Beach Wedding Rental House

"I'm heading into class but just to verify, were asking for them to come as part of OUR wedding gift. We're not making a registry or asking for presents. They're all ok with paying with some of the house, were not asking for them to pay for all by any means."

In this comment, you say you're asking them to come as part of their gift to you. My point is this is a lot like saying, "Mom, for our wedding gift, please get us a crockpot. Aunt Sally, you will be our officiant. Grandma, this necklace I've been wanting, I'll send you a link to it on Amazon." You shouldn't tell people what they're giving you as a gift. Yes, travel expenses are part of wedding costs, I just don't like when people assume that they can assign gifts to their loved ones.

I don't really have a ton of advice where this is concerned, but I was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding in the OBX, in North Carolina. I think we were in Corolla, specifically. Anyway, she got married on the beach and then had the reception at the rented beach house! The entire guest list was close friends/family, so we all did end up staying in a few beach houses together. No one ended up at a hotel. This was a destination wedding too, so she had to plan from afar--didn't see the house until the day before, didn't get to meet her photographer or make up/hair team in person until that day. That sort of thing.

Pro: It was so fun, and laid back and we all had a blast. Con: It was such an isolated location, and there happened to be some accident (or something wrong with a bridge) that made it difficult for her guests to get there ahead of time. The bride's parents were almost late becaue the traffic was at a stand-still. Also, we're all from Pennsylvania so there was a lot of traveling involved.

Here's a fun picture from her wedding. We all carried parasols in place of flowers.

We got married on Folly Beach in Charleston, SC on September 13. It was PERFECT! We rented a beach house where we stayed with our immediate family members only so it'd be less stressful and crowded. We had a hotel block about 7 blocks away for others. The house we got was NOT an event house and our wedding was only about 50 people. We got a house that was across the street from the a public walkway at the specific beach location that we always go and where we got engaged. The house had a nice yard that was kind of private and there was parking available by the walkway so it was the best scenario. Our reception was outside in the yard where we strung lights. We rented tables and chairs and had buffet style with real glassware and dishes and silver. We cut the cake in the house. After the reception people wandered over to the beach or relaxed in the house or yard.

Because it was not specified an event house, we paid less ($1600 versus the $4000) but we did risk getting caught. Because our wedding was smaller and we didn't rent a dance floor, we did just fine.

It really was perfect- the weather was the best we'd had all summer and it wasn't even windy. There was no one on the beach except for us and our pictures were beautiful. What a great wedding!!

View Quoted Comment @VM, is it possible to add the link to the house you stayed in? I know this is superrr late but I’m thinking about doing the same thing.

Nah, we're doing a cabin that sleeps 60, and since I'm paying for accommodations, I don't expect problems. If they don't want to stay with everyone else, they can get their own room. The only issue I'm facing, is how to do the room setups. It's 18 bedrooms or something, and like 15 or 16 are single rooms, but 3 to 4 have double queens. The kids are easy, bc the basement rec room, sleeps 20 in bunk beds, and 10 to 15 on 5 sleeper sofas(2 adults or big kids, and 3 smaller). We don't have that many kids, so we're tossing some of the adult singles downstairs to the sofas. But those few shared rooms are what's hemming me up. Bc imo, my future FIL can share a room with future BIL/his fiance, and my bro and sis(27 and 23 then) can share with my parents.


It's more for individual hotel rooms, and only a handful of us have ever been to Pigeon Forge, so most likely, someone is getting lost, lol.
Oh, and definitely tell the owner what you are doing. I've seen horror stories where the renters didn't tell the owner, and they were shut down and kicked out. Usually this is when there is more guests than the rental is booked for, or vendors coming in and out start annoying neighbors and blocking roads, or the renters just being straight AH's.

View Quoted Comment I just responded to a zombie thread bc I saw your comment but didn't read the other replies 👀😬🤷‍♀️🤣🤣🤣