I got a call from a fellow at Sandbridge Realty today, regarding my recent blog entry about my bad experience with them. (You can read more about the attention that blog entry has received.) He apologized for the whole situation and assured me that this was an isolated incident. He was friendly, and it was nice of him to call. At his request, I’ve redacted some of the personal attacks that some folks made in the comments, which I think is wholly reasonable.
As we’ve found in our house hunt, it’s surprising how many places don’t allow weddings.
Geez, do you need a law protecting heterosexual weddings?
That’s what I wanna know. If were gay, I totally could have said “no, we’re not getting married,” which would have been true. Hetero discrimination rears its ugly head again. ;)
My wife and I had a similar experience trying to find a house where we could have our wedding and reception in the Outer Banks. After about 8 rejections due to agency/homeowner fear of weddings, we just had it in the Valley.
So what’s the deal with the alleged “industry” of beach weddings? Isn’t there a magazine dedicated to the subject? It feels like you’re trying to re-invent the wheel, when this should be fairly easy.
All I want to know is whether I can look forward to receiving a wedding invitation?
So what’s the deal with the alleged “industry” of beach weddings?
Well, the mega-agency that we’re working with in the Outer Banks has a whole list of houses that you can have weddings at. It’s not the big list that I’d expect for a place that rents so many hundreds of houses, but it’s a mess of ’em.
Still, I thought it was quite a bit bigger an industry.
All I want to know is whether I can look forward to receiving a wedding invitation?
:) ‘Fraid not, John — it’ll be a tiny wedding, without many guests. You can see the post-wedding photo album, though, and attend vicariously, after the fact. :)
I’m glad that things were cordial. In my experience, having been married last year, there is a sort of wedding tax on certain items. I spoke with a caterer who literally pulled a price list out of my hands to give me another sheet with the wedding rate. Many of the items were identical, but the price was higher for a wedding. Needless to say, I didn’t do business with this group.
The place may have had a separate wedding rate. It was easier to get mad and hostile than to quote a new price. On one hand I can understand a little anxiety about renting a property for a wedding. Multitudes of people imbibing through the night would put any home owner on edge.
If we don’t chat before then, have a fantastic wedding!
Waldo, have these rental agencies given you their reasoning for banning weddings? I spent some time at Duck a few years back, and the houses full of college students seemed like way more of a “liability” than a small wedding party. What gives?
(And, hey, what happened to the real-time comment preview thingy?)
John: I’m not sure Waldo’s being truthful. I saw him handing out fliers on the Corner the other day that said “Come to my wedding! Free booze!”
Waldo, have these rental agencies given you their reasoning for banning weddings?
“Owner preference.” Many of these agencies also require that houses be rented by family units — groups of frat brothers are prohibited.
And, hey, what happened to the real-time comment preview thingy?
It’s the same reason that this page looks like hell — a template problem that I haven’t caught my breath long enough to debug.
> so require that houses be rented by family units
wouldn’t the marriage thing qualify you as a “family unit” ?
or would you have to have kids first, too?
I think we’d be in good shape on the family thing, James. :)