“We love the downtown area and how it’s thriving right now,” Rachel said. “We really wanted to do something there.”
After driving by the mural and realizing that was the perfect spot, Rachel said all she had to do was make a phone call and they were locked in.
The Bushnell Banquet Center, located in the lower level of the Bushnell Building on East Main Street, rents the space for wedding ceremonies, receptions and showers, Lisa Abshear, the manager of the Bushnell Banquet Center said.
To have a wedding ceremony in front of the 12 by 73 foot mural, the rental fee is $125 plus $1.50 per chair, Abshear said.
The Storey’s wedding ceremony on Aug. 15 was the first to be held in front of the mural, Abshear said. Another wedding ceremony was held the following weekend.
Planning the wedding ceremony “took a lot of patience,” Rachel said. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, she moved their wedding from June to August.
At the ceremony, guests wore masks and sat in family clusters that were 6 feet from other family and friend groups, Rachel said. Some guests watched via Facebook Live because the couple had to cut their guest list by 60 percent.
Abshear said that she has had very few weddings cancel, but several have been minimal.
The Bushnell Banquet Center is also encouraging guests to sign in to the event by listing their name, how many guests are in their party/family and the county they are from to have some type of contact tracing for the local health department to use if a guest were to test positive for the coronavirus, Abshear said.
Rachel described the wedding day as “the best day ever.”
“A lot of people that came to the wedding, that was the first time that they had seen the mural and they live in Springfield too,” Rachel said. “It was cool to introduce our family and friends to parts of Springfield they didn’t know about.”
She added that the space created beautiful pictures not only during the wedding, but before and after for guests.
The Rose City Mural, on the side of the Starrett and Fried building at 10 East Main St. was completed by mural artist, Mariah Kaminsky, and 22 Project Jericho students in 20 days.
“It was a beautiful space,” Rachel said. “It’s so inviting, so warm - it just makes you happy to be there.”
For more information about having a wedding ceremony, reception or shower in front of the Rose City Mural, call the Bushnell Banquet Center at 937-324-2006.
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