InTouch with Southern Kentucky February 2020 | Page 15

Sometimes, people only want
Salmons to do the cake with no
additional catering, and sometimes
people ask to Dobbs to do the meal
with plans to do the wedding cake
themselves. It all depends on what
the wedding party asks for, she said.
Dobbs offers a full-service cater-
ing, including both the cooking and
serving of the meal, and the cake
if asked for, as well as bringing in a
punch fountain and other serving
devices.
Folks don’t have to pay for all
that, however. In fact, it is possible
to simply order the food and not
bring in anyone from the outside to
serve it.
“I’ve not seen a lot, but I have
done weddings where you drop it
off, ... but most people want the ser-
vices. I hear people say, ‘I can’t en-
joy the wedding if I’m worried about
this and that.’ People nowadays, I
find, are going more to having it all
done.
“Then, you rent a venue, and
nowadays all the decorations come
with it. You bring your flowers and
that’s pretty much all you have to
do,” Dobbs said.
“All they have to do is get their
dress, get their venue and get their
food, and then they don’t have to do
a whole lot but get ready and focus
on the preparation.”
Patterson, as the owner of a ven-
ue, agrees that they try to include
as much as possible to keep it as
stress-free for the wedding party as
possible.
They allow the family as much
time as possible to come in and
decorate for the event. Plus, he
(and Dobbs mentions this as
well) has a list on hand of other
local people and businesses they
have worked with over the years
in case the bride or groom needs
suggestions of where to get flow-
ers, decorations, a caterer or
even a DJ.
One of the advantages in
renting a venue is to be able
to host a lot of people – guests
and party included – while
having minimal clean-up
afterward or not hav-
ing to worry about last
minute preparation for
F ebruary 2020
the ceremony.
When asked what brings people
to Cave Hill in particular, Patterson
said, “I ask people that, and the
answers I get are that we can fit the
entire party into one space.”
Another advantage, as Patterson
points out, is that many venues that
offer an outdoor space have a back-
up indoor area in case the weather
decides not to cooperate.
“Having a plan B is very import-
ant, especially because of the unpre-
dictable Kentucky weather,” he said.
Venues also offer special areas for
the bride and groom to get ready. At
Cave Hill, that means having a Brid-
al House that can accommodate the
bride and also have plenty of space
for a large number of bridesmaids
to get ready.
Being a vineyard, Cave Hill’s
primary business is operating as a
winery. Having that wine on hand,
however, can be a big bonus for
wedding parties who want to serve
alcohol.
They can also provide beer by
buying it through local distributors.
Dobbs said that, as a caterer, she
herself isn’t licensed to buy or bring
alcohol to
a venue. If, how-
ever,
the
wedding is held at a place that al-
lows for the serving of alcohol, or if
the wedding party itself provides it,
then she is able to find servers who
can dispense it during the dinner.
Most of the time, weddings are
planned around decorations, and
most people go for using fresh or
live flowers. It is not unheard of to
go with silk flowers instead, and
Carol Wesley of Carol’s Creations
explains why.
“Just about every one they’ve
done, they’ve kept their bouquets,”
she said. Some brides want to use
part of the bouquet and the groom’s
boutonniere as part of a memory
box to display in their home.
“What we’ll do, since the bride
wants to keep their bouquet, we will
fix another little smaller bouquet for
them to throw,” she said.
Carol works only in silk flowers,
and, because of that, she said she
doesn’t do as many weddings as a
live-flower florist. She has done a
few, though, and knows how much
work goes into finding the right
flower combination.
Carol’s daughter-in-law Missy Wes-
ley assists Carol in her business,
and she said the first step when
choosing flowers is to decide on a
color theme.
Carol said that many times, brides
won’t realize there is a difference in
the shades of flowers, and want to
use flower combinations that clash,
so one of their jobs is to make sure
the bride knows exactly which com-
bination of flowers to use.
The business has made arrange-
ments for weddings that includes
the decorations around the venue,
the centerpieces for tables at the re-
ception, and even using silk flowers
as part of the cake.
One unique idea that they have
put together for a couple of wed-
dings is a Remembrance Table, a
space with candles and greenery
that includes pictures of loved
ones who have passed away
before the event.
“Somebody who has
passed away who is
very special to them,
like a grandparent.
It’s just a way of hav-
ing them there and
showing them they
are in the family,”
Carol Wesley said.
I n T ouch with S outhern K entucky • 15