Wedding DJ at Kitty Hawk Pier House in Kitty Hawk, NC

The Space

This venue started life in 1953 as one of only three piers built along the Outer Banks, and for a stretch of its early years it was the northernmost pier on the Carolina coastline. That run as a working fishing pier ended abruptly in 2003, when Hurricane Isabel came through with winds near 160 miles an hour and a storm surge of about ten feet, damage severe enough that the structure needed a full rebuild. The Hilton Garden Inn bought the property in 2006 and rebuilt it.

The rebuilt Pier House reopened in 2008, repurposed as a wedding and event venue rather than restored simply as a fishing pier, though the pier itself stayed open to the public for fishing outside of event hours. At 245 feet long, it extends well out over the Atlantic, which is the whole draw here: a ceremony or reception on this structure sits directly over open water rather than just facing it from the beach. It now stands as the second oldest coastal pier still standing in North Carolina.

Capacity & Layout

Because the venue is a pier rather than a banquet hall, layout here is dictated by the structure itself: a long, narrow footprint running straight out into the ocean, with the Pier House building anchoring one end. That shape suggests a ceremony staged along the length of the pier facing the water, or a reception set up closer to the Pier House structure where there is more usable width for tables, a bar, and space for guests to move around.

The pier remains open to the public for fishing between 8am and 10pm outside of booked events, worth knowing when picking a ceremony time, since a private event needs its own window separate from that public access. The bridal suite is included in the site fee rather than an add-on, which simplifies budgeting for wedding-day prep space, and the venue is wheelchair accessible, an important detail for a structure built out over open water on pilings.

Amenities

The included bridal suite gives the wedding party a dedicated space to get ready without needing a hotel room booked separately, and since the Pier House sits adjacent to the Hilton Garden Inn Outer Banks Kitty Hawk, out-of-town guests have lodging within easy reach. We have worked an event on this pier and can speak to how directly the ocean setting shapes the day, from the light at golden hour to the sound of waves underneath the reception.

Wheelchair accessibility matters more here than at a typical venue, since the structure is a pier rather than solid ground, and knowing that route is clear ahead of time takes one more question off the table for guests who need it. Beyond the physical amenities, the venue’s real asset is the setting itself: open ocean on three sides, real history behind it, and a backdrop that does not need florals or draping added to feel like an occasion.

Location & Getting There

The Pier House sits at the edge of Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk on the Outer Banks, a stretch of coast where the pier has stood, in one form or another, since 1953. Guests traveling for this wedding are coming to a barrier island destination, so most will arrive from off island and stay nearby for the weekend rather than driving in same day, worth factoring into transportation and timing.

Because the event space sits out over open water with no walls to speak of, sound behaves differently here than in an enclosed room: it disperses over the ocean rather than reflecting back, so a DJ setup needs speakers aimed toward the guest area rather than relying on natural reflection off nearby surfaces, and wind off the Atlantic is a real factor in how music carries across an outdoor pier reception.