Carolina Destination Weddings - Roanoke Island, NC

The lovely husband and wife team, Honey and Briar of Silvas Photo, a photography and videography studio based in Charleston, submitted the following wedding video to be featured in our Carolina destination wedding series. Silvas Photo serves clients throughout the Southeast, including both North and South Carolina. Featured below is a wedding they filmed here in our coastal region in Manteo, NC.

Debra and Chad's Wedding Highlights Video in Adrianna's, Outer Banks North Carolina (7D) from Silvas Photo Video on Vimeo.

I first introduced you to Manteo, NC located on Roanoke Island over the summer, when I featured the Elizabethan Gardens. Hailed as one of the popular wedding destinations in the Outer Banks, Roanoke Island is a beautiful place to host a romantic and intimate destination wedding.

The island offers options to host your wedding reception waterfront at a restaurant like Adrianna's, at quaint bed and breakfast inns, and of course, you can exchange vows beach side or at the island's lighthouse.

Are you planning a destination wedding in the Carolinas?

Winter Wedding? Check Your Guests' Coats!

*This is a re-post from last year (11.19.08) and content has been modified.

Are you having a late fall or winter wedding or other social event this winter season? Bar/Bat Mitzvah? New Year's Ever Party? Holiday Gala?

If so, then you should absolutely consider providing your guests with a coat check service. I hate carrying around my coat, so if your guests are like me, certainly they will greatly appreciate knowing that their coats are in a secure place and they want have to worry about them until the end of your event.

Another plus of having their coats checked is that you want have to worry about your guests' coats hanging on back of your beautiful specialty chair covers. You know...the ones that you just spent a load of money on as part of your event design.

Please don't take the chance of having half of your guests hanging their jackets over your beautiful chair covers. I would also like to mention that if they are on the back of the chairs, you can rest assured that it will be in your photographs. So, keep them out of sight.

Things You Will Need to Check Coats at Your Event:

• Coat Check Attendants - You will need at least two attendants to check your guests' coats, the larger your guest lists, the more coat attendants you will need. Your event planner should be able to supply a couple of event assistants to do this for a nominal fee.

• Coat Rack and Hangers - Obviously, you will need a place at the venue to hang and store your guests coats. If you are getting married at a hotel, check with them to see if they provide this service or if they at least have garment racks and hangers that you can use to check coats. If not locate a place to rent them. Another option, if there is a coat check service agency in your area, is to contract them out for your event.

• Coat Check Tags - The coat tags are a necessity because at the end of the night, it will be easy for the coat attendants to retrieve your guests' coats. Part of the coat tag goes on their coat hanger and the bottom portion of the tag is given to them, so all they have to do is present their portion of the tag when they are ready to retrieve their coats.

Again, keep them out of sight!!

Photo Source: Admit One Products

Wedding Invitation Enclosures - Rain Cards

I first mentioned rain cards when I discussed the importance of having a backup plan for outdoor weddings. In that post I told you that:

Rain cards are an enclosure that you can include in your invitation set and they are the best way to inform your guests of your backup plan should it rain. In this way, they will know ahead of time where to go if it rains as opposed to having to call and or wander around trying to figure out where to go.

In sum, rain cards serve two purposes: to inform your guests that your wedding is taking place outside and to let your guests know of your back up plan or alternate location ahead of time. So, if you are having an outdoor wedding or hosting your wedding in an area that is prone to inclement weather, for example, on the coast during hurricane season, you should enclose a rain card with your invitations.

Wedding Invitation Enclosures - Travel Cards

Travel Card by Invitation Consultants

Travel cards or accommodation cards serve the purpose of providing out-of-town guests with information about hotels in the same vicinity that your wedding will take place. The hotels listed should be a couple of locations where you have reserved a block of rooms at a negotiated rate. In this situation, your guests will have a limited time to reserve their accommodations in order to receive the discounted rate. You will want to specify a deadline for your guests to make their room reservations.

If you are planning a destination wedding, you can enclose accommodation cards with your save-the-date cards instead of your wedding invitations. In this situation, you may include full travel details, including airfare and hotel information if you are working with a travel agent as well as airport and transportation details. Please be sure to include the contact information for your travel agent on the accommodation card as well as a deadline for guests to book their travel.

Wedding Invitation Enclosures - Ceremony & Reception Cards

This week I have been discussing the different types of enclosures you can include with your wedding invitations. Thus far, I have discussed reply cards and direction cards. Next on my list are ceremony and reception cards.

Ceremony cards are used when you are having a private wedding ceremony with a few special guests--your closest family and friends, followed by a large wedding reception. In other words, everyone that is invited to reception are not invited to the ceremony. For those invited to your ceremony, you will include this enclosure to let them know that their presence is requested at your ceremony. Every one else will receive an invitation to the reception only.

Reception Card by Wedding Paper Divas

Reception cards can be used for a couple of reasons. Most often, they are used when your ceremony and reception are taking place at two different locations. Other times, they are used when your guest list to the ceremony is larger than the number of guests invited to the reception. So, if everyone is not invited to your wedding reception (and I really do frown upon this), you can enclose a reception card with the wedding invitation to discreetly let your special guests know that a reception will follow.

Wedding Invitation Enclosures - Map & Direction Cards

Maps and directions cards are an important invitation enclosure for out-of-town guests and if your are hosting a destination wedding. So, unless your all of guests are local to your wedding location, I suggest that you always include a map and directions to both your ceremony and reception venues. As for etiquette (and aesthetics), please do not insert printed directions on copier paper inside your beautifully designed invitations.

Click on photo to view larger image.

While I am on the topic of maps and directions, a very popular trend among destination brides is to have custom map and direction cards that double as keep-sakes for guests like the one above designed by calligrapher, Laura Hooper. I am in awe of these custom maps and I think they are a great way to captivate your guests with details. To date, I have not had an opportunity to work with Laura, but I have heard and read nothing but rave reviews about her artwork.

Wedding Invitation Enclosures - Reply Cards & Envelopes

Over the next few days I will discuss the different types of enclosures that are most often included with wedding invitation sets. Not only will I identify the different types of invitation enclosures, but I will tell you the purpose they serve, when to use them, and any rules of etiquette that may accompany them.

First up are reply cards and envelopes.

Photo: Mindi Nash Graphic Design

Reply cards and envelopes should always be included as part of your wedding invitation sets. The primary purpose of a reply card is to let you know how many guests will be attending your wedding and if requested, it will tell you the meal preferences of your guests.

When sending reply cards, etiquette states that you should always include a pre-stamped reply envelope as a courtesy to your guests. Never ever expect your guests to pay for postage! This is tacky and more than likely many of your guests will not RSVP. That said, a pre-stamped envelope encourages your guests to RSVP.