Apothecary Lofts & Ridnour Room Weddings: Tips for Couples from a DJ

The Apothecary is really two weddings in one building. Five floors up, the lofts are intimate and warm, brick and timber, exposed beams, a fireplace going in the corner. Down on the ground floor, the Ridnour Room opens into 7,000 square feet with a built-in DJ booth and color-changing lights. Same address in the heart of Lincoln's Haymarket, two completely different nights.

Knowing which room does what, and how they work together, is the difference between a smooth Apothecary wedding and a stressed one. The freedom this place gives you is the whole draw, and it's also the part that catches couples off guard. So before you book, here's the read from the DJ side.

Quick intro, since you're trusting us with advice: I'm Elliott Harris, co-owner of Alternative Wedding DJs. Off the wedding calendar I'm a Director of Entertainment for a hospitality group, programming nightclub rooms most weekends, and I came up through radio and the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences. Between the club nights and the weddings, I've spent years learning why a room fills or empties, and how a space's size and layout shape the whole night.

Several of our Lincoln DJs have played the Apothecary Lofts and the Ridnour Room, so our team knows the building well. And we've done our homework on it. So we have notes!

So we're gonna take that insight and deliver it to you in an oversized apothecary bottle, cork and all, so you can skip the rookie mistakes and get the best night, with the least stress, out of your venue. Here we go …

Two rooms, two very different nights

The whole building runs about 33,000 square feet, and for weddings it gives you three spaces with two distinct personalities.

The Apothecary Lofts sit on the fifth floor. The North Loft is 3,300 square feet and seats up to 150; the South Loft is 2,700 and seats up to 100. Both are brick-and-timber with exposed beams, a gas fireplace, built-in sound, and Haymarket views, and each comes with a bedroom suite. The North Loft even has a two-story library, a piano, and an 18-by-15-foot dance floor. These are intimate, characterful rooms.

The Ridnour Room is the big one, 7,000 square feet on the ground floor, seating up to around 285. It was remodeled in 2017 and comes loaded: stacked-stone accent walls, color-selectable LED lighting, a large dance floor with a built-in DJ booth, a house sound system with a wireless mic, a projector, a granite bar, and a kitchen built for a double buffet line.

The classic Apothecary move is a ceremony up in the North Loft, then the reception down in the Ridnour Room, with the elevator connecting the two. Couples consistently love how simple that flip is.

Where the DJ sets up, and the sound

The Ridnour Room is unusually well-equipped for a DJ. It has a built-in DJ booth, a house sound system with a wireless mic, and designated little side spaces so the bar and the DJ can set up out of the main flow. The LED lighting is built in and color-selectable, so the uplighting most couples pay extra for is already handled here.

Even with all that, a DJ should bring their own PA and subwoofer for the dance floor, for the low end and for full control of the room. The good news is the Ridnour Room is more forgiving acoustically than a typical historic hall, since the remodel added a finished ceiling and soft surfaces that tame the echo. The fifth-floor lofts have their own built-in sound that's well-suited to an intimate ceremony or a smaller reception, and that compact 18-by-15 dance floor up there makes for a tight, packed-in energy. [Booth placement and power locations are best confirmed on a walk-through; our team can map that with you.]

You can get married here too

Ceremonies happen in either a loft or the Ridnour Room, and there's no added fee when the ceremony and reception share the same space. The most popular setup uses the North Loft for the ceremony and the Ridnour Room downstairs for the reception, and because the two are linked by elevator, moving your guests is effortless.

The dance floor

You won't rent a floor here. The Ridnour Room has a large built-in dance floor with the DJ booth right there, and the lofts have their own smaller floors. Pair that with the Ridnour's built-in color lighting and you can set the whole mood without bringing in extra production.

What to plan for

A few things worth sorting early:

• The freedom comes with a workload. The Apothecary is one of the only first-class venues in Lincoln that lets you bring your own caterer and your own alcohol, or even self-cater, at no extra cost. That saves couples real money. It also means you're coordinating those vendors yourself, so a planner or a tight point person pays off. The venue's event coordinator, Crystal, is widely praised for walking couples through the details and setting the room exactly to your plan.

• Mind the access window. Several couples note that setup can't start until the morning of, and you're responsible for clearing out by the end of the night. If that timeline feels tight, the Weekend Wedding Package gives you the space across multiple days, which also turns the lofts into getting-ready and overnight space. Either way, build your timeline backward from your load-in window, the same way we think about how long a reception should run.

• Load-in differs by room. The lofts are a fifth-floor, elevator load-in, so gear and timing need a little planning. The Ridnour Room is ground floor with a handicap-accessible ramp on the P Street side, which makes it an easy one.

• Parking is downtown parking. The Haymarket gets busy on event weekends. Point guests to the nearby garages (the Ridnour Garage is practically at the door) and block rooms at a walkable hotel so people park once.

The music that fits

Match the music to the room. The lofts reward a closer, taste-forward set where a smaller floor stays full all night. The Ridnour Room can hold a big, high-energy crowd, so it's built for a packed dance floor and a real build. One thing worth knowing from the layout: in the Ridnour Room the bar and some seating sit off the main area, so we work to keep the energy centered on the floor and pull people back to it, the same idea behind setting a room up so people actually dance.

FAQ

Can you have both your ceremony and reception at the Apothecary? Yes. Many couples hold the ceremony in the North Loft on the fifth floor and the reception in the Ridnour Room on the ground floor, with the elevator connecting the two. There's no additional fee if the ceremony is held in the same space as the reception.

Does the Ridnour Room have a DJ booth and sound system? Yes. The Ridnour Room has a built-in DJ booth, a house sound system with a wireless mic, a projector, and color-selectable LED lighting. A DJ should still bring their own PA and subwoofer for the dance floor to control the volume and add low end, but the room is more equipped than most.

Can you bring your own caterer and alcohol to the Apothecary? Yes, and it's one of the venue's biggest advantages. It's one of the few first-class Lincoln venues that lets you choose any caterer, bring your own alcohol, or self-cater at no extra cost, which saves a lot of money. You handle the bartender and vendor coordination, so plan for that legwork.

What should couples know about setup time and parking? Setup typically starts the morning of the wedding and you clear out by night's end, so the timeline can feel tight; the multi-day Weekend Package solves that if you want more room to breathe. Parking is downtown Haymarket parking, so steer guests to the nearby garages and a walkable hotel block.

Getting married at the Apothecary or the Ridnour Room?

It's two great rooms in one historic building, and the couples who plan for the freedom instead of being surprised by it have the best nights here. Our Lincoln team knows the building and how to make either room move. Book a meeting with us and we'll help you plan it. Meet our Omaha and Lincoln team while you're at it.

— Elliott Harris, Co-Owner