommodating, and didn't miss a beat. The dinner was a buffet, and there was plenty to go around. It was served on time, and they just kept the trays coming. The dessert was dynomite, also.
And the cost really wasn't all that bad. For ~45 people, 3 hours of open bar (beer, wine, and liquor), the hors d'oeuvres, full meal, dessert, taxes, tips, and friendly wait staff, our final cost was $2300. I thought that was a pretty reasonable (~$50/person).
As an added bonus, being a homebrewer (check out my crappy web page at www.gingerbreadpirate.com), I wanted to know if my $2300 evening came with a complementary tour of the attached brewery. It did! Eric (head janitor) told me to come back the next day around 1 to meet with the brewmeister, Scott.
Well, the brewery tour was awesome. Scott took nearly 2 hours to discuss each process with my brother and I. Not only was it fascinating, but I learned so much about the brewing process during the tour. I really appreciated him taking so much time out of his day to talk to us.
I would absolutely recommend the Brewing Station to anyone headed to the OBX for a wedding... or just a place to eat. Great environment, nice people, tasty food and great beer.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Hitched.
So.... I'm married now.
"Til death do us part."
So, now that I'm married, I'm going to post a couple follow up blogs on the vendors I used at the Outer Banks. If you know anyone considering getting married on the Outer Banks, please let them know these blogs posts exist (once I get them up), so they hopefully learn from our successes and mistakes.
That being said, however... It's amazing how much time, effort, and money is spent on a wedding. Everything is expensive. Doesn't matter what the cost of a "normal" item is... add the term "wedding" to the front of the item, and it becomes ridiculously expensive.
Flowers = $250
Wedding flowers = $1000
Dress = $180
Wedding dress = $500
I call this the "Cinderella Scenario." The situation where the bride-to-be is sitting there, looking at the catalog, or trying on a dress, and "Oh, that looks beautiful. And you deserve it because it is YOUR day." What generally goes unsaid, but is understood, is, "...regardless what it costs." Any person in the room CAN be the culprit of this costly phrase; the sales agent, the mother of the bride, the maid of honor. Our society believes the wedding day should be the most special day of the Bride's life. Our society also promotes hyperconsumerism. Truly a costly combination!
We decided to get married on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There were a large host of reasons we decided on the Outer Banks, and cost was one of them. We thought we would be having an inexpensive wedding, but not so! Everything ended up being more expensive than we projected. Part of the expense was the aforementioned "wedding" phenomena. Another part of that expense was the "this is only going to happen once in my Life (hopefully), so let's have what we want." However, combatting these dollar-eating, bride-exploiting frivolous costs, was my soon-to-be wife (now "just," "wife") managing what it SHOULD cost, against what it DOES cost, and what we WANT against what makes sense. So, to be honest, I think our wedding was a deal, considering what we ended up with, and considering the practices of bridal exploitation inthe "Cinderella scenario."
So weddings are expensive.
BUT, I realized while I was in the process of getting married that there is a reason for at least SOME of the additional cost of the wedding.
When I buy flowers, it's for an event. I'm buying them to tell my wife I Love her. I'm buying them for an anniversary. I'm buying them for a nice dinner with friends.
When I buy WEDDING flowers, I'm buying them for my wedding. For my one and only (hopefully) wedding. I am paying the extra money to make sure that it all goes smoothly. The extra cost COULD be justified because I'm paying for the best florists in the field to provide their normal service in a "no worry" fashion. I don't want to hear about any problems. I don't want to be involved in any "mitigating" decisions, and I SURE AS SHIT don't want to show up and not have the right flowers. I am paying extra money for the florist to know what's right, how to manage the risks of the floral industry (whatever they may be), and to make sure that it goes well.
Anyway, check out my blogs. My wedding event was generally great. Good time with friends and family, and an opportunity to hang out and enjoy ourselves... oh... and get hitched.
"Til death do us part."
So, now that I'm married, I'm going to post a couple follow up blogs on the vendors I used at the Outer Banks. If you know anyone considering getting married on the Outer Banks, please let them know these blogs posts exist (once I get them up), so they hopefully learn from our successes and mistakes.
That being said, however... It's amazing how much time, effort, and money is spent on a wedding. Everything is expensive. Doesn't matter what the cost of a "normal" item is... add the term "wedding" to the front of the item, and it becomes ridiculously expensive.
Flowers = $250
Wedding flowers = $1000
Dress = $180
Wedding dress = $500
I call this the "Cinderella Scenario." The situation where the bride-to-be is sitting there, looking at the catalog, or trying on a dress, and "Oh, that looks beautiful. And you deserve it because it is YOUR day." What generally goes unsaid, but is understood, is, "...regardless what it costs." Any person in the room CAN be the culprit of this costly phrase; the sales agent, the mother of the bride, the maid of honor. Our society believes the wedding day should be the most special day of the Bride's life. Our society also promotes hyperconsumerism. Truly a costly combination!
We decided to get married on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There were a large host of reasons we decided on the Outer Banks, and cost was one of them. We thought we would be having an inexpensive wedding, but not so! Everything ended up being more expensive than we projected. Part of the expense was the aforementioned "wedding" phenomena. Another part of that expense was the "this is only going to happen once in my Life (hopefully), so let's have what we want." However, combatting these dollar-eating, bride-exploiting frivolous costs, was my soon-to-be wife (now "just," "wife") managing what it SHOULD cost, against what it DOES cost, and what we WANT against what makes sense. So, to be honest, I think our wedding was a deal, considering what we ended up with, and considering the practices of bridal exploitation inthe "Cinderella scenario."
So weddings are expensive.
BUT, I realized while I was in the process of getting married that there is a reason for at least SOME of the additional cost of the wedding.
When I buy flowers, it's for an event. I'm buying them to tell my wife I Love her. I'm buying them for an anniversary. I'm buying them for a nice dinner with friends.
When I buy WEDDING flowers, I'm buying them for my wedding. For my one and only (hopefully) wedding. I am paying the extra money to make sure that it all goes smoothly. The extra cost COULD be justified because I'm paying for the best florists in the field to provide their normal service in a "no worry" fashion. I don't want to hear about any problems. I don't want to be involved in any "mitigating" decisions, and I SURE AS SHIT don't want to show up and not have the right flowers. I am paying extra money for the florist to know what's right, how to manage the risks of the floral industry (whatever they may be), and to make sure that it goes well.
Anyway, check out my blogs. My wedding event was generally great. Good time with friends and family, and an opportunity to hang out and enjoy ourselves... oh... and get hitched.
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