Wedding Planning in Lincoln – August 2021

Wedding season is in full swing, and after the whirlwind year that was 2020, countless soon-to-be married couples are eager to be planning their big day without limitations. For many, having to push back a wedding date only adds more pressure to the special day, and with so many weddings occurring now that restrictions are being lifted, wedding planning can be an especially stressful time right now. Thankfully, there are experts in every sector of what makes a wedding that are here to help you create your perfect day. We spoke to several professionals in Lincoln on how their business can support you in bringing your dream wedding to life.

Finding a Dress

One of the most exciting parts of the wedding planning process, finding the perfect dress to walk down the aisle in can also be an intimidating task with so many options to choose from. Emmy Gorman with Blush Bridal (blushbridalne.com) knows how important it is to brides to have the dress of their dreams, which is why her business has curated its own customizable collection.

“We offer Nebraska’s most customizable gown shopping experience,” Gorman explained. “We have our own private collection that we recently launched called Sweet Nothings by Blush Bridal.

These gowns are created by us, and exclusively sold in our store. We customize 80% of our gowns for our brides, and we love that we can offer this to them!”
In addition to their own unique collection, Blush Bridal also assists brides by hosting their own events, such as Sip & See, where a variety of wedding vendors are available to offer their services to brides.

“Not only do we sell bridal gowns and accessories, but we also host many events throughout the year,” Gorman said. “We host Sip & See events every quarter for newly engaged brides who want to see what Blush Bridal is all about. They can browse our collections while meeting various wedding vendors who set up throughout the store. These events are helpful for brides to know where to start with wedding planning.”

Gorman knows that shopping for a wedding dress is more than just the dress – it’s about the time spent with your closest friends and family.

“We believe that gown shopping is not only about buying a dress,” Gorman said. “For us, it is about the experience. It is a very special time when you are planning a wedding, and gown shopping should be no different. We are honored to be a part of our brides’ love stories. Our relationship with brides starts before they even come to our store, and many times our stylists become friends with their brides!”

For an intimate and customizable wedding gown shopping experience, visit Emmy Gorman and her team at Blush Bridal.

Choosing a Venue

Justin Fuchs with Robber’s Cave (robberscavelincoln.com) says that their three unique spaces between two levels offer flexibility and the opportunity to experience different locations and feeling throughout the evening.

“We offer an outdoor ceremony location in the Dakota Theater that can hold up to 400 people. Weddings will have their ceremony outside in the theater, move into a cocktail hour on the main level, and then head to our main ballroom for dinner. Moving your guests through the building keeps things fresh and creates unique experiences,” Fuchs explained. The distinctive features of the venue don’t end there. “The most unique part of Robber’s Cave is the actual cave beneath our event space. Wedding parties are able to take spectacular photos in the cave as well as offer tours to their guests. This again creates an experience unlike any other venue in the Midwest. When was the last time you went to a wedding and were offered a tour of a historic cave from 1864?”

Renting your venue from Fuchs is an entertaining and beneficial experience. Fuchs says he enjoys watching people be creative and come up with ideas that represent their likes and interests. He relishes the opportunity to help couples create their special day while also finding ways to think outside the box. An example of this is the change in wedding trends that he has been seeing, with many brides and grooms opting to not follow tradition and instead go a more creative route in order to combat the challenges they’ve faced from COVID-19 causing an overflow of booked venues.

“Some of the best are a more ‘come-and-go’ style of reception rather than a traditional sit down event and dinner. This creates a more party-like atmosphere and everyone is able to just enjoy the company and have fun. With the use of indoor and outdoor space, it has been a refreshing change,” says Fuchs.

Weddings are often taking between a year and a year and a half to plan due to COVID-19 pushback, while many are planning faster than ever before. Fuchs says that couples that may have been waiting to host their weddings are choosing to pull the trigger as soon as a venue is open and plan quickly. With so many brides either rescheduling their big day or booking as soon as their favorite venue opens back up, it has created an incredibly hectic year for weddings. Many who had the time to ponder on that decision before may not have the luxury now, Fuchs says. However, Robber’s Cave is available for those who are still looking for that perfect, unique venue.

“Robber’s Cave assists and can accommodate every type of event, from weddings to bridal parties to rehearsal dinners. With a mix-use space of both interior and exterior seating, Robber’s Cave offers a unique perspective on event layout and planning. People who first tour Robber’s Cave may have an idea of what they are looking for, but after seeing the space and the opportunities it can accommodate, they tend to shift their event into something more unique and creative than once originally thought,” Fuchs says. Robber’s Cave holds opportunities for the bride and groom who want to try something different and change scenery throughout the evening to keep their guests entertained and engaged while celebrating their special moment.

If you are having moments during your wedding planning where you wish you could purchase everything in one package deal, it’s been made possible. To help you take some stress off of yourself for the big day in the 2022 wedding season, the Talon Room has created the preferred vendor wedding package. Working together with other local vendors, this includes venue rental, bar staff, a catered two-entrée dinner buffet, wedding décor, DJ service, photo booth, engagement and wedding day photography, flowers, and more. If you’re not looking for the entire package, the Talon Room also offers catering for food and beverages. Their team is available to help you with your wedding day needs so that you can enjoy your day with family, friends, and your new spouse.

What’s for Dinner?

With many weddings being postponed due to the pandemic, some caterers are recommending that brides and grooms book early to ensure that they will be served only the best food on their special day. Laurie Fraser with Doorstep Diner Catering (doorstepdiner.com) says that she receives new inquiries daily, and because many brides have had an additional year to save after postponing their weddings, they are going all out on the catering for their receptions, keeping her business very busy.

“We are also seeing a trend towards full service versus food being dropped off,” Fraser explained. “Doorstep Diner Catering is a full-service caterer that offers a contactless buffet. In fact, we’ve offered it since 2015, so when COVID-19 hit and caterers were required to provide this service, our staff was ready to go. We are there to provide an amazing experience, serve fantastic food, and assist in any way we can to make it a perfect day.”

When a bride books her reception with Doorstep Diner Catering, they offer their event space at no cost for anything related to the wedding. This can be for a bridal shower, gift opening, or rehearsal dinner. The business is also Lincoln’s only thematic caterer, staging their buffet in the wedding colors for a seamless visual experience. Fraser spoke about an upcoming tropical-themed wedding that her business will be catering at, and that their wardrobe doesn’t stop there.

“We have an upcoming wedding with a tropical theme and the buffet line will be staged with tropical flowers, runners, and shells. Our staff will be in Hawaiian shirts and tropical dresses. Did I mention we wear dresses? We do! Your experience and the experience of your guests is incredibly important, and we take it seriously and dress up for our brides. We’ve served Rockabilly, Great Gatsby, 1950s, and other themed weddings, and we love when brides think outside the box and let us have fun with their menu!”

Because her business is always booked for weddings, Fraser is able to easily keep up on the latest wedding trends. She says weddings as of late include plenty of gold, wood, eucalyptus, and hexagonal shapes for decoration. Bohemian themes are also a popular choice for many brides. Fraser says that while brides are influenced by these current trends found in magazines and online sources, they are also deviating from these ideas to find a look that is purely their own.

Doorstep Diner Catering knows that though there are other factors in hosting the perfect wedding, they want their performance to exceed the bride and groom’s expectations. Fraser and her team use their experience and knowledge to advise the bride when planning out the reception dinner and work to build a relationship with their clients.

“At Doorstep Diner Catering, we tell brides that their life is a book, their wedding is a chapter, and though we are but one paragraph on a page, we want to make sure that paragraph is well written,” Fraser explained. “We take the stress out of planning. When a former teacher becomes a caterer, we use that background to educate brides on common mistakes, things overlooked, and best practices to help them in their planning process. We love working with them from start to finish, and we end every event with a selfie! We build partnerships and use our expertise to answer any and all questions, even about flowers, cakes, DJs, and more to help them navigate planning an event in which they may not have experience. Watching them enter the reception, cut their cake, eat our amazing food, and have their first dance…we get to be there from the beginning and it’s amazing to see both the event pull together and the smiles!”

The Best of Both Worlds

Some wedding venues in Lincoln also include their own catering service, allowing you to mark two things off your wedding planning list at once. Venue Catering & Events of the PILLAR Restaurant Group (prgnebraska.com/shop) offers brides and grooms unique locations of different sizes and spaces. With options ranging from modern to historic, and ballrooms built in the 1900s that are listed on the national register of historic places, Venue Catering & Events (yourvenue.net/catering) has anything you could desire for your wedding ceremony and reception. They also have an experienced team available to help you plan each detail of your big day.

“Our uniqueness in the industry is three-fold: our team’s years of industry experience, the uniqueness of our ballrooms, and our commitment to staying on top of the trends,” says Lisa Petersen, event coordinator for Venue Catering & Events. “Our Venue planning team has a combined 50+ years of experience helping couples plan every detail of their wedding day. This experience level helps to provide couples and their families with what they want most—peace of mind. Peace of mind that every detail is going to be taken care of. We want couples to enjoy their beautiful day.”

When customizing your wedding with the PILLAR Restaurant Group, it doesn’t stop at the venue. With catering available that offers a variety of entrees for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including casseroles, build-your-own bars, and home-made desserts, Venue Catering & Events can fulfill the desires of every guest’s taste buds. Even if you don’t see something you are looking for within their seemingly-endless menu options, their talented chefs will do their best to create menus that suit your needs and cravings. Furthermore, the gluten-free certified establishment understands that some of your guests may have dietary restrictions, so they are available to accommodate to the best of their ability with ample notice. If you are looking for a variety of options of delicious food to adorn the tables at your reception, Venue Catering & Events is the place you’re searching for.

Sweet Treats

When great food is available, everyone wants to fill their plate a little extra – but make sure you save room for dessert! Your wedding cake is perhaps the most important centerpiece at your reception, so choosing the right bakery is crucial. Nothing Bundt Cakes (nothingbundtcakes.com/bakery/NE/lincoln) can satisfy both that after-dinner sweet tooth craving, as well as the look of a beautiful wedding cake. Offering 8” and 10” bundt cakes, as well as a combination of the two to create a tiered cake, Nothing Bundt Cakes will give you the perfect cake to cut into with your spouse. They also offer Bundtinis®, or bite-sized bundt cakes, by the dozen for your guests. Several different flavors are available among the classic vanilla and chocolate, including red velvet, white chocolate raspberry, and pecan praline, as well as two different icing options. For the perfect cake that everyone is going to be talking about long after your wedding, Nothing Bundt Cakes is the bakery for you.

Looking to ask your closest friends to be a part of your special event through a gift? Or perhaps you want to prepare for your big day with a hot cup of tea or coffee. The Chocolate Season (TCS) can meet these wants through their handcrafted selections of espresso, tea, or chocolate drinks, or choose gifts from a multitude of chocolate confections and desserts all made in-house. They offer everything you need to satisfy your chocolate craving, including customizable gift boxes and artisan chocolates. TCS loves offering treats for any age group, including GF puppy chow, rocky road popcorn, edible cookie dough, glacé oranges and chocolate-covered strawberries or specialized desserts. Looking for something salty to balance out the sweet? TCS crafts their signature caramel corn and loves making chocolate-covered potato chips, as well as a specifically designed “Sweet n’ Salty” gift box or bacon toffee and chocolate pretzels. Needing a space for a bridal shower or brunch for gift-opening after the wedding? You can rent out their whimsical space for any occasion or just have a girls’ day at one of their infamous Waffle Weekends. You can even “bring the party to you” by renting their Coffee and Treats Truck, BonBon, for your reception or family pre or post party.

Don’t Forget Your Wellness

Everyone wants to be at their best when they’re standing at the altar, but staying on top of exercise and healthy eating can be difficult, especially when your mind is occupied with wedding planning. LIVE Hydration Spa Lenox (livehydrationspa.com) is available to support you in feeling confident on your wedding day by helping you stay on track with your fitness routine through the use of IV therapy.

“We can help people achieve their health goals in the months leading up to the wedding so that they are looking and feeling their best on the big day!” says Mandy Brummels of LIVE Hydration Spa Lenox. IV therapy doesn’t just stop at the idea of reaching fitness goals, however. “We have IV treatments to support beauty, energy, weight loss, and other wellness goals,” she explained. They have packages available for nearly whatever you are looking to achieve, including improved skin health, stronger athletic performance, less stress, or an immune system boost. They even have a package available for those bridal parties who had a little too much fun on their last night out.

“We also help with recovery and hydration after the events, such as bachelor/bachelorette parties, after the reception, and so on. Our team can come to the location to provide services to make it even more convenient for small groups!” says Brummels. IV therapy is a great and easy way to boost your energy and feel your best. The team at LIVE Hydration Spa Lenox is here to help you feel the most confident leading up to and on your wedding day.

It’s no secret that wedding preparation can cause quite a bit of stress, and sometimes the best way to handle it is through a relaxing massage. Massages are proven to reduce muscle tension, stress hormones, and anxiety while also improving circulation, skin tone, and alertness. If you need to take some time off of wedding planning to unwind and recharge, or just enjoy a day with your closest friends, 5 Elements Massage & Spa (5elementsne.com) is at your service. We spoke to owner Erin McLenon about how her business can help you relax for your big day.

“Relaxing before the big event is very important to most people,” McLenon said. “Finding ways to do that varies on the crowd. Massages can help clear the head of any “fog brain” that people get when over worked, anxious, or tired. A massage could be a type of meditation, where before you get on the table, your mind is running wild with all sorts of things! However, once you lay down and the therapist starts the soothing movement of a massage…things start to slow down and eventually turn off.”
In order to take advantage of this service for your wedding, you should ensure that you are booking early. McLenon says that early reservation is important to allow for enough preparation on their own side for your wedding day.

“The sooner you can look into the future with any plans, whether it be a spa day for the bride or groom, or a bachelorette party, the better,” McLenon explained. “Just making sure that the location of your choice will have the room for staff makes things so much easier for the planners. I know from experience as a business owner that even if you look a month in advance, you might not be able to combine enough therapists together because someone thought further in advance before you. So depending on what you want in your wedding, reserve as soon as you can. Changing dates is easy to do later if it’s far enough ahead.”

McLenon wants to make the bride and groom’s time with her business not only relaxing, but memorable.

“If I were to know ahead of time that a party is wanting to book for a function, I would be more than delighted to set up a theme for them,” McLenon said. “I love going out of my way to make it that much better, if I know of the colors being used in the wedding party, or can offer trays of food or drinks to make everyone feel special or included.”
Arrange ahead of time to relax and de-stress on your wedding day by booking an appointment with Erin McLenon and her team. Whatever you are looking for to help you feel ready to walk down the aisle, 5 Elements Massage can help you prepare.

There can be a lot of pressure put on planning a wedding, but that’s why Lincoln has professionals who can help you create your perfect day. We recommend these experts to support you with any and all of your needs for your wedding as your start your new life with your spouse!