Let’s consider a few good reasons in favor of getting started well in advance to properly plan your outer banks wedding and secure your preferred wedding date on the island.

To start off, the Outer Banks is a series of islands within a day’s drive of numerous major cities on the East coast of the US. This level of access to millions of people creates an appealing destination location. The unique landscape offers beautiful views, stunning sunsets, and isolated beaches. This abundant beauty and easy accessibility of the islands creates high demand and permits affordable travel for most of your wedding attendees.

Firstly, consider finding suitable accommodations for everyone in your party as top priority. Additionally, vendors such as the wedding and reception venue, photographer, caterer will require a bit of legwork unless you hire a local planner or liaison to do this work for you. Moreover, consider that this destination has becoming a very popular place to get married. There are only so many venues and vendors that can suit your needs. Many of the rental houses on the islands can easily handle large groups for lodging. However, not all houses will permit wedding ceremony or reception events. So carefull planning can save you and your guests’ unecessary distress during the days leading up to the event as well as on your wedding day. This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, with proper planning it will be.

Second, planning in advance so that you can secure all of the vendors that will make your wedding day all that you are dreaming of is of the most importance. The reason this is true is that the number of people getting married in the Outer Banks is growing each year. However, the number of suitable accommodations is not growing nearly as fast. With more and more people getting married in the area, venues, lodging, photographers and the like become booked well in advance of the most sought after dates within the wedding season. As a result, more and more vendors are able to support their businesses in the Outer Banks.

Third, many of the venue options are outdoors. Of course, the unique beauty of the area is what draws so many to consider their wedding ceremony and reception on one of the islands. Of considerable note is the weather conditions that shape the islands can sometimes be severe and not necessarily suitable for an outdoor ceremony. Depending on the time of the year, large hurricane storms can shut down the island and cause mandatory evacuations. For this, you should understand when the ‘hurricane season’ occurs in this area!

Fourth, with the wedding industry growing in the Outer Banks of North Carolina brides are finding that smaller, more quaint locations like Ocracoke Island are becoming booked before they can even start planning their wedding day. Especially for large wedding parties, the challenge of getting everyone in the same place at the same time will require your diligent efforts in calling or even visiting the island to scout locations you find suitable for your event.

And lastly, take the time to speak with and even meet face to face the caterer, outer banks wedding photographer, DJ and other vendors that you are entrusting to pull off your flawless wedding day. One great planning move is to plan a vacation during the time of year you are considering for the ceremony. This way you can have a good understanding of what the weather might be. During the summer months, there can be extremely hot days with little or no wind. You want to consider the enjoyment of yourself as well as the guests you have invited.

You want to consider these reasons among others, and start your planning now. Just these few reasons alone make a pretty strong case for why you need to properly plan your outer banks wedding. Once you start the planning you will find those little unseen factors that might throw a little bump in the road of planning a great wedding event. By starting your planning early, you can avoid the big problems.

We are excited to be able to serve you better through our website changes.

Thanks for your patience,

Sam & Kim Perry

Sam Perry Photography

I like to do that by not just capturing the dress as you wear it during the wedding and reception, but also in the quiet moments before you dress. The little details of that dress are what made it special to you. This collection of photos shows a sample of some of the beautiful wedding gowns that we photographed in 2010.

The simplistic beauty of this photograph really calls to me. Thanks Lorree and Joel for sharing this moment at your wedding.

A storm had recently passed through the island leaving dramatic skies. The bright turquoise of Evan’s dress and the crisp white shirt Ryan wore were perfect offsets to the colors of the sky, beach, and ocean.

Look for a separate blog post on the beach portrait session with Christine and Mike at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

A picture is worth a thousand words, here is Mike and Christine’s wedding story.