Crushed Ice Catering

The Ice House

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Crushed Ice Catering’s Wedding Feature: Emily + Kyle

On October 27, 2018, Emily and Kyle Vaughn’s forever began on the Ice House Louisville’s downtown rooftop in Louisville, KY. Surrounded by loving family and friends, these two entered into their marriage in full celebration. It was an honor to be a part of their big day and had a great time serving them and their guests. We’ve asked Emily and Kyle for thoughts and advice they would share with other couples in the midst of their own wedding planning journey.

CIC: Start us off with a few pieces of advice that y’all would share with someone who is in the midst of planning a wedding.

E+K: Don’t sweat the small things! Slow down to ENJOY the planning and your big day because it’s going to go by fast! You won’t remember the tiny details years from now, but you will remember how happy you were and the memories you made with your family and friends.

CIC: How would you describe what it was like working with the Crushed Ice Catering and Ice House staff?

E+K: We had our wedding at The Ice House in Downtown Louisville and had THE BEST experience. Lindsay and the entire Crushed Ice Catering team were very accommodating, organized, and on top of everything! She was a huge help to our planning and we couldn’t have done it without her. We highly recommend finding a venue that will provide a coordinator to help you along the way. Lindsay brought creative thinking and an experienced perspective to each of our planning sessions while ensuring we were staying on top of our timeline and within our budget.

CIC: What specifically stood out to you about your coordinator?

E+K: Lindsay coordinated everything with our vendors from the drop offs, to setup’s, pick ups, and more. It was a relief to know that everything was taken care of the day of. She even provided us and the bridal party with a timeline for the day to help to keep things running smoothly. The Ice House allowed us to drop our things off a few days before the wedding and set up the decorations we provided for us. Everything was arranged exactly as we had planned and the space was so beautiful. The day went by without a hitch!

CIC: Tell us your thoughts on your menu selection and how the culinary aspect impacted your wedding.

E+K: The food from Crushed Ice Catering was AMAZING! We loved the KY and BBQ themed stations. The food, prepared by Chef Laurence Agnew,  was different from any food that we’ve had at a wedding before. The Hot Brown Casserole is a must! The food was laid out so beautifully and complemented our centerpieces surrounding it. The Ice House Catering team put a lot of thought and creativity into every detail. We are still getting compliments from people about the food! Being able to coordinate the venue, food ,and alcohol all in one place, rather than bringing in all separate vendors, made planning so easy.

CIC: What do you think uniquely set y’all’s wedding apart from others?

E+K: Our favorite part of The Ice House was the cocktail space. The outside bar, fire pit, and large light up L.O.V.E. letters made for a unique, convenient, elegant space for us to mingle with our family and friends between the ceremony and reception. There were garage doors that opened to the dining and dancing area allowing people to float in and out of the space throughout the night. It was set up perfectly for people to visit and dance the night away!

CIC: Any last details that y’all would like to share?

E+K: The Ice House has so much to offer – a beautiful venue, fun add ons to the space (lighting, decorations, fire pits, etc.), great food, accommodating staff and a book full of recommendations for vendors they have worked with before to help make your planning less stressful. We can’t thank Lindsay and her team enough and will definitely be recommending The Ice House to our friends and family.

List of Emily + Kyle’s Wedding Vendors:

Florist: J. Elizabeth Designs

Photographer: Firm Anchor

Planner: Lindsay Brough – Crushed Ice Catering

Videographer: Paper Crane Cinema Co.

Dress/Shoes: Maggie Sottero/Gianni Bini

Hair: Echo Salon – Dakota and Mandy

Makeup: Sara Colvin

Bridesmaids Dresses: Rebecca’s Wedding Boutique

Music: DJ Mike Franklin

Officiant: Bob Cunningham

Cake: Stir Crazy Cakes

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Meet Rachel Martin – Summer Intern

Hello friends and followers of Crushed Ice Catering! My name is Rachel Martin and for my summer catering internship I will be working for the Ice House and Crushed Ice Catering. Here’s a little bit about me:

I am from Ashland, Kentucky, and I will be graduating from Eastern Kentucky University this December, GO COLONELS! I will graduate with a Bachelors in Communication Studies and a minor in Public Relations. So far I love my time working here Crushed Ice Catering and the Ice House. I am hoping to pursue a full time job here when I graduate;)

In my spare time I enjoy swimming, going to concerts, and playing with as many dogs as possible. In high school I was able to dip my toe into the event planning world and since then I have been obsessed! I have joined as many groups and organizations possible in college to help give me the experience and skills I need for this job. The best part about working for Crushed Ice Catering for my summer catering internship is getting to do both event planning and work in the food industry!

I will be taking over our blogs and social media for the summer. Be sure to check-in and see what I have in store for you!

 

Here’s what’s coming up:

I’m not going to give away all of my secrets so just stay tuned, to insure you don’t miss out on the all of the fun we have planned!

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2017 Catering Trends & Food and Event Trends

Every dreary Louisville January, after the excitement of the Holidays, Wedding Seasons and the New Year have worn off – you will find our Crushed Ice Catering & Ice House Coordinators and Culinary Team pondering over the previous year, and wondering with great excitement, what the future year will hold. This blog post is always one of my favorites to write – my fingers move faster than the keyboard will allow. I can barely keep up. And this year’s predictions exceed any we have seen thus far. Curious to see our predictions – check it out!

2017 Food Trends and  Predictions from our Executive Chef, Laurence Agnew and our Sous Chef, Zach Tackett:

2017 Catering Trends

  • Chicken Salt – long used and started down under in Australia in all the chippers. It’s actually a vegetarian seasoning used on chips (fries) that’s very tasty.
  • Proper old school butchery using animals either raised by the butchers or very close to the source and introducing real authentic bone broths and animal fats in classic and more modern takes.
  • Continued use of cannabis! As states continue to legalize recreational marijuana, so does the edible market continue to sky rocket into the billions from candies, tortillas, baked goods and cocktails.
  • Plant based cooking using Heirloom varieties, legume based pastas and dinners focused on plant leftovers and waste.
  • Drone delivery whether it’s pizza, burritos or burgers. We wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon started offering a delivery service for bigger cities and companies such as Shake Shack (it’s coming! you heard it here first).
  • Fried chicken in a bowl, bun, Nashville style, for breakfast, lunch or dinner – it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
2017 Bar/Beverage Trends and Predictions from Derek Steinbrecher, Bar Manager

2017 Bar Service Trends

  • Higher focus on beverages and beverage pairings (food/wine), vertical tastings for both beer and wine, bourbon themed events, bigger budgets for better quality booze.
  • For cocktails, continued pushing the envelope of high tech crafty cocktails. I see Italian wines continuing to be highly demanded and educated about also see Croatian and Slovenian wines continuing to be of high interest
  • Bourbon, Bourbon and more Bourbon great for all Kentuckians, and there’s even a bourbon emoji now, we’ve gone mainstream.
2017 Event & Decor Trends from the lovely ladies at Crushed Ice Catering, Lindsay and Madeleine 

2017 event and Decor trends

  • Creating more vertical impact for event spaces with the use of draping, aerialists, hanging lights, greenery ceiling installations and even an increased use of aerialist entertainers.
  • Black is Back – using black in a strong or subtle presence, which will lead to a more formal “feel” for events.
  • The bouquet and garter toss is going to be a thing of the past – and we are completely okay with that :)
  • Both Band & DJ – it’s the best of both worlds! Starting the evening with a live band and switching to DJ for dancing. It is sure to be a crowd pleaser, as the younger guests may enjoy the DJ (it’s hard to find a live performer that can belt out Hotline Bling) and the older crowd may love that jazz trio for the dinner portion.
  • Drone Videography, because who doesn’t want an awesome wedding video or a cool tech-y gadget flying around their event?
  • Lighting change during the event – transitioning from a soft romantic glow during cocktail hour/dinner to a more party atmosphere (think neons, gobos and strobes) for late night dancing.

2017 Event & Decor Trends from the lovely ladies at The Ice House, Erica and Christina

2017 catering event trends

  • Seeing a shift in DIY from crafts/goodies to DIY services – photo booths, videos, DJ service apps and other service related niches that Brides can simply download on their phone and plug in to their event.
  • Less Instagram Hashtags to more event specific snap chat filters and groups
  • More unique configurations of event space and design. Away with the traditional “head table” or half round conference style set-up. We will see more unique table configurations (elevated, stage, etc) as well as alternatives to traditional “boardroom” style – more lounge furniture, and creative workspaces.
  • Event Flips – larger budgets will give way to satisfying client’s high demands for flipping event spaces during an event. From theater style, to cocktail hour, to seated dinner – clients will be more demanding than ever. And we will aim to please!
  • Mixed wedding parties – with marriage equality passing in 2016 we expect to see less common and new titles such as Best Lady or Man of Honor
  • Color Trends: Winter=glamorous (silver, white, gray), Spring=floral (blush, sage, champagne), Summer=bright (yellow, blue), Fall=earthen (amber, sage, orange)
  • Incorporating Pantone’s Color of the Year “Greenery” – We are not seeing this trend go anywhere anytime soon. It will be continuously popular – Eucalyptus, Ferns, Sage, Thyme color themes are here to stay in 2017.
 So there you have it folks – Do you agree with our predictions? There is only one way to find out if we are correct… wait and see what 2017 really has in store for us here at the Ice House and Crushed Ice Catering!
Cheers!
Erica

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Louisville Wedding Spotlight: A French Themed Wedding

French Themed Wedding in Louisville, KY
Champagne Celebrations were in order for this French Inspired Wedding!

When our Bride, Emily approached the Ice House, she immediately challenged our culinary and design team at Crushed Ice Catering in Louisville. She wanted a French American Wedding to take place in Louisville, all the while planning from New York City.  Our team rose to the occasion – and delivered Emily and Loic’s dream wedding.

Emily was kind enough to share her experience and amazing photographs from her special day. Check it out:

Crushed Ice Catering: Share with our readers a helpful tip/quote you learned during the planning process or valued advice for future Brides to be:

“Take Pinterest with a grain of salt. While it was such a useful tool for certain things, I also found myself loving ideas that would never go with the style of my wedding, and being disappointed in other ideas that were too expensive to put together. Pick a style and a vibe for your wedding and go with it. Your intuition and decisions will lead to a beautiful event that is exquisitely you.”

Crushed Ice Catering: Give our readers a personal insight on what it was like to work with our team members at the Ice House and Crushed Ice Catering:

“The Ice House had a tall order to help create our wants for our French American wedding from all the way in New York City and they were the incredibly helpful every step of the way. From the first meeting we knew the Ice House was where we wanted to have our event as they assured us they would work with us to make our evening as personal to us as possible. Erica and Lindsay both did an incredible job of helping me create my dream space for the evening and keeping me in a timeline that left me unstressed. They paid as much detail to the small aspects of our wedding as I did, helping me with linens, arranging a Skype session for our tasting, and in general just taking extra care that we didn’t feel out of touch with how things were going even from so far away. Lindsay and the Chef with Crushed Ice Catering were phenomenal and pulled off a full French dinner and appropriate wine pairings that were not only complimented by our French guests, but they also worked with us to ensure we got exactly what we asked for without breaking our budget. Many of our guests commented it was the best meal they’d ever had at a wedding. Thanks to Madeline and Lindsay, day of the wedding I walked into a event space that looked beautiful, was decorated exactly how I imagined, and I truly felt like a guest at my wedding rather than a bride having to call the shots. I am forever grateful to these women for such a fantastic wedding day experience and I highly recommend both the Ice House and Crushed Ice Catering if you want a wedding that you, or anyone else, will never forget.”

Crushed Ice Catering’s Executive Chef created a fabulous menu for the Bride, Groom and all of their International Guests.

French Themed Family Style Dinner menu

As we have said before, it truly takes a village to pull off such an exceptional affair. Emily and Loic’s Wedding would not have been made possible without the collaboration and attention to detail from her wonderful team of wedding professionals.

Reception Venue: The Ice House

Catering: Crushed Ice Catering

Photographer: Bella Grace Studios 

Florist: Nanz & Kraft

Planner: Ashby Wedding & Event Planning

Videographer: LW Films

Dress/Shoes: Theia from the Lovely Bride, Shoes Badgley Mischka

Hair: Xhale Salon and Spa

Make Up: Jess Harrison, Dollface Brows and Beauty

Entertainment: Complete Music and Video

Cake: Sweet Surrender

Transportation: Royal Transportation of Louisville

Ceremony Venue: Midlane Farm

The Lovely Couple at their Wedding Ceremony held at Midlane Farm

Guests enjoy the Cocktail Hour on the Ice House’s Rooftop Garden

Emily and Loic’s First Dance as Mr. and Mrs.

The Happy Couple!

Who are these models?!

Even the gift table had a personalized touch from the Bride and Groom

The Bridal Party Table

Beautiful, Delicate Florals

Guests enjoyed a French-American Menu prepared by Crushed Ice Catering’s Executive Chef, Laurence Agnew

A fabulous time was had by all!

We just love the simplicity of this cake!

The guests enjoy the wonderful fall weather

A big Thank You goes out to Emily and Loic for sharing their personal experience with our readers. We are so truly blessed to have such fantastic clients. It makes our jobs so enjoyable. When you do what you love, it’s not really work, is it? Congratulations to the happy couple – Thank you for sharing your special day with us here at The Ice House and Crushed Ice Catering.

Cheers!

Erica