4 | Lee Enterprises - Western Region Bridal Guide 2025
Bridal store in town of 300 brings in brides from far away. Even Europe. A Dreamy Oasis in L2oomis
MARY JANE SKALA Kearney Hub
Europe. “Who wouldn’t love a job when you can help girls find the dress of their dreams?” Axtell said. Something old Axtell is just the store’s third owner. Bridal Isle was opened by Marie Thorell in her home 41 years ago. Eventually, she moved it to 315 Commercial St. In 2009, she sold it to Jonell Mueller. Axtell worked part-time for Thorell while raising five children, and then another six years for Mueller. Axtell had never thought about owning a business, but one evening, as she drove home from the store, she called her daughter Haley and floated an idea: “I’d like to buy the Bridal Isle,” she said. “I thought my daughter would laugh, but she said, ‘Go for it,’” Axtell said.
When she told her husband Darry she wanted to buy the shop, “he absolutely thought I was crazy, but I did it anyway. He has since learned that it’s a good career,” she said. She has never looked back. Something new Axtell put her own touches on the store after she purchased it. It’s filled with personal touches, like the mannequin that wears the gown worn by Axtell’s mother Elaine in 1952 when she married Bob Turnquist. Nearby is a large black- and-white portrait of the couple. Axtell named one of the three spacious fitting rooms for her mother, too: the Great Laine Room. The others are the Aunt Lee Room, named for her Aunt Leda, and the Marie Room is named for the store’s founder.
LOOMIS — In a little town west of Holdrege, surrounded by cornfields and grain silos, sits one of the Midwest’s best- kept secrets. It’s the Bridal Isle, located just off Highway 23. It’s a sunny, warm, inviting, 9,500-square-foot gem of wedding dresses, veils, shoes, jewelry, mother-of- the-bride dresses and more. Then again, maybe it’s not a secret. The shop sold 542 bridal gowns last year, according to owner Karla Axtell. It sold to brides from Holdrege and Kearney, from all over Nebraska, and from Kansas, Colorado, and even Rapid City, S.D., an eight-hour drive. Brides have ventured in from New York and California. Some brides have even come from
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