Our Outer Banks Wedding Venue & House

If you’re new to my wedding series, my husband Drew I got married in June on the Outer Banks!

In an extreme effort to avoid a cookie cutter wedding, we opted to do a destination wedding in one of our favorite places in the world, that also means so much to my family. I hinted at it all in my first wedding update but wanted to share the details & process for our reception venue + house we stayed in all week! It’s called the “Chateau De La Mer” which means “Palace by the sea” and it was exactly that. A palace!

These photos are a mix of photos from the house listing and our wedding photographer, Sarah Murray

After weeks of searching cyberspace for the perfect rental house, I stumbled on the Chateau De La Mer and my first reaction was to laugh. I actually showed my dad the youtube video of the pool (those bowls are actually fire bowls, and there are sprinklers that shoot across the pool!) and we both just chuckled at how extreme it was. BUT… then I realized I couldn’t settle for anything less. Extreme was exactly what I wanted!

The house has 16 bedrooms, each with their own full bathroom-perfect for a beach house so theres no arguing over who gets to shower first! We had all our side of the guest list staying with us for the week and it fit everyone more than comfortably. There are 3 full floors, each with a living/lounging area, a full bar, partial kitchen, and walk out balcony.

The top floor has 2 bedrooms, and the rest of the space is taken up by the kitchens, dining area, lounge areas, and the coolest decked out bar! Notice I said kitchenS? Yes, there’s a separate catering kitchen off the daily kitchen which came in handy every time we had chefs come into the house! Perfect for any event but especially a wedding. That top floor is where we held our reception- we moved all the furniture into bedrooms throughout the house (oh my gosh, WHAT an ordeal!) and brought in rental tables & chairs. It was basically the craziest house party ever.

The bridal suite is on the second floor, which speaks for itself. It’s like walking into a room for a princess. It has a double door entrance and a private balcony that juts out the front of the house overlooking the whole street. We originally thought it was a bummer that the balcony wasn’t facing the ocean, but nothingggg compares to standing out there on my wedding morning and everyone seeing me from the street haha! I want to relive it! My girls and I also took full advantage of the suite off my room- it was great for the lingerie shower and pleeeenty of space for H&MU on the big day.

The first floor goes out to the pool at the back, also has a really neat bar, along with pool, shuffle board, and a full service movie theatre! This is where we had the last part of my bachelorette party, and also where we set up cocktail hour! We put corn hole out by the pool and set up food & drinks at the bar. It was great because theres already so much seating that we only had to bring in a couple loungers and high tops! — Because no one likes standing around for 2 hours at cocktail hour.

The house is right on the beach, but the pool was the highlight of the week! Its a lazy river, with waterfalls and sprinklers. Perfect for post-dinner pool hangs, or just lazy-river-ing when you feel like tapping out of the beach for the afternoon! There’s also a hot tub, which is the cherry on top and the boys loved it.

Literally can’t say enough amazing things about this house. Truly a once in a lifetime experience getting to stay there, and it worked so perfectly for our smaller-but-extra wedding reception! We reserved it 14 months in advance and got one of the last 3 weeks available, so it definitely books up!

Listed with Twiddy Realty