Blog - Southern Bride & Groom

NC Destination Wedding Planning: Outer Banks Wedding Association

Whether you are a Triangle NC couple looking for a fabulous nearby destination wedding location, or from anywhere in the country and have heard the rave reviews about the pristine beaches that grace NC’s coastline, checking out the Outer Banks Wedding Association is a MUST!

From the views of the Atlantic and the sound, to the wild horses of Corolla, to its famous sand dunes, the sights of the Outer Banks are unlike any other beach in the country! Many of our Triangle Area brides have grown up vacationing in the OBX and think of all the beautiful houses that can be rented for small weddings. This is a fabulous option, but you may not realize that there are also lots of wedding venues that can accommodate large events also, and a slew of fabulous wedding professionals. Navigate the Outer Banks Wedding Association (OBWA)’s website to learn more about these vendors.

If you make the trip to Outer Banks (only a 4 hour drive from the Raleigh area!), be sure to stop by OBWA’s Wedding Welcome Center, which is in Nags Head. It’s open Tuesday-Saturday from 9am-2pm, and anyone is welcome to stop in, pick up OBWA’s bridal magazine, and pick up some information on some of the members.

Mark your calendar now for the 2014 OBWA Wedding Weekend. This annual event is a great way to see lots of the sites and meet many vendors in one big weekend – maybe even finalize lots of your wedding plans! The 2014 event will be the weekend of January 17-19. If you are newly-engaged when you attend this event, you may even win an all-inclusive Dream Wedding! To learn about the 2013 wedding that is currently being planned (and valued at over $100,000!!!), and meet the vendors, visit this DREAM TEAM Blog. To meet the lucky couple who won, watch the video below! We cannot wait to see how this wedding turns out!

Duke Gardens Engagement Session

We are excited to introduce the newest addition to our Southern Bride & Groom Family, Anna Kirby Photography.

SB&G works with a select group of photographers, and we think its important to give our readers a selection of various styles and personalities. We’ve been falling in love with Anna’s beautiful style since we met her last year and began following her work. She has a classic style with a twist – her signature dramatic use of light accentuates her distinct eye for creating a beautiful scene. We’re happy to share some shots of an engagement session Anna shot with one of her local Durham couples.

Wynn proposed to Kate on top of Duke University Chapel tower. They were married in Ohio last December, but currently reside in Durham, where Kate is a nurse at Duke University Hospital, and Wynn is a Duke medical student. Needless to say, the picturesque Duke Gardens was the perfect choice for an e-session!

Kate shared some words of wisdom from her wedding day, and we thought it was a perfect way to introduce Anna:

“As stressful, confusing, and overwhelming as wedding planning can become, have confidence that the wedding day will be every bit as beautiful and wonderful as you would have hoped. Also, definitely take the time to find an excellent photographer – someone who can take the lead with their creative license, and promise not to do a lot of posing. We don’t remember seeing Anna most of the day, but her photos clearly managed to not only capture those big moments of walking down the aisle and dancing with our parents, but also the little stuff – like happy reunions with college friends, relatives telling jokes, the nervous smiles before the ceremony… a reflection of how much joy and love was being shared that day. Being able to look back on the day and remember these things means the world.”

New Website Launch – Southern Bride & Groom Magazine

You might notice that the Southern Bride & Groom website looks quite different today! We are so thrilled to announce the launch of our new website. We are thrilled with the results and hope you are too!

We hope you’ll take a moment to navigate the new site and get to know it. I think you’ll find its easier than ever to navigate the resource directory of our carefully-chosen roster of wedding professionals who serve North Carolina, particularly the Triangle Area.

We also have created a more user-friendly process to Submit Your Wedding event. So submit your own story, and enjoy our page of Real Weddings – all recent NC wedding stories that feature many of the wonderful wedding pros who are members of the SB&G family!

If you’re looking for more wedding planning information, be sure to visit our Upcoming Wedding Shows page, and register for our monthly Giveaways and to stay in the loop of local NC wedding events and news! More more inspiration, check out some of our behind-the-scenes Videos.

Our blog itself has a new feature as well – check out the various searchable categories at right. Use this tool to find exactly what you are looking for – whether its real wedding features, advice columns, or upcoming events!

To view or order our full magazine, click here.

Thank you for visiting SB&G! We hope you will use our magazine and website at every step of your wedding planning!

NC Museum of Art is Auctioning off a Wedding

The beautiful North Carolina Museum of Art is hosting Art of the Auction 2013 on Saturday, June 8th at 7:00pm. The annual event is a benefit for the NC Museum of Art Foundation, with all proceeds going towards museum exhibitions and education programs.

Hors d’oeuvres, small plates, a full bar and a signature cocktail will be served to attendees, followed by a silent auction featuring over 75 works of art by local artists, as well as items and packages that reflect the museum’s collection and exhibitions (like a Porsche Boudoir Photography suite in honor of the Porsche by Design: Seducing Speed exhibition, a honeymoon getaway, and the grand prize — a turnkey wedding package!

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to win a custom wedding and reception at the award-winning NCMA. Stunning works of art, turnkey service and amenities in a crisp, modern atmosphere will make your special day stand out as a “matrimonial masterpiece!”

At a $24,000 value, the custom wedding auction package includes a day-of coordinator and full reception event-planning services, an outdoor ceremony in the beautifully manicured NCMA garden (or inside the East Building, if Mother Nature doesn’t cooperate!), an indoor reception in the West Building Grand Hall, a floral package from Watered Garden Florist, white folding chairs for the ceremony, and color-coordinated linen package for the reception by CE Rentals, catering by Iris restaurant, bar service, a custom hors d’oeuvres menu, wait staff, a custom 3-tier wedding cake from Cinda’s Creative Cakes, a dance floor, and a DJ from Joe Bunn DJ Company!

The bidding starts at $13,000…so you could potentially save over $10,000 on the wedding of your dreams! This is serious value, y’all! And SB&G is so excited to announce a huge giveaway for this event! We are giving away a pair of tickets — that’s a $500 value! To enter, all you have to do is write on SB&G’s Facebook wall that YOU want a pair of tickets to the NCMA event by Friday, May 31st! Serious inquires only please, we want to send a couple who will bid in the auction!

Trust us, y’all, this is going to be something you don’t want to miss! Buy your tickets today to reserve your spot!

New Real Wedding Feature — Sharon and Kevin

In honor of Wedding Wednesday, we have a beautiful wedding at Solas in Downtown Raleigh to share with y’all! Enjoy Sharon and Kevin’s sweet day, from the eye of photographer Christopher Ferrer from Dara Blakeley Photography.

Sharon and Kevin were friends long before they became a pair, but when they finally got together, they were inseparable! We’ve featured their beautiful, intimate wedding at Solas in Downtown Raleigh on our Real Weddings Page, so check out the full story of their love here!

Want to have your wedding featured on SB&G? Submit it here!

NC Wedding Caterer — Rocky Top Catering

If you’re newly engaged, in the midst of wedding planning, or simply throwing a celebratory event, you need to get to know Rocky Top Catering!

Rocky Top is a multi-faceted business, with a full-service, off-site catering team, a free-standing wedding venue – 1705 Prime, and exclusive deals with the NC Museum of Natural Sciences and UNC’s Blue Zone at Kenan Stadium.

As a long-standing member of the SB&G Family, Rocky Top is a trusted vendor that will go above and beyond to make your event truly special and unique – from customizing your menu to meet every taste, culture and theme, to experienced staff and licensed bartenders who are well-versed in the service industry.

Rocky Top provides off-site catering to any location throughout the Triangle area of North Carolina – be it a rehearsal dinner, a wedding, a small celebration or a large corporate event. Since Rocky Top has been around for a while, their team has established excellent relationships with many of the area’s top venues, such as The Sutherland, The Grand Marquise Ballroom, Cobblestone Hall, Stockroom at 230 and The Museum of History, just to name a few!

Rocky Top also has an upscale wedding venue, 1705 Prime, located just outside of downtown Raleigh in a restored Southern home. The venue has a variety of rooms to fit your event’s needs – from intimate settings to grand spaces. There’s a built-in dance floor in the main room, in-house tables, chairs and chinaware, and an on-site kitchen for their team to create delicious delicacies. Rocky Top will even provide event design and vendor coordination upon request!

Rocky Top is the exclusive caterer at the NC Musuem of Natural Sciences and UNC’s Blue Zone at Kenan Stadium. The breathtaking Museum offers meeting and reception areas for 30-375 seated guests, and reception areas for up to 775 people! The Blue Zone is also ideal for anything from a small gathering to a grand event, with stunning views of UNC’s football field and surrounding campus. And with Rocky Top catering the event, you can guarantee the food will be out of this world!