Triangle wedding planners turn vintage Italian vehicle into mobile bar amid COVID-19 pandemic
A Triangle couple with a wedding planning company rolled out a new concept in the pandemic.Vita Mielie is a unique mobile bar that turned out to be the pivot they needed as restrictions canceled most of their events.
"I have rescheduled my entire wedding season we have a couple of small events," said co-owner Cheryl-Anne Kast.
Cheryl-Anne and husband Alexander Kast got the vintage Piaggio Ape Italian truck in 2019 after an Italian restaurant in Chapel Hill closed. They converted the three-wheeled Vespa-like vehicle into a mobile bar serving up bubbly drinks and launched Vita Mielie as the pandemic hit North Carolina.
"We were definitely nervous, but quite honestly within the first 24 hours of the launch we had booked a wedding and it just kept going from there," Cheryl-Anne said.
"We named after our daughter, Amelia, and she's Mielie to us. She's a sparkling bubbly little girl and then Vita relates to life and love and Italian so that's how that all came about and we certainly love champagne and all wine. So that's how that started, but it is used as a mobile bar mostly right now. So, we are serving prosecco rose, wine on tap, as well as local beers. We can do kids parties as well we can certainly have Shirley Temples or kombucha or any nonalcoholic drinks, but mostly it's used as a mobile bar at small events currently," Kast said.
The unique mobile bar has turned into a prop at socially-distanced events making them more memorable. It does drive slowly, so it is trucked into events.
"In the Triangle and North Carolina, there certainly isn't anything like this. There are a few other things in other states but currently nothing like this in the Triangle," Alexander said.
