u/Nikkers1416

My fiance and I are eloping in OBX in early August with just an officiant and photographer. We're super excited, but haven't nailed down the exact location yet. We've been strongly considering Jockey's Ridge since the pictures I'm seeing online are super impressive, especially at sunset. But I'm wondering if it's a viable spot.

It doesn't seem like we need an event permit since it's just 4 people total. I'm mainly concerned about heat and the walk. I guess my main questions are:

- It's not right on the beach, so does it just stay terribly hot all day, even at 7-7:30pm?

- Similarly, does the sand stay scorching hot by that time? Would barefoot be out of the question?

- I'm seeing differing opinions about how long and arduous of a walk it is from the parking lot, is that worth considering?

- It seems pretty large and I've never personally been there. If we do end up sticking with this plan, are there any portions of the park that would be best for sunset views/colors and dramatic dune shots?

If it's unwise, we'll probably just find a random spot on the beach around Nags Head/Kitt Hawk instead.

My fiance and I have been planning our honeymoon, but are falling into the pitfalls of overthinking.

We're generally very chill people who'd like to spend the trip exploring cities at a leisurely pace, soaking in history, architecture, and good food. We'd like to spend about 16 days across three cities with day trips sprinkled in. Additionally, we'd love to catch a local football match and figure if we manage to be in a city each weekend, it gives us a fighting chance.

With trying to avoid peak tourist season (+ major heat) and my fiance's work commitments later in the fall, we've landed on September. We're thinking of doing:

Sept 4-8th: Lisbon or Madrid (open to suggestions here!) > 9-14th: Seville > 15-19th: Barcelona

I'd love anyone's thoughts on:

Heat: Spain is known for getting hot, but might it still be bad during this time? For context, we're coming from a US city that's not so affectionately called The Swamp (iykyk). We're used to 35+°C in the summer with 70% humidity. I just walked to pick up some food at 21:30 and it felt downright pleasant at 28.3°C. Unfortunately, the international break for La Liga falls on the weekend of the 26th so that's making us hesitant to push the trip out a week.

Bienal de Flamenco in Seville: This could actually be happy timing (even if hotels are a bit more expensive). But with this festival starting on the day we were planning to get there, will that end up being frustrating? I'd love to watch some flamenco, but will access to parts of the city shut down? Museums change hours? Anything to keep in mind?

​

Appreciate any advice folks can share!

​