Listen to the Podcast About The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines
Podcast Summary
In the latest episode of Eventful Endeavors podcast, Steve Sipes interviewed Rhonda Carrell and Lea Kapherr from The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines, a popular event location in Bryant, Alabama. Initially dabbling in the medical billing business, then antique booth rentals, and finally wedding rentals, the duo’s journey to owning a wedding venue was both unexpected and challenging.
Their endeavors soon led them to expand their wedding rental business, often traveling to other venues, which they likened to setting up movie sets. As the demands of their business grew, they realized the need for their own venue. Friends who owned a feed and seed garden center offered them an opportunity and a location to start their own wedding venue.
Deciding to build from scratch, they secured a parcel of land around 35 minutes from downtown Chattanooga. As a result, The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines came into existence where they welcome guests from various parts of the country including Huntsville, Nashville, Atlanta, and Birmingham, despite being so close to downtown Chatanooga.
The story of The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines highlights the ingenuity and perseverance that Rhonda and Lea brought to reality their shared vision. Their journey exemplifies how a pivot, based on market insights and personal passions, can lead to success. Engaging their guests with the charm of Alabama pines, we anticipate The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines will continue to charm visitors and hold memorable events for years to come.
Learn more about
The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines
This interview was provided by
Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos
Podcast Transcript
Steve (00:25)
Hello everybody, this is Steve. I am an event specialist and performer with Felix and Fingers Dueling Pianos. Today I am your host for this podcast, Eventful Endeavors, and we’ve got some very charming guests today. I’ll let them tell you where they’re from and let them introduce themselves. So ladies, would you like to say hello?
Lea Kapherr (00:46)
Hello, I’m Leah with The Venue at Lilly Lou’s I’m Rhonda and we’re from the area we’re in Bryant, Bryant Alabama.
Steve (00:51)
Awesome.
Yes,
awesome. The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines right? Isn’t that correct? I just want to make sure we get it right. Okay.
Lea Kapherr (00:58)
Yes, that is, yes. Thank you, yes, the pines. Very important because
we are amongst the pines.
Steve (01:05)
All right,
awesome. Well, we’re looking forward to hearing some about your venue and some of your thoughts and everything. Let’s go ahead and do some basic introductions. Tell me a little about yourself and maybe how you got into this and however you want to get us started here today.
Lea Kapherr (01:18)
Okay, I can start off with that if you want me to. So our background was actually originally in the medical billing world. So we actually own a medical billing company. We were the owners and it grew a little bit probably bigger than what we thought it was going to be. And we just decided we were going to sell that and we were actually going to start a like a is it called like a like a booth rental antique booth rental store that did not
bring money and it actually cost us more money. It was fun but we were spending more than we were making so we realized real quick that was not going to work. we then, Rhonda came up with the idea of maybe wedding rental and so we started off as a wedding rental company. We had a 20-foot trailer, a box truck and we just traveled to all these other venues and
Steve (01:55)
Hmm.
Lea Kapherr (02:08)
just started decorating and got really, really busy and realized that was the hardest job of our lives. were, we really needed to be 20 years younger when we started that business and we needed to have a lot more help and.
Steve (02:09)
Mmm.
Wow.
Hmm.
I feel that
way sometimes.
Lea Kapherr (02:26)
Yeah, so
we just decided that we would own our own wedding venue and not go and decorate and travel all over the world decorating and setting up what we felt like was setting up movie sets really. ⁓ It just that’s what we felt like we were doing but so we decided to have our own wedding venue. Our friends of ours owned a feed and seed and garden center and it was actually empty and so we just kind of decided let’s revamp that remodel that and create a wedding venue there and then we
Steve (02:39)
right.
Lea Kapherr (02:55)
found property here we’re about 35 minutes from downtown Chattanooga so we found some property here in Bryant and we decided to build from ground up and that is how we became the Pines.
Steve (03:08)
Awesome. Well, so you say you’re just a just for people who don’t know the area you’re in Bryant It’s about 35 you’re kind of close to everything right, but just outside of everything Okay, so just over the just over the state line there in Alabama up on Sand Mountain Okay
Lea Kapherr (03:15)
Yes. Yes.
Yes. Yes. And we get a lot.
So we tend to pull a lot from like Huntsville, Nashville, Atlanta, Birmingham, Chattanooga, not as many, which is weird because we’re 35 minutes from downtown Chattanooga. So we get, you think?
Steve (03:30)
Hmm.
That’s gonna change. We’re gonna change that. We’re gonna change
that.
Lea Kapherr (03:42)
I think so, I hope so because we
love the Huntsville, the Nashville, the Birmingham, the Atlanta. It’s just so odd that we don’t have a lot of Chattanooga.
Steve (03:51)
Hmm. Well,
your place is amazing and I’d like to hear a little bit more about that. Tell us more about your venue, how getting it started and what the process was like.
Lea Kapherr (04:02)
We just happened upon the property. We actually were supposed to be on the other side of the road and we got the address wrong. And so we found this property and we started kind of… The sign, the for sale sign, was for sale by owner. The property across the street actually was for sale through a realty company. So this was the sign was actually on the ground. It had fallen down and we just walked across the street for some weird reason.
Steve (04:10)
Mmm. funny.
Lea Kapherr (04:32)
and found it laying on the ground. So, yeah, so we kind of walking around and you really can’t see until you go down into, like you know our driveway is really long and until you get down here you don’t see the view. So once we saw that we were like, this is beautiful. Now it’s, we had to start from scratch, like the clearing and all of that. We designed it, we mapped it,
Steve (04:33)
Wow.
Mm. Right.
Lea Kapherr (05:02)
printed out printer paper that was taped together and colored pencils and that’s how we that’s what we took to the bank. We have to frame that. Yeah. We need to frame that. We do. do. Yeah.
Steve (05:07)
Okay.
Yes, that is such a great story. You still have it? Yeah. you should. You should, absolutely. I think that’s great. Well, that’s
such a great story that you weren’t even looking for this property and yet you stumbled upon it. You say somehow, I think it was just meant to be that you found that. That’s great. Really good. Okay, so then you just drew up these plans and…
Everyone was like, yep, that’ll be great. And the bank said, here’s some money. And that was it. Right?
Lea Kapherr (05:40)
Thank
yeah, well kind of sorta.
We originally wanted to be in a different location here on the property. We were supposed to be up on the hill kind of overlooking, but when the guy that was doing our dirt work and dozer work, he was like, I can’t fit everything there. So he kind of helped us find the location that we actually are sitting on, which it turned out great because we do have the tree deck up there now that overlooks.
it worked out. But that’s not exactly how we had it in our minds. ⁓ But at least we got the tree deck. I mean that was a big thing because we really wanted that overlook. ⁓ It’s just that all three buildings would not fit up there.
Steve (06:11)
Right, right, right, right.
Hmm.
Yeah.
Lea Kapherr (06:26)
That’s what happens when you draw it out on printer paper and you don’t have, yeah, you don’t have like a probably an architect or a contractor that, you know, luckily our dozer guy was, he was phenomenal and he was like, okay, ladies, we’re going to have to readjust here. And he actually helped us a lot. Yes, he did.
Steve (06:38)
Yes.
that’s awesome. All right. Well, that’s great. Well, you mentioned tree deck. Tell us a little bit about what you have there on the property. Tell us a little bit about the buildings how you have it arranged and everything.
Lea Kapherr (06:57)
And so we are.
Usually if we start a tour, when you drive in, you come to a large parking lot. It’s the overflow parking lot. So that’s the first thing you see. And then you drive through the gates and come down the hill and we have overnight cottages. That’s usually where the tour starts. We will drive everybody up in the golf cart, let them look at the cottages. Then from there you can come down. The tree deck is next and that does overlook the rest of the buildings. Then we come down, we have candlelight
Pavilion, which is an open pavilion. It has a cover on it. So if it’s rain, that is your rain plan. You know, unless it’s just a really bad storm. Then the middle building is where dressing rooms, kitchen, restrooms, all of that is in the middle. And then the next building over is the conservatory, which is just the clear building and
That’s just the layout of how we have the pond behind us. Plenty of picture area, you know, for those pretty pictures. So, they are in the conservatory now.
Steve (07:55)
Yeah, and you’re in the conservatory now.
So I can see only a little bit behind you, it’s all glass, the building.
Lea Kapherr (08:03)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, the doors, they are like double doors. They can be opened, all of them open up. If it’s pretty weather, that is my recommendation because it’s really just, I love both doors open.
Steve (08:09)
Mmm.
Yes, very nice. Which we have perfect weather sometimes in the spring and fall more often, would you say? Sometimes in the winter, right?
Lea Kapherr (08:22)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Yeah, we have
great actually we’ve had so our November and December weddings were phenomenal. Yeah, we had the best weather and of course we do our conservatory it is so it’s not necessarily glass. It’s a like a clear polycarbonate which keeps it from getting so hot. It’s actually something that when we when we built this structure we were advised to kind of go that route just to try to keep it from getting so hot. But we do have air
Steve (08:31)
awesome.
Okay.
Right.
Lea Kapherr (08:53)
heat and air units in here. So even in the wintertime we’ve had you know it’s been great we summertime now we do ask like if they’re July and August weddings we we like our couples to kind of you know maybe have their ceremony around six o’clock eastern standard time and that way when they get in here it’s nice and cool so that that helps a lot.
Steve (09:15)
Okay. Yeah, that makes perfect sense what you’re describing the material so it’s not just glass. It doesn’t turn into an oven, you know, while you have guests inside. So they don’t actually get baked while they’re there. That sounds great. Yeah, very nice. Okay, so tell me a little bit then why the name Lilly Lou’s? Can we get some background here?
Lea Kapherr (09:22)
Yeah, correct. Correct.
Right.
Yes.
So
yes, that is from our maternal grandmothers. One was Lou Anne and one was Lily Katherine. And so Lou Anne, think they called her, I don’t know if it was Lou Anna, but Lou and then Lily. And so we just decided, hey, what better way to name our business than after our grandmothers who we love dearly. And so that’s how we got the name was Lily Lou. Actually, it came up a little bit differently. I mean, we love
Steve (09:53)
Yeah, nice.
That’s awesome.
Lea Kapherr (10:02)
you know using our grandmother’s name but she actually had a dog name was it Lou? Lou yeah Lou and and so we I don’t know we just we just started thinking Lou and then it just happened.
Steve (10:15)
Okay, okay.
I think that’s important that everyone use a venue that was named after a dog. That’s very important. That’s a really good thing to…
Lea Kapherr (10:21)
Yeah, I don’t know
how we just said we were just talking one day and we were like Lou and then we just come up with Lily Lou from our grandmother so we were kind of Very. And then her granddaughter is also named Lily so yeah it works out.
Steve (10:28)
Yeah, nice.
Yeah, must be a special dog. That’s my guess.
Nice.
Well, that’s awesome. That’s beautiful. So it is all in the family. That’s great to know. Now, I think you mentioned when people first come in, you show them the cottages. Tell us a little bit about, you’ve got some accommodations there for people to stay.
Lea Kapherr (10:47)
on the big thing.
Yes, yeah we have one small that can sleep up to four. It’s the cobblestone. We have the camellia which is Alabama state flower so that’s why it’s camellia. It can sleep up to I believe it’s eight and then timberland sleeps eight as well.
Steve (11:13)
And how important is that, that you have some place where people can stay? And is that something that people would say, that’s a really good thing. I can see why that’s of value. Tell us a little bit about that.
Lea Kapherr (11:26)
So it is great because one, they can have rehearsal dinner here. We have a rehearsal dinner package. So they not only can come to the venue, check in like at two Eastern, one Central. They can enjoy their time, not feel rushed and they can, you know, go get cleaned up, get ready for rehearsal dinner. We do all the work for them. They just have to bring in the food. And then from there, they just relax and enjoy their time. And that’s our main thing because of our background,
Steve (11:53)
Yeah
Lea Kapherr (11:54)
of used to go in and decorating weddings, we were always feeling rushed as decorators. We always felt like we were rushed, you know, getting to the venue, leaving the venue, because a lot of venues, require you to be out by, you know, 11 or 12. And when you’re having to break everything down, load it all up, we just didn’t want that feeling for our couples. We actually wanted them to enjoy the experience and relax.
Steve (12:18)
Right, right.
That sounds amazing. You don’t want them to have to pull up in the truck and do all of that. Now you had another, did you tell me that you had another location before that you were using? And was that something that you built as well?
Lea Kapherr (12:33)
Yes.
No, so the location that we had before, was an existing old retired feed and seed store. And we just, it was a family friend that owned it. And so when we saw it, we liked some of the things that it had on the property. And so we just thought, well, let’s revamp it and make it a venue. And it was a lot of work probably if we had known upfront what we figured out in the end.
Steve (12:44)
Mmm.
Okay.
Yeah
Lea Kapherr (13:02)
not have done it, but it did turn out pretty and we found out a lot with remodel, know.
A lot of times the expense of moving, like maybe water lines, you’re just, you have to just leave them there, you know, and that’s what we had to do. We necessarily didn’t want the prep kitchen where it ended up, but because of the price of moving it and what it would have cost, we just couldn’t. And the restrooms, we ended up having to build the floor up so plumbing could go underneath. So there was a lot of things we had to kind of reimagine to make it work. Whereas here we started from scratch, so we kind of got to do what we
Steve (13:13)
Hmm
⁓
All right.
Lea Kapherr (13:41)
wanted. And we loved that part. But that location, so one thing about it, me, you know, nobody else could see the vision that me and her could see. Number one, we’ve seen something different. It was totally different than what we have been used to decorating. We’ve seen, you know, a place that had a cool silo in the back. It had greenhouses. And at that point in time, nobody that I
Steve (13:41)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Lea Kapherr (14:07)
I had ever heard of was doing weddings in a greenhouse type place. And so we just kind of thought outside of the box. And it’s weird because people, I mean, we did get made fun of. We made the Trenton Village Idiot Facebook page, which was kind of funny to us. But when we sold our last year there, we did 90 weddings. So we were kind of the ones that, you know, hey, we made it work. ⁓
Steve (14:29)
wow.
Yeah
Lea Kapherr (14:33)
And it’s really, it was cute and it was fun to do. But anyway, our husbands even told us no. Our husbands were like, absolutely not. You’re not doing this. But we kind of kept on and on. And we kind of thought, oh, we could do like a working greenhouse, you know. Oh, yes. So keeping plants alive is not one of our things that we do well. So we didn’t do that.
Steve (14:50)
Mmm.
That’s funny. Well, a couple of thoughts
here. It sounds like the two of you, have you always kind of shared a brain even when you were younger? Is that something that’s been a part of your lives?
Lea Kapherr (15:05)
Probably
more in the older. Not younger. We shared a lot of fights. We argued and we fought really bad when we were young. But as we got older, I guess since we started the medical world, in the medical world, she’s a certified coder and I always dealt with insurance. From there, we’ve always just had businesses together starting way back and so it’s worked.
Steve (15:12)
⁓ okay. Okay.
That’s Yeah, that’s great. And obviously
you obviously you work well together.
Lea Kapherr (15:32)
⁓
Yes, I mean I do tell her and she knows it and everybody, I’m probably the bossy one and she’s probably more of, she can take a vision and just create, she’s very creative where I’m probably not as creative as is so it works.
Steve (15:40)
Hmm.
Yeah.
Well, tell me a little bit about that then. What’s kind of your roles? A lot of times when you have a partnership, you know, I’ll do more of this, the other person does more of this. Tell me a little bit about that from each of you. Let’s hear that. Those roles.
Lea Kapherr (16:04)
I think
she is more of the front person. She does better, you know, she will do a lot of the tours. Sometimes I’m there as well, but sometimes I’m not. She’s kind of that front person. I think I do better in the background, you know, doing…
Steve (16:11)
Hmm.
Lea Kapherr (16:21)
I don’t know, I like to decorate, so I enjoy that, but I can assist in the back and do whatever you need, but I kind of will be more out of the spotlight and behind the scenes. But sometimes you’re in the spotlight. Sometimes.
Steve (16:32)
Okay.
Lea Kapherr (16:36)
Sometimes
Steve (16:36)
Okay.
Lea Kapherr (16:37)
she some tours she kind of takes over and and it’s great and it works so I think we have found it works well for us to both be on the tours Because we like to do like if she’s talking to them and telling them things I like to take notes because I like to remember What was said so some things that maybe they had a question about I will put it in our in our software in our note field So when we go back and maybe touch base with them again
Steve (16:43)
Well, you know.
Yeah, yeah.
Lea Kapherr (17:05)
we can remember what we told them, what we talked about. so I think it works good to have two people. For us, it works well. Well, and it takes a little longer too. I think the tours take a little longer, which it seems like you have them here a little longer. I honestly sometimes think they’ve booked just to get out of here, just to get away from us, because we’re like, let’s go, you know.
Steve (17:10)
Yeah, no, that is.
Brilliant, brilliant.
What a great idea.
Lea Kapherr (17:28)
how much more are they going to talk but we just have fun. We just enjoy it. I mean honestly we enjoy the couples. It’s this is such a fun job. It’s rewarding and I don’t know it’s just when you come from a different different world that you know was high stress not that weddings aren’t stressful but it’s just a different type. It’s just a it’s just fun. It’s fun seeing happy people.
Steve (17:30)
Everyone’s going, ⁓ I’m gonna try that. I’m gonna try that method.
Yeah.
Well, that’s awesome and that kind of brings me to another question I had for you, which is what do you enjoy about doing weddings? Either the wedding itself or the business? You touched on that just now, but let’s hear a little bit more about that.
Lea Kapherr (18:08)
Well, I think my favorite part of a wedding is I love to see everybody lining up to get ready to go down the aisle. That is my favorite time. I love the music playing. I love seeing everybody dressed up. I don’t know. It’s just something about it that I love that. And so I’m always happy if I’m here and can see everybody coming out the door and about to go down the aisle. I love that.
Steve (18:27)
Yeah
Yeah, that’s great.
Lea Kapherr (18:30)
Yeah, and I love seeing, I love that too. I also love cocktail hour. I love to see people just kind of hanging around, enjoying their time, actually enjoying our space because we have a lot of space here and they tend to go everywhere and I do love that. So it’s just one of those things where you like to see people enjoying themselves.
Steve (18:49)
Right.
Yeah,
that’s awesome. Great, great reasons to be there too. And it’s nice that you’ve got the space where they can move around and kind of go where they’re comfortable. That’s awesome. All right, so sounds amazing. Your venue, I’ll throw in that I did drive by there one time and there were some horses galloping by as I pulled in and I thought, wow, this place is just, this is just too much. This is just too perfect.
Lea Kapherr (19:01)
Yes.
Yes.
Yeah.
Steve (19:19)
But let’s move away from that for just a minute. What advice would you give to a couple preparing for their wedding?
Lea Kapherr (19:26)
So I can kind of chime in on this one. If there’s one piece of advice I would give them is just enjoy the day, relax, take the moment and just kind of just enjoy the whole experience. Also, one thing is to trust, and whether it be here or any other venue, if you’ve hired people to do the job, just trust those people, trust them that we have incredible staff here, we have incredible
Steve (19:51)
Mmm. There you go.
Lea Kapherr (19:54)
coordinators and and and they love what they do. That is one thing our people love what they do so if you trust all of them to do their job they’ll get it done for you. One big thing that me and her we’re talking about too is have narrowed down the people that you want to talk to your venue. So for example if you have you know if it’s the bride and groom but then you have
Steve (20:14)
Mmm.
Lea Kapherr (20:18)
the mother of the bride, the mother of the groom, the grandparents. If you have everybody calling us and asking us multiple questions, sometimes it gets a little crazy and it’s nice to have maybe one or two people that you’ve narrowed down to where that’s who will talk to the venue and the staff here. It just makes it lot easier. Yeah, and how that, what route are you going to communicate? Yes. Is it text? Is it message or, you
Steve (20:28)
Yeah.
Sure. Yeah, yeah.
Great advice.
Hmm.
Lea Kapherr (20:45)
Is it through the software that you’re using? But if you can narrow that down and be like this is how we want to communicate so that we don’t miss any messages. Yes, like our goal is always communicate through our software because we have all of our I call them staff, but they’re you know vendors of ours that work here. So the vendors all are linked up to that software and so they can see every message that comes through. But if you text you know me or her or
Steve (20:54)
Yeah.
Lea Kapherr (21:13)
the bartender or something like that. We’re not, nobody sees it except for whoever it’s going to. And then sometimes those get lost. If you send a text maybe at nine o’clock at night, well the next morning you may have, you know, accidentally opened that text. So we love it to come through the software and our software is great because it’ll hold it out there until somebody answers that.
Steve (21:33)
That’s a good system that you have there. And I had a comment as you were speaking, everyone wants to call. It’s probably because you’re just so fun to talk to. Everyone wants to, what excuse can I have to visit with Rhonda and Lee on the phone? I think that’s what’s happening. You also use that when you’re doing your tours. So obviously people enjoy those conversations. But it also tells me that you enjoy what you’re doing. And so that’s a big part.
Lea Kapherr (21:44)
Yes.
you
Yes.
Yes.
Steve (22:01)
possibly like people so that makes it even better right? Do you have any interesting stories that you can share with us from your wedding adventures?
Lea Kapherr (22:03)
Yes.
Well, we do. And this was actually before we owned a venue and we were decorating. We were asked to do a remake of the movie Prince of Thieves, Robin Hood, and it was on the Tacor River. And we did and we took all the decor and we set it up and it turned out beautiful. But we did not know that we could not get a car or a vehicle actually to the site or our box truck or our trailer.
Steve (22:23)
Okay.
Lea Kapherr (22:37)
any of the decor, we couldn’t get it there. We had to use the man, the dad’s gator. He met us down the trail. We had to load everything on it and go to the site. And we probably lost five pounds just walking. It was that week. Yeah. But it was fun. It turned out beautiful. We’ve never done anything like that. Never. Again. It was fun because, and actually the, year, the guy that won Hell’s Kitchen, the, he was their caterer.
Steve (22:40)
Okay.
Okay.
Mmmmm
wow.
Nice.
Hmm.
Lea Kapherr (23:07)
And so it was massive. was
Steve (23:08)
wow. That’s something.
Lea Kapherr (23:10)
incredible. mean, literally, the bride handed us fruit, a lot of fruit. And she said, I want y’all just to randomly throw it up in the air. Just create like a, almost like it just landed there naturally. And I kept thinking in my mind, is there going to be bears that come get us while we’re throwing fruit? Because we are a long way from running to a vehicle. I mean,
Steve (23:22)
Okay.
⁓ right.
Wow.
Lea Kapherr (23:34)
One of us would have made it. One of us probably would have not. But our husbands were, you know, they of course went with us and because it was a weekend trip and we did, none of us knew that we were going to be hiking. And so they were not as happy to find out that we were, it was massive job, but it was incredible. And it turned out, I mean, it was just something, it was really like magical, that wedding.
Steve (23:52)
Okay.
That’s a great story. I love to hear that you are willing to do whatever it takes, even throwing fruit around. Now these are the same husbands that told you you shouldn’t do this because it’s not gonna work and you did it anyway. Yeah, okay. I mean, I think by now they might as well be thinking, you know, they probably are just gonna do it and it’s gonna turn out
Lea Kapherr (24:05)
You
Yes,
Steve (24:19)
are there any trends that you are seeing with weddings lately?
Lea Kapherr (24:23)
Yes, so a lot of drapery right now, a lot of just different styles of drapery, just hanging, whether it be gathered or a backdrop. A lot of the more formal like black tie affair type thing and just couples wanting more of an experience like the whole weekend rehearsal that that just where they can enjoy the entire experience weekend. We see that a lot, which is why we built cottages because
If I were a bride, I would not want to rush and I would not want to, you know, just kind of run in and run out. I would want that experience as well. So that’s a lot of what we’re seeing, but a lot of the black tie is really popular right now. And I love that. I love it. It’s very formal, very elegant. Just really, I like it. Yeah.
Steve (25:01)
Yeah.
Nice, All right, well that’s great. From your point of view, I’m gonna take one more second and let him back in before I ask this question.
Lea Kapherr (25:23)
Okay.
Steve (25:23)
Okay, gotta put him somewhere next time. I think he’s chasing a bug or something, I don’t know. All right, from your point of view, what does a perfect wedding day look like?
Lea Kapherr (25:27)
Thank
I mean, of course we love it when it doesn’t rain, you know, and we don’t have to.
Steve (25:38)
Mmm.
Lea Kapherr (25:41)
with that. When everybody is just dressed and ready to go and everything’s going smoothly, that’s what we anticipate, that’s what we work toward. And we have some really, really good people here that even if something does go off the rails a little bit, they’re able to handle it and Rob may never even know that anything is going on. And that’s what we want that where they’re not stressed, they don’t have to worry about anything except getting
Steve (26:00)
Hmm.
Lea Kapherr (26:07)
married. Just being relaxed, relaxed atmosphere. And I enjoy, again I think I’ve said this in the beginning, seeing people just around the fire pit, in you know hanging out, talking, because obviously weddings bring family and friends together and so that’s the time where it’s almost like a big huge family reunion and you love seeing them just enjoying that that moment.
Steve (26:20)
Hmm.
Yeah, that’s great. That’s great. All right, is there anything else that you’d like to share with us today? Anything else that you’d like for our audience to hear from you?
Lea Kapherr (26:43)
currently booking. We are taking lots of bookings. We are ready for 2027. We only have about 2026, maybe four, maybe five spots left that we’re wanting to fill. But other than that, we’re now booking into 2027. And the weird thing is just recent, we are now getting inquiries for 2028, which is wonderful for us, but it’s odd that we’re getting already 2028. So we’re very excited.
Steve (26:45)
Okay.
Hmm.
Wow, okay.
Lea Kapherr (27:13)
about that but we are now thinking so yes. And we love it when they will come tour. One of the things that we didn’t have that we do now
Steve (27:14)
Well, yeah, what a wonderful problem to have.
Lea Kapherr (27:23)
we had the candlelight, it’s covered. So for ceremony, you’re good. One thing that we found was cocktail hour without having to do a flip. And so now we have covered the back patio, which is behind us, and it overlooks the little pond there. so that’s a great place. If it is raining, you know, we have that cover that is easy access and everybody can stay dry, as well as the front of the middle building, which is called Lily’s Hall. It has now
got a big porch cover on it. So when people are being dropped off and it’s rainy, they can just drop off right under that cover and stay dry. So we feel like we’ve made it very comfortable for certain weather events. So we’re happy to let people see that. we forgot we also have shuttle vans. So we offer two, we have two shuttle vans. actually offer shuttling to the local, which is great for our local like Groovy Nomeg, Cabincy Castles, the Alpine
house, just different locations, the local golf course up here. So we do a lot of shuttling on our wedding days or wedding nights. We’ll go pick people up and then take them back. So if they don’t want to drive here, we can shuttle them. That has been huge. That is a plus that we love because we don’t have to worry about somebody getting out and driving that they don’t need to drive. So we do offer two shuttle vans.
Steve (28:41)
You mean because they’re tired
and they don’t need to drive? Yes, yes. Right. They’ve been dancing so hard that they just are not fit to drive. Yes, I get that. Well, this is great. It’s been delightful visiting with you both. And so this is Rhonda and Leah from The Venue at Lilly Lou’s The Pines And this has been another episode of Eventful Endeavors. Thanks for joining us today. You wanna say goodbye?
Lea Kapherr (28:43)
because they’re tired. They’re so tired and they’ve had so much fun. They’re just, that’s right. Yes. That’s right.
Thank you. Bye-bye, everyone.
