Getting Hitched on Hatteras Island
A low-key approach

by Shelby Kinnaird

So you're thinking of getting married. And you want to do it on the Outer Banks, maybe even on Hatteras Island. Back in 2004, so did we. This wasn't the first marriage for either of us so we wanted something very low-key. We knew we wanted to be at Sound Mind & Body with the important people in our lives and have some good food and nice photographs. We were more interested in being married than getting married.

We started by calling people on the Outer Banks that we knew - our real estate agent and some of the folks at our property management company. Our property manager recommended Austin Creek Grill for catering, Ginny McBride at Every Blooming Thing for flowers and Tom Thumb for a fish fry rehearsal dinner. So far, so good. While we discussed flowers with Ginny, we mentioned we were looking for a photographer. She suggested JoEllen Willis. We also called Shooters at the Beach because Barb Connery of Re/Max had recommended them. Well, would you believe that when Shooters returned our call, the person on the phone was JoEllen! We learned that she covers Hatteras Island for Shooters. Talk about a small world.

Now neither Rick or I are particularly photogenic. Originally, we just wanted to have an engagement picture taken on the beach so once in our lives we'd have one good photo of both of us. JoEllen did such a wonderful job on that photo that we decided to hire her to take pictures at the wedding as well. Those pictures were also terrific.

So now we've got flowers, a photographer and food for the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception. We still need someone to marry us, a cake, clothes, invitations and gifts for the guests.

We tried to find an Episcopal minister to marry us, but the closest one was up in Kitty Hawk and he never returned our calls. Then we thought we might just do the justice of the peace thing. We learned that North Carolina doesn't have justices of the peace, they have magistrates. We contacted Kim Montgomery, the Dare County magistrate, and found out that she could marry us if we went to her office, but she couldn't come to us at Sound Mind & Body. Kim is a wonderful person, by the way, and helped us quite a bit with other aspects of planning the wedding. We ended up searching for a minister online and found Eugene McLawhorn, a former Baptist minister in Powell's Point. He was a pleasure to work with; he came by the house early in the day to discuss the vows and do the paperwork and then he disappeared and showed up again in time for the ceremony.

On to the cake. In searching the web for stuff about weddings on the Outer Banks, I came across Just Desserts. They had pictures of some incredible looking wedding cakes on their web site. One was chocolate eclair-flavored and involved seashells made out of white chocolate. We considered a lot of other (cheaper) cakes, but this was one of those things we had to have. Just Desserts is located in Kitty Hawk and they charge a pretty penny to deliver to Hatteras. We ended up sending my Dad to pick up the cake on the morning of the wedding to save a little money.

The toughest part for me was finding something to wear. I didn't want anything poofy or lacy or complicated. Katie, my stepdaughter and maid-of-honor, my Mom and I went to many places in the Washington-Baltimore area that we thought would have appropriate wedding dresses. Nothing worked. I was discouraged. I ended up ordering a white, textured sarong from a place in Hawaii over the Internet. It was a risk, but only a $50 one. I ordered two sizes, just to be safe. One of them fit perfectly and I sent the other back. Rick and Alex (Rick's son and best man) wore navy blue sportscoats with khaki pants and white polo shirts. Katie wore a navy blue dress with spaghetti straps. It was all very nautical.

The invitations were fun for me. We were only sending out a few so I decided to make them myself. I went to a craft store and bought paper, braided white cord and a glue gun. I made a knot out of the cord and glued that to the front of each invitation along with the wording "Please join Rick & Shelby as they tie the knot." Cute, huh?

We rented a second house in Avon (we didn't own Penny Lane at the time) and had some guests stay with us at Sound Mind & Body and some at the other house. We mapped out a schedule of events (fish fry Fri. night, brunch on Sat., wedding Sat. afternoon, etc.) and posted those along with directions and other logistical information on a web site. We assigned everyone to a room and had tote bags waiting for them on their beds when they arrived. The tote bags (purchased from Lands' End) were filled with all kinds of beachy things - sunscreen, personal fans, beach towels ... and hats. We had a company in Maryland called EmbroidMe make up hats that said "Rick & Shelby - June 19, 2004." (Our then year-old nephew got a hat that said "ick & shebby" because that's what he called us at the time.) JoEllen took a photo of everyone with their hats and we sent a copy to each guest at Christmastime.

All in all everything worked out well. Our only complaint was the weather - it was cloudy and windy on our wedding day and the evening before. We wanted to have both the fish fry and the wedding on the deck at Sound Mind & Body, but ended up having the fish fry on the carport and the wedding inside in front of the sliding glass doors. The sun finally came out for a bit just before sunset and we did get some decent pictures on the deck after the wedding. No worries.

If you'd like contact information for any of the folks listed here, send email to info@halfvastenterprises.com. Everyone we worked with did an incredible job.