Wedding Blog
Mr. Potato Head & I love a beach house. It is my dream to live, year-round, in a wee coastal cottage. If I were Robert Frost, I would say, “Something there is that doesn’t love a beach house.” Or something like that.
I love the colors, once-bright walls faded by the salt and sun. I love the smell of a beach house, like seaweed and ocean. I love the light-hearted design, the open space, the short walk to the beach, the flip flops kicked off in the entryway, morning coffee sipped on decks; even the sound of seagulls, I love. I love the mood evoked from a beach house, cheery on a sunny day, cozy and quiet when it’s cloudy. Easy, breezy, lazy, fun.
If we could, we’d have the wedding at a beach house. We even considered for the briefest of instants, having it at my parents’ seaside cottage. Except that it posed many problems, namely: parking, toilets, lack of space, wind.
Okay. So the next best thing… let’s get married in a beachy town and rent a beach house for our wedding weekend!
One night, we shut off the telly and put our Macs on our laps, ate pizza, and searched for house rentals.
Through some innate skill set he must possess, Mr. Potato Head is uncommonly good at scouting house rentals. I mainly looked over his shoulder and typed addresses into Google Maps, to calculate the distance between our reception venue and potential rental houses.
I gotta say, the beach house idea was the galvanizing force behind our planning. I began to “see” our day, to have a “vision”. It began to come together: chillaxed, fun, breezy, beachy. It’s funny that it took a little beach house for me to get really amped for the wedding weekend. But it did, and I was off and running. I even booked an appointment with a florist.
So I have to know: if you were a reluctant wedding planner, what did it take for you to get excited about the planning?
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I think our color palette is what pulled it together for us — that and fine-tuning the menu. “Late summer” sounds kinda bland, but thinking of it in terms of bright orange, deep purple, vibrant red and shocking green — plus a slew of local produce and the freshest pork and cod — definitely got me in the wedding-planning spirit while it was still winter coat weather!
I love the RI coast. We used to visit our friends’ house in Little Compton on weekends in the summer. For us, our plan of having our wedding in a certain garden in Bar Harbor Maine jump-started the wedding planning and helped us put together our vision. Everything about our wedding is inspired by a New England garden in the summer. Is it funny that now we’re not even getting married in that garden afterall?
We are actually renting a beach house. Our ceremony is going to take place right outside on the beach and our reception will be at the house!
We’re also considering renting a beach house for the week in RI, although we’ve gone back and forth because all of our guests are out of town and will be together in the hotel, so we aren’t sure if we want a beach house or to stay with everyone else. I just love the idea of staying in a beach house though. I’m so torn!
What sites have you used to find rentals in RI?
Awesome idea! I was excited the minute I began looking at the wedding magazines and the wheels began turnin’ :-0
@Newport Nuptials: There is a place called Durkin Cottages that has a lot of houses in the Narragansett area.
A beachy wedding is an awesome idea! 
I think that sounds great!
@skibobrown: Haha, well at least it was an impetus to get you started!
@Mrs. Bruschetta: So nicely put! I am so not looking forward to winter coat weather! Will have to think lovely beachy thoughts to get me through.
We live in DC, but I spent my summers on Cape Cod as a kid, so I looove New England. My fiance’s family has a house in Little Compton and it is so relaxing. When we first got engaged, I was secretly hoping we could get married up there, but that didn’t pan out. I am so excited to see how your planning goes, and live vicariously through you!!
oooh, i just saw a post somewhere, i think smp, that said the bride and groom found their venue from vrbo.com! i never would have thought of that option
I almost wanted decided to do our wedding in Seagrove (right next to Seaside), where my parents have a beach-front house. We were going to ‘borrow’ all of the houses in the neighborhood and have like a wedding compound. Sadly, I think that I’d be way too nervous about weather, etc. Not to mention not as many people would be able to attend the wedding.
Once we had our venue our vision really came together too! We needed our backdrop you know?
That sounds so romantic and dreamy. Perfect for a wedding!
Um, I’ve always wanted to move to the beach, but after reading your poetic description of a beach house - now i MUST move to the beach.
I was slow to start as well…and to be honest, I can’t remember right this minute what it was that pushed my bootie into gear…we got engaged right before new software rolled out at our work, and I was the one person in charge of it for our region.
So he asked in December…I didn’t book anything until the end of January. But once we booked the venue, things got rolling then.
Your guests will love Narragansett and the Towers. Just encourage them to book rooms early in the year as this has become a wedding weekend town in the last few years.
whoops, forgot to answer the question.
I wasn’t that into planning my wedding. I’d go home from college every few weekends to make plans with my mother. I quickly learned that she changed everything we agreed on so I spent less time planning. In the end my mom staged a dream wedding with all the right components in place. Emily Post couldn’t have done a better job orchestrating a 500 person affair. Everyone had a great time. 33 years later the groom and other compontents and I can still laugh about the “Special Event.”
Wow, I feel like I’m going to love your wedding, I feel the same way about beach houses and would love to live in one year round. I had this same idea two weeks ago and looked at a lot of Durkin properties online only to learn that mostly all the rentals were Sat. to Sat. which will not work for our Saturday wedding. Please let me know if you found something else or know something I don’t. Thanks, I can’t wait to hear more!
Hey Chips! I love your posts. I was just married in July. I also grew up in the sea side town next to the sea side town of your upcoming wedding. I now live outside of Boston. Your posts are a ton of fun for me to read. Thank you.
a beach house related or themed wedding would be such a dream! Excited to watch yours come together!
ooo…
you might be my favorite bee yet because your inspiration is close to mine!
Though, I am getting married on the beach. I think my guests can survive 15-25 mins on the beach during our ceremony without having to run to the bathroom, croak over from heat stroke or get burnt to the crisp in the sun. Hehe–though we are having our reception in a quaint little building that only has a view…I was a little considerate 
My dream was the beach so it kind of just fell together once my fiance okay the idea.
@Innkeeper Seely: Thank you! We need to get on that. Finding hotel blocks that didn’t require a 2-night minimum was/is such a challenge.
I’m so excited to see your plans! We dream of getting married on the beach, but it is not to be. We are instead getting married on a lawn overlooking the water in Newport.
We’re planning to do the rehearsal by the beach instead. So I’m also looking for a beach vacation rental. Do you suggest any places or sites where I can look? I tried to look at Durkin Cottages but I couldn’t find any for May 2010 
Cool idea! I love this laid-back vibe you guys are going for.
Sounds like a lovely way to get your wheels turning.
We had a lake wedding and we rented a cabin on the lake for the week so that we could relax and boat before the wedding and hold dinners there for our family and friends coming in. It was such a blast and we totally got to relax.
i just got married and rented a beach house for the weekend. we used vrbo.com to book. my beach house was awesome, it fit up to 20 people and the rental was way cheaper than if we were to rent hotel rooms for everyone. we used it to have our reception dinner there too, another big plus since we saved money having it catered at home.
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Ms. Potato Chips, Boston/Narragansett RI
Age and Occupation: 29, PhD Student
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Personal Trainer/Business Owner/Physical Therapy Assistant
Engagement Date: January 1, 2009
Wedding Date: June 2010
Venue: The Narragansett Towers
About Me: A semi-professional bookworm, if I could be a literary character I’d be a cross between Jo March and Jane Eyre, only better accessorized and much lazier. My hobbies include sleeping in, seasonal brews, running, Trader Joe’s, and watching Unwrapped and Good Eats with Mr. Potato Chips. I harbor an irrational fear of tulle, crafts, things that are fussy, and overuse of the phrase "Your Special Day". After a year or seven together, down the aisle we go, slouching toward adulthood and planning a Rhodie party with equal parts whimsy, cheer, and pizza.
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