September usually provides perfect weather for a wedding on the Outer Banks. Tiffany and Shawn wholeheartedly agreed! So they rented a nice house on the ocean, invited a few family and friends, and drove down from Pennsylvania last September. They chose the beach in front of their rental house in Corolla as the ideal setting to say their vows. But as everyone knows, when you plan a wedding out in nature, there is always one thing you have no control over – the weather!

Whenever I perform a wedding on the beach I always discuss with the couple ahead of time the possibility that the wind direction may not be favorable to the traditional positioning of the bride and groom at the altar. On Tiffany and Shawn’s day, we were blessed to have the sun shining on us, but it was quite windy.

One thing I do to help make sure the bride is showing her best side is, if the wind direction dictates, “flip” the bride’s position at the altar.You can see in the video that I had Tiffany stand opposite of the traditional “bride stands on the left.” This way the bride’s hair is not blowing in her face, her gown is flowing behind her, and the photographer can get great shots of our gorgeous bride.

You might also notice at the ceremony location I have placed a throw blanket in the sand. Why? Because there are few things worse than having one or both of the rings accidentally drop into the sand during the ring exchange! If a ring drops onto the sand, the sand immediately envelops the ring making it almost impossible to find unless you happen to have a metal detector handy. So I always use my “security blanket” for a beach wedding.

It’s the little details that can make a big difference in the wonderful memories created by the ceremony. I was honored to be part of Shawn and Tiffany’s wedding day and happy to have provided some special touches to make sure that the only hitch in the ceremony is when I pronounced them husband and wife.

Contact me, your Outer Banks Wedding Minister, to discuss your ideas for a prefect Outer Banks Wedding!