Despite what statistics show about fewer people getting married and more people getting divorced, Americans spent more than $50B on weddings last year, and the numbers continue to grow.

Venues, food, liquor, music, gowns, flowers, cake, photographer – and that’s not counting bachelor and bachelorette parties or what’s involved if the big day is a destination wedding in another state or country.

Call it the wedding industrial complex. Or call it good fun. Either way, local entrepreneurs know all about it and are capitalizing on the opportunities to meet ever-growing demands of couples who want more than a courthouse ceremony.

Ramsey Roberts Sims is one of Baton Rouge's wedding authorities who knows as much about brides (and probably grooms) as anyone in Louisiana. Ramsey is owner of I Do Bridal Couture, a boutique that specializes in designer bridal gowns at its two locations in Baton Rouge and Covington. Ramsey started the business in 2012, a few years after shopping for her own bridal gown and becoming frustrated with the lack of high-end inventory and personal service.

I Do Bridal Couture bills itself on offering that type of exclusive inventory and personal customer service. In recent years, Ramsey, along with her husband, has also started an online children’s boutique with her husband, somehow juggling both businesses with their three young children. Ramsey, thanks so much for joining m eon out to lunch.   

Once you've decided to get married, you need a place to hold the ceremony and celebration. Mary Skinner is CEO of Oak Park Events, a local events firm with two venues – Oak Lodge in Baton Rouge and Parc 73 in Prairieville, which specialize in wedding receptions, and also play host to a variety of other special events, parties, and gatherings.

Oak Park Events was founded by Mary’s parents and she worked with them as manager from 2009-2012, back when there was just one venue, Oak Lodge. Mary helped oversee the design, construction and eventual expansion of Parc 73 then she left the business to spend several years in commercial real estate, which is what she was trained in, rejoining in 2016 as CEO. Her parents recently retired so now Mary is running the company.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.

Despite what statistics show about fewer people getting married and more people getting divorced, Americans spent more than $50B on weddings last year, and the numbers continue to grow.
Venues, food, liquor, music, gowns, flowers, cake, photographer – and that’s not counting bachelor and bachelorette parties or what’s involved if the big day is a destination wedding in another state or country.
Call it the wedding industrial complex. Or call it good fun. Either way, local entrepreneurs know all about it and are capitalizing on the opportunities to meet ever-growing demands of couples who want more than a courthouse ceremony.
Ramsey Roberts Sims is one of Baton Rouge's wedding authorities who knows as much about brides (and probably grooms) as anyone in Louisiana. Ramsey is owner of<a href="https://idobridalcouture.com/"> I Do Bridal Couture</a>, a boutique that specializes in designer bridal gowns at its two locations in Baton Rouge and Covington. Ramsey started the business in 2012, a few years after shopping for her own bridal gown and becoming frustrated with the lack of high-end inventory and personal service.
I Do Bridal Couture bills itself on offering that type of exclusive inventory and personal customer service. In recent years, Ramsey, along with her husband, has also started an online children’s boutique with her husband, somehow juggling both businesses with their three young children. Ramsey, thanks so much for joining m eon out to lunch.   
Once you've decided to get married, you need a place to hold the ceremony and celebration. Mary Skinner is CEO of <a href="https://oakparcevents.com/">Oak Park Events</a>, a local events firm with two venues – <a href="https://oakparcevents.com/oak-lodge/">Oak Lodge in Baton Rouge</a> and <a href="https://oakparcevents.com/parc-73/">Parc 73 in Prairieville</a>, which specialize in wedding receptions, and also play host to a variety of other special events, parties, and gatherings.
Oak Park Events was founded by Mary’s parents and she worked with them as manager from 2009-2012, back when there was just one venue, Oak Lodge. Mary helped oversee the design, construction and eventual expansion of Parc 73 then she left the business to spend several years in commercial real estate, which is what she was trained in, rejoining in 2016 as CEO. Her parents recently retired so now Mary is running the company.
Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at <a href="https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/">Mansurs On the Boulevard</a>. You can find photos from this show at<a href="https://itsbatonrouge.la/2024/07/29/your-big-day/"> itsbatonrouge.la</a>.

OUT TO LUNCH finds Baton Rouge Business Report Editor Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

OUT TO LUNCH finds The Advocate business reporter Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's on the Boulevard. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

OUT TO LUNCH finds The Advocate business reporter Stephanie Riegel combining her hard news journalist skills and food background: conducting business over lunch. Baton Rouge has long had a storied history of politics being conducted over meals, now the Capital Region has an equivalent culinary home for business: Mansur's on the Boulevard. Each week Stephanie holds court over lunch at Mansur's and invites members of the Baton Rouge business community to join her. You can also hear the show on WRKF 89.3FM.

Your Big Day

For as long as humans and pre-human ancestors have been on the planet -- roughly 2.6 million years or so, we have been eating meat. In fact, recent studies have suggested that had it not been for our carnivorous consumption, humans would not have evolved the way that we did.

Over the millennia our tastes have changed but not our love of meat. These days consumers - who spent more than $122B in 2023 on meat - are seeking out high quality, artisanal, organic and sustainable meats. Which is good news for local entrepreneurs cashing in on the craze.  

Ross Brown's company, Bougie Bologna, specializes in making an all natural bologna using smoked pork shoulder – and if like a lot of Ross’s customers you grew up thinking of bologna as a luncheon meat from Oscar Mayer think again. Ross describes his meat product as Cajun smoked sausage in sandwich form.

Ross founded the company in 2022, after nearly two decades in the oil business, because he believed in the product and wanted to be his own boss. Bougie Bologna has proven to be a hit. There are currently three varieties sold in grocery stores from Lafayette to New Orleans, including a deal with Rouses Supermarkets that will put the products in 70 locations across south Louisiana.

Ross, aka The Bougie Man, is a native of Lafayette, who is still getting used to running a demanding business that is growing faster than he could have imagined. 

Derek Stuart is co-owner of The Meatatory, as in meat and laboratory, a craft butcher in Prairieville that specializes in craft burgers and sausage recipes, high end Wagyu and specialty beef cuts, as well as local staples like Boudin balls and barbecue.

Derek and his wife, Laura, opened the Meatatory in 2022. It is both a retail storefront and a catering business with a menu that includes charcuterie boards, sides and desserts.

Like Ross, Derek grew up in south Louisiana, Ascension Parish, specifically, and developed a  passion for food and cooking meat early on. 

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. You can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.

For as long as humans and pre-human ancestors have been on the planet -- roughly 2.6 million years or so, we have been eating meat. In fact, recent studies have suggested that had it not been for our carnivorous consumption, humans would not have evolved the way that we did.
Over the millennia our tastes have changed but not our love of meat. These days consumers - who spent more than $122B in 2023 on meat - are seeking out high quality, artisanal, organic and sustainable meats. Which is good news for local entrepreneurs cashing in on the craze.  
Ross Brown's company, <a href="https://www.bougiebologna.com/">Bougie Bologna</a>, specializes in making an all natural bologna using smoked pork shoulder – and if like a lot of Ross’s customers you grew up thinking of bologna as a luncheon meat from Oscar Mayer think again. Ross describes his meat product as Cajun smoked sausage in sandwich form.
Ross founded the company in 2022, after nearly two decades in the oil business, because he believed in the product and wanted to be his own boss. Bougie Bologna has proven to be a hit. There are currently three varieties sold in grocery stores from Lafayette to New Orleans, including a deal with Rouses Supermarkets that will put the products in 70 locations across south Louisiana.
Ross, aka The Bougie Man, is a native of Lafayette, who is still getting used to running a demanding business that is growing faster than he could have imagined. 
Derek Stuart is co-owner of <a href="https://www.themeatatory.com/">The Meatatory</a>, as in meat and laboratory, a craft butcher in Prairieville that specializes in craft burgers and sausage recipes, high end Wagyu and specialty beef cuts, as well as local staples like Boudin balls and barbecue.
Derek and his wife, Laura, opened the Meatatory in 2022. It is both a retail storefront and a catering business with a menu that includes charcuterie boards, sides and desserts.
Like Ross, Derek grew up in south Louisiana, Ascension Parish, specifically, and developed a  passion for food and cooking meat early on. 
Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at <a href="https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/">Mansurs On the Boulevard</a>. You can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.

Bougie Beef Boys

If you subscribe to an online news service, you’re used to getting notifications about news stories the algorithm thinks might impact you. In Southeast Louisiana, you’ll pretty regularly see variations on the headline, “Sea Level Rise Threatens Coastline” or “Louisiana Loses a Football Field of Wetlands Per Hour.”

If you’re like most people, you keep scrolling. Or, maybe you read the article, shake your head at the dire situation, but shrug it off because, well, what can you do? 

The reason you can afford to take a laissez faire attitude toward our disappearing coastline and wetlands, is because there are people who don’t. There are people working every day, here in Baton Rouge, to preserve our piece of Planet Earth.

Darius Bonton is the founder, owner and principal of Bonton Associates.

Bonton Associates are an engineering company focused on designing and implementing infrastructure and transportation systems that allows us to build what needs to be built, and get where we need to go, without destroying the environment in the process.

To the contrary, Bonton is all about delivering solutions to water and transportation issues that do more than just comply with environmental regulations, they actually improve our existing way of life.

If you’re looking for an organization whose name doesn’t pull any punches, how about the Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana.

“The Coalition” the title refers to is a wide range of organizations and people who partner to do an even wider range of activities to save our coast - from planting grasses in marshlands to giving expert advice to local, state and federal organizations.

The Coalition is Louisiana’s first statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to coastal restoration. They started out in 1988, and since March 2024 Ethan Melancon has been their Advocacy Director.

In 1789 the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published a poem called The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. You might not be familiar with the poem, but you probably know a line or two from it. Namely, “water water everywhere / Nor any drop to drink.”

The poem is about a sailor stranded at sea, ironically, dying from dehydration while being surrounded by water. The theme of the poem is nature’s indifference to human suffering.

Whether or not nature is indifferent to us, we humans continue to do our best to adapt to the elements, and even downright defy them.

We owe our very existence in Southeast, and Southwest, Louisiana to past generations’ willingness to drain swamps, build levees, and bounce back from hurricanes.

In our current generations, it’s the work of companies like Bonton Associates and organizations like Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana who are continuing to organize, design and execute strategies for containing the power of nature that allow us to remain here, and hopefully will for generations to come.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. Jim Engster sits in as host for Stephanie Riegel. More info about Out to Lunch Baton Rouge is at itsbatonrouge.la.

If you subscribe to an online news service, you’re used to getting notifications about news stories the algorithm thinks might impact you. In Southeast Louisiana, you’ll pretty regularly see variations on the headline, “Sea Level Rise Threatens Coastline” or “Louisiana Loses a Football Field of Wetlands Per Hour.”
If you’re like most people, you keep scrolling. Or, maybe you read the article, shake your head at the dire situation, but shrug it off because, well, what can you do? 
The reason you can afford to take a laissez faire attitude toward our disappearing coastline and wetlands, is because there are people who don’t. There are people working every day, here in Baton Rouge, to preserve our piece of Planet Earth.
Darius Bonton is the founder, owner and principal of <a href="https://bontonassociates.com/">Bonton Associates</a>.
Bonton Associates are an engineering company focused on designing and implementing infrastructure and transportation systems that allows us to build what needs to be built, and get where we need to go, without destroying the environment in the process.
To the contrary, Bonton is all about delivering solutions to water and transportation issues that do more than just comply with environmental regulations, they actually improve our existing way of life.
If you’re looking for an organization whose name doesn’t pull any punches, how about the <a href="https://www.crcl.org/">Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana</a>.
“The Coalition” the title refers to is a wide range of organizations and people who partner to do an even wider range of activities to save our coast - from planting grasses in marshlands to giving expert advice to local, state and federal organizations.
The Coalition is Louisiana’s first statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to coastal restoration. They started out in 1988, and since March 2024 Ethan Melancon has been their Advocacy Director.
In 1789 the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge published a poem called The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner. You might not be familiar with the poem, but you probably know a line or two from it. Namely, “water water everywhere / Nor any drop to drink.”
The poem is about a sailor stranded at sea, ironically, dying from dehydration while being surrounded by water. The theme of the poem is nature’s indifference to human suffering.
Whether or not nature is indifferent to us, we humans continue to do our best to adapt to the elements, and even downright defy them.
We owe our very existence in Southeast, and Southwest, Louisiana to past generations’ willingness to drain swamps, build levees, and bounce back from hurricanes.
In our current generations, it’s the work of companies like Bonton Associates and organizations like Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana who are continuing to organize, design and execute strategies for containing the power of nature that allow us to remain here, and hopefully will for generations to come.
Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at <a href="https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/">Mansurs On the Boulevard</a>. Jim Engster sits in as host for Stephanie Riegel. More info about Out to Lunch Baton Rouge is at <a href="https://itsbatonrouge.la/2024/06/24/water-water/">itsbatonrouge.la</a>.

Water Water

Arts and music are essential elements of any real community. They unite us, bring out the human spirit and remind us of the incredible gifts and talents and good things we can do when we let our creativity fly.

Baton Rouge isn’t particularly known as a high brow kinda place as far as the arts are concerned but there are plenty of hidden gems, and you don’t have to scratch the surface hard to find outlets and venues that are showcasing the best of the musical, visual and performing arts.

Jason Langlois is Executive Director of the Manship Theater, which opened in 2005 on the ground floor of the Shaw Center for the Arts. The building was transformative for downtown Baton Rouge and the theater was its anchor tenant, bringing new cultural offerings to the heart of the city that include musical performances, dance, poetry, plays and movie nights. 

Jason grew up in Austin and New Orleans and has lived in Baton Rouge since 2001 when he was a student in the EJ Ourso college of business. He has been at the Manship since 2009, started their Films at Manship program and more recently the standup comic series.

Over the years Jason has helped grow the theater and put it on more stable financial footing, bringing in new audiences with ever more offerings. 

Raudol Palacios is Artistic Director and cello and ensemble teacher at Palacios House of Arts, a local family run nonprofit that offers lessons in the musical, visual and performing arts to people of all ages – and regardless of their ability to pay.

Raudol and his parents, Gloria Ruiz and Manuel Palacios, started the Palacios House of Arts in 2018, as a way to bring their love of music and arts to the community. The family is originally from Cuba and in 2015 the family moved to Baton Rouge, when Raudol was studying music at LSU. Today, he is a professional musician and also helps run the school with his parents, teaching classes, organizing events and programs and other cultural activities that engage community participation.

Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at Mansurs On the Boulevard. YOu can find photos from this show at itsbatonrouge.la.

Arts and music are essential elements of any real community. They unite us, bring out the human spirit and remind us of the incredible gifts and talents and good things we can do when we let our creativity fly.
Baton Rouge isn’t particularly known as a high brow kinda place as far as the arts are concerned but there are plenty of hidden gems, and you don’t have to scratch the surface hard to find outlets and venues that are showcasing the best of the musical, visual and performing arts.
Jason Langlois is Executive Director of the <a href="https://www.manshiptheatre.org/">Manship Theater</a>, which opened in 2005 on the ground floor of the<a href="https://www.shawcenter.org/"> Shaw Center for the Arts</a>. The building was transformative for downtown Baton Rouge and the theater was its anchor tenant, bringing new cultural offerings to the heart of the city that include musical performances, dance, poetry, plays and movie nights. 
Jason grew up in Austin and New Orleans and has lived in Baton Rouge since 2001 when he was a student in the EJ Ourso college of business. He has been at the Manship since 2009, started their Films at Manship program and more recently the standup comic series.
Over the years Jason has helped grow the theater and put it on more stable financial footing, bringing in new audiences with ever more offerings. 
Raudol Palacios is Artistic Director and cello and ensemble teacher at Palacios House of Arts, a local family run nonprofit that offers lessons in the musical, visual and performing arts to people of all ages – and regardless of their ability to pay.
Raudol and his parents, Gloria Ruiz and Manuel Palacios, started the <a href="https://palaciosarts.squarespace.com/">Palacios House of Arts</a> in 2018, as a way to bring their love of music and arts to the community. The family is originally from Cuba and in 2015 the family moved to Baton Rouge, when Raudol was studying music at LSU. Today, he is a professional musician and also helps run the school with his parents, teaching classes, organizing events and programs and other cultural activities that engage community participation.
Out to Lunch is recorded live over lunch at <a href="https://www.mansursontheboulevard.com/">Mansurs On the Boulevard</a>. YOu can find photos from this show at <a href="https://itsbatonrouge.la/2024/06/19/butts-on-seats/">itsbatonrouge.la</a>.

Your Big Day

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