It saddens me to have to write this review, but I truly hope this will serve as a warning to other…read morebrides-to-be who may be considering the planning services of 'To Have and To Hold OBX' for their weddings. Perhaps it sounds a tad dramatic to say that this company's services ruined the entire wedding. I wish I were exaggerating. It would not be fair to say that Brenda Zeigler, the planner behind To Have and to Hold, single-handedly ruined the wedding. And that's because she didn't show up AT ALL. In fact, she had double-booked the date. Oopsie daisies- right? Instead of attending, she sent two assistants in her place. If this simple fact alone does not convince you of the sheer ineptness and irresponsibility of To Have and to Hold, please read on: -The assistants sent in Brenda's place (but namely Hayley) were lazy, rude, and unprofessional. They were actually trash-talking the bride behind her back to her guests on her wedding day, the day that's supposed to be the happiest of her life. -These delightful girls were considerate enough to wear their finest jogging shorts, hoodies, and sneakers to this FORMAL occasion. -One of Brenda's main selling points was that the happy couple would truly be able to relax and enjoy on their big day while the planner dealt with everything. Instead, the bride was interrupted while she was getting her hair done and made to help the assistant carry flowers down several flights of stairs. Seriously?! - Though the bride had sent very detailed plans ahead of the wedding in which she outlined EVERYTHING from drawings of chair and table set-up to a listing of vendors' contact information, the assistants were not informed in advance. Neither Brenda nor the assistants worked with the vendors prior to the wedding or on the day of the wedding. In fact, the assistants insulted the cake bakers to their faces. -The assistants did a terribly sloppy job setting up the chairs. They placed napkins on the table five hours before the reception (which all blew away) as well as bottles of water, which were meant to be chilled. Obviously, when you place water on the table five hours before people will be drinking them in the North Carolina sun, they will not be chilled when the time comes. -When Hayley was asked perfectly reasonable questions by the family, such as "When will the photographer arrive?" she answered with an eye-roll and "How would I know that?" When asked to call the photographer, she answered with another popular response, "That's not my job." The bride and bridesmaids had to deal with all of these details themselves rather than relaxing and enjoying the day. -The assistants did not let anyone know what was going on. The mother of the bride ended up having about 15 minutes to get ready. Hayley did not gather the wedding party, and so they had no idea where to be. The brother of the bride was screamed at like a child for being in the wrong place. There was no rehearsal, and everyone was confused. -The assistants were nowhere to be seen during picture-taking. Typically, they should be bringing the bride and groom appetizers. The bride and groom had no idea where the assistants were, but I do; they were sitting inside the house relaxing and complaining. -When the bride and groom arrived at the reception, they were not announced. In fact, dinner had ALREADY BEEN SERVED WITHOUT THEM. -About half way through the wedding, the assistant Hayley stormed off the site, never to return. When we inquired why, the other assistant, Chastity, said that she had a "personality disagreement with the sister of the groom." This is the most unprofessional behavior I've ever witnessed. -Exit shuttles that were arriving down on the beach were not announced, so guests did not know what their options were (times) for leaving. The assistant claimed she did announce them, but I was sitting by the DJ booth the entire time; this never happened. -Guests leaving on the shuttles were supposed to receive donuts and bottles of water. When the bride and groom realized this wasn't happening, the groom ran down the dock, beach, and on to the shuttle to deliver them himself. -The assistants did not take care of any clean-up. Luckily, we, the family of the bride and groom, returned the next day to sort rain-soaked table cloths into laundry bags, rearrange furniture, organize and box up unused alcohol, and clean. -Brenda promises monthly check-ins, and that she'll work with your vendors and budget. This did not happen. To be fair, when Brenda found out how immature and unprofessional her assistants had acted, she granted the couple a full refund. However, the bride and groom would have rather spent the money and had a smooth, relaxing, wedding day that they could look back on fondly. You've been warned!

Based on the recommendation of a bride who had used To Have and To Hold, we used Brenda for our…read moredaughter's wedding on May 6, 2017 at the Pine Island Lodge. It was perfect! Everything she said she would do she did and then some. As we were from out of state, Brenda was a great guide through the whole process. We did speak once a month and she always answered emails or phone calls in a timely fashion. The day of the wedding our family was able to relax, have fun, and be part of the special day. Brenda, and her assistant Jen, could not have been more professional and supportive!!!

We had Heather and her team help with our wedding in October 2013 in Corolla NC. We hired them…read morejust for the day. We did all the pre planning, etc and coordinating. That being said with them just coming in that weekend they did an amazing job of putting everything in the right place, making sure everything ran smooth, etc. I highly recommend them. Even in the pre planning she was organized to have pictures, contact info, contracts etc of all the vendors we were using and our plans. This helped everything wrong very smoothly. Even if we had different visions of the day she made our day our day. My husband and I wanted to break a lot of traditions from the traditional wedding because that wasn't us and we wanted our wedding focused on amazing food and time with our loved ones. Not long drawn out boring toast, silly garter tosses (especially since our single guys at the wedding were 30 plus and our single girls were 18 and under EEEWW or make my one college friend really feel like the only one not married yet...mean!) She adjusted to well to our different style and made the day perfect. Weather changed constantly throughout the week. One thing we didn't think of was high tide for a beach ceremony but she was able to have everything set up perfectly and it was different than normal so we loved it. She even suggested walls to the tent which was perfect because we had a light drizzle of rain during our cocktail hour but then she opened during the dancing part because it wasn't raining anymore and it got hot in there. But she did it and we didn't have to worry. My parents were very impressed with her work. We only had one mistake happen and that was the kids weren't fed dinner during cocktail hour therefore the kids table didn't get turned into an adult table for dinner. We were only 2 seats short but its was my sisters and they improvised. But that was mis communication and planning. Def recommend. If I could have afforded it/willing to pay for full service I would recommend her for the whole time.

Shirley Anne is amazing. My hubby and I loved her!! We had her as our officiant but we just…read morediscovered she does event planning as well... oh how I would have loved to use her services for the event planning. She would have been magnificant. Shirley Anne was kind, attentive, outgoing and talkative with our families. Just perfect for us and our small wedding. She even added an unexpected poem for us to make our ceremony a little more special and she went out and brought herself a beautiful yellow jacket to go with our wedding colors. Shirley Anne was pheonominal and I would recommend her to any and everyone getting married in the OBX area.

I can't recommend OBX Party Bus enough for anyone looking to pub crawl and experience the vibrant…read moreenergy of OBX! Unlike other party buses I've been on, this one stood out with a longer ride and three fun bar stops where we got to enjoy drinks! Alex was truly the highlight of the night. He's not only a fantastic guide, but also incredibly kind, personable, and genuinely fun to hang out with. He stayed with us at every stop and made the entire experience feel personal and unforgettable. This was, hands down, the best party bus I've ever done, and the perfect activity to celebrate my bestie's bachelorette party. We had an absolute blast and I would 100% do it again. Thank you, LuAnn and Alex!

We had such a great time with Rhonda and Neal. Safe fun pub crawl with great music and full cooler…read morewith ice in back to hold our drinks and snacks . Can't wait to come back !

We hired Lali's Loft for faux centerpieces. This was a LIFESAVER for us. Her pricing is great and…read moreshe was super flexible with our vision. We also rented other various decor from her. Would recommend to anyone!

Janet was so much more than what we thought we needed for our day of coordinator. We did the…read moremajority of our decor through her as well and it came out absolutely lovely. Janet's industry experience helped us make smart decisions for our wedding and her connections helped us pick phenomenal vendors!

Terry and Sarah shot both our engagement and wedding and we had a wonderful experience for both!…read more It was raining off and on the day of the engagement photos and they were very flexible with us, but luckily it ended up clearing up and we were able to do the shoot. They made us feel very comfortable right away and took a variety of pictures. We ended up going out for a drink after and had so much fun just chatting away with them! On our wedding day, Sarah came to where I was getting ready and Terry went to shoot the groom and his party. Right away I was excited to see her and she took lots of great pictures of all of the details, such as my bouquet, hair, jewelry, shoes, etc. The pictures of the ceremony are beautiful and they got every angle, even capturing the rainbow we had that day! Sadly, it started pouring about 10 minutes after the ceremony, so we had to finish the pictures inside. Even though they all are amazing, we were sad that we did not get as many outdoor/beach pictures as we wanted (obviously not their fault). But, they were able to get SO many great pictures of the speeches, table settings, food, dancing and lots of action shots. They also offered to let us put our wedding attire back on the next day or pick another weekend to do that and get our beach pictures. Even though it was so nice of them to offer this, we felt like we would always know that wasn't our actual wedding day and opted to get our beach pictures during our honeymoon in Hawaii (see my profile for a review of an another amazing photographer!). We would definitely recommend Terry & Sarah to anyone!

From the owner: We are a husband and wife photography team, and we love what we do!…read more Sarah grew up on the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina, in Kitty Hawk, and Terry re-located to the Outer Banks in 2004. We met in 2006, married in 2007, and proceeded to move to Florida. We spent just over 4 years in Florida, during which Terry decided to take his love for photography to the next level. He started Terry Kyle Photography and had a blast working with clients and learning new skills. After tagging along as a second shooter for a wedding, Sarah took the best photo of the day and was hooked! When we decided to move back to the Outer Banks in early 2012 we decided it was time for a name change. We then launched Terry & Sarah Photography and we love capturing photos for both portrait and wedding photography back on our beautiful OBX! We take great pride in our work, always striving to improve ourselves while making our clients happy. And we love a little friendly competition between ourselves to see

Amazing time. Truly an experience you don't want to miss out on. Communication was fantastic and…read moreeverything was delightful

From the owner: An OBX pop up picnic is an elegant, high-end experience whether it be on our picturesque beaches…read moreor on the soundside to catch a sunset. The experience features a beautifully decorated picnic area with luxurious furnishings, candles, flowers, and fairy lights to create a warm and romantic atmosphere. The location for the luxury picnic can be customized according to your preference, and may include a secluded spot on the beach or a scenic lookout with a beautiful view of the ocean. To add an extra touch of luxury, we offer many add on options to suit your every need, ensuring that the experience is luxurious and stress-free The OBX luxury pop up picnic experience is a unique and unforgettable way to celebrate a special occasion or create a cherished memory with a loved one, friends, or family.

I assisted Jennifer Diane with set up and day of coordination for wedding back in 2024. We were the…read moreonly two people from the company on site for the day but all aspects of the wedding were handled in a discreet and timely manner. Jennifer Diane did all florals on her own in addition to making sure the bridal party had what they needed. I helped set up reception tables and did whatever else I was told. There were a few setbacks from the day that we would have never seen coming, as happens with wedding days usually. Though we weren't provided enough cheese cloths for the tables, you would have never known due to the creative thinking of the team and the beautiful set up of the reception. Catering also delivered the bridal party's lunch to the wrong place but Jennifer Diane used her interpersonal skills, kind demeanor and confident authority to make sure no bridesmaid, nor groomsman walked down the aisle hungry. While the DJ worked out sound issues at this outdoor vendor, Jennifer Diane kept the bridal party in place and ready to go while also communicating with attendees in a calm and professional manner. Though any wedding day has its hiccups, Jennifer Diane is the one to handle those hiccups and allow brides and grooms to enjoy their day with little stress over the little things. Jennifer Diane is a joy to be around and even though I was working, I had a fun day - and I know the bride and groom did too! I'd work with Jennifer Diane again in a heartbeat and I recommend you do too!

Jennifer was our daughter's wedding planner. From the beginning planning stages to the end result,…read morethe wedding, she was absolutely amazing. I do not think we could have gotten through it all without her professionalism and dedication. She told us to let her handle things so we could just enjoy the day, and that was the best advice ever. Katie's wedding day was all the things she had wished for and I give credit to Jennifer for that. I recommend her 100% to anyone planning a wedding in the Outer Banks.