Kait

I do not know where to start, we are so blown away by Rena and Alchemy Events…they are INCREDIBLE! We were a COVID couple (having to cancel our wedding in NYC twice before deciding to do a destination wedding in New Orleans) and met Rena by accident while touring a venue we ultimately decided not to use. We immediately hit it off! Rena listened, gathered information and delivered! It was the first time in the long, stressful planning process that we had complete relief. Within a few days she sent us a huge packet, complete with inspiration photos, venue and vendor options, etc. Since we lived out of town we picked a weekend to return to New Orleans and Rena had an entire weekend mapped out of venues and vendors. In one weekend we had the venue and every vendor booked. She is organized, unbelievably creative, patient and kind. It was so nice to have her as a single point of contact for every vendor. She has a solution to every problem, and handles everything with professionalism and grace…even when my dress ripped open on the way to the church. She was waiting for me with needle and thread in hand to sew me in before my walk down the aisle!!! We were floored with how the design of our venue came to life. It was above and beyond everything we hoped for! I cannot sing her praises enough…do yourself a favor and hire her!!!

Renee

Literal Perfection – Rena and her staff at Alchemy Events will go above and beyond your expectations. Rena began working with us a year before our wedding and it began with a consultation. She wanted to hear our vision and see how she could bring it to life. We talked with her for about an hour, sent over our engagement photos and it was a quick partnership from there. Through the planning process, Rena checked in regularly, came up with ideas, sent mood boards and asked for our input, connected us with vendors, and overall made the out of town planning process seamless. We even had a hiccup with the second line license and she was able to figure out an alternative smoothly. For day of planning, again Rena ensured everything was seamless. Our day was literal perfection and I know so much of that was due to Rena, her staff and the vendors she partnered us with. They got awesome behind the scenes pics too! We were able to actually enjoy our day and not stress because we had complete trust and faith in Rena and knew she had everything on lock.

If you have an event you need help planning, Alchemy Events is the best of the best. Rena has positive connections with so many vendors and professionals and is not afraid to stand ground for her clients if needed. She has such a sweet Southern nature with a badass, culturally-aware twist that is unmatched and she and her staff will not disappoint in planning any kind of event. We were scared we wouldn’t be able to find someone who vibed with us and our vision but Rena took our ideas to the next level and brought them to life.

Thank you Rena and Alchemy Events for joining our journey and making our day absolute perfection. Y’all will always hold a special place in our hearts and if we ever plan an event in New Orleans again, y’all will be first on our call list!

Dan

If you are looking for a wedding planner in New Orleans, you can do no better than Rena Sweeney and Alchemy Events. We live in St. Louis, but were married in New Orleans. We knew planning a wedding on our own would be difficult enough, and it would be that much more complicated from 700 miles away. From the moment we spoke with Rena, we knew the process would be a breeze. Alchemy Events has the experience, expertise, connections, and creativity to make your wedding uniquely, perfectly yours. Rena listened to our wants and needs, and skillfully brought those ideas to life. At the same time, she knew when and how to step in and guide us, either when we weren’t sure what we wanted, or when we thought we wanted things one way, but she saw a better way to make our vision a reality. She was conscious of our budget, and was able to recommend appropriate vendors that allowed us to execute our vision without sacrificing the important details. On the wedding day, Rena and her team of coordinators worked tirelessly to deliver the most memorable day of our lives. To use the word stress-free would be an understatement. From set up to tear down, every detail was taken care of; and we were able to focus on ourselves, our guests, and most importantly, on each other. We can’t imagine our wedding had we not retained the services of Alchemy Events. The value delivered far exceeded the cost, and couples would be wise to include them when budgeting for their special day.

Rachel

Rena was AMAZING! I don’t know what we would have done without her. From the very beginning, she was always the most pleasant person to work with. We planned a cultural fusion wedding incorporating traditions from Indian, traditional American and New Orleans weddings. Her knowledge of all three was impressive and she never questioned us when we proposed an idea that involved combining multiple cultures. She always found a way to make it happen. She was particularly helpful in the last couple of weeks leading up to the event. We had to completely change our transportation plans last minute and she was on top of it reaching out to vendors before we even knew of the problem. She even found me a licensed and insured babysitter for the wedding at 10pm the night before the wedding! She has a great reputation within in the New Orleans wedding community, with multiple vendors telling me (unprompted) how much they enjoyed working with her. That’s how you know someone works hard, is dependable, and a professional, when others in the industry compliment her work. She also worked with our budget and helped us find vendors within our price range and come up with creative solutions to help us stay close to our budget.

Rena also has a great design eye. I didn’t have a very specific vision of what I wanted the décor on the tables to look like and I felt comfortable allowing her to create the table arrangements herself. Everything turned out so much more beautiful than I ever could have imagined! When we were looking at different venues, she suggested ways we could design and plan things, which was very helpful to me.

Rena and her team allowed us to enjoy our wedding without stress. Whatever issues came up (problems with the bustle), Rena had a solution. She fielded questions from friends and family members and allowed us to point them in her direction. At the end of the event, even my father-in-law (who can always find a problem with everything) was very complimentary of her and her staff. We were so happy with our decision to hire Rena for our wedding. Best decision we made during the wedding planning process!

Heather

I cannot say enough positive things about working with Rena. Rena was able to take the few inspiration photos we provided and turn them into a wedding that had the exact feel that we wanted and a look that was so beautiful that we could not have imagined. Most importantly though, she was absolutely wonderful to work with throughout the *entire* process and removed the stress of wedding planning.

Rena was kind, professional, and a calming presence. I am sure that wedding planning can be stressful and frustrating, even for a wedding coordinator, but you would not know it by talking with Rena. No matter what, she was nothing but extremely pleasant, cheerful, understanding, and helpful.

We chose the full wedding planning package, which was an amazing deal. Although we were hesitant to spend money on a wedding planner in the beginning, I really feel like it saved money and stress in the long run, since Rena’s expertise ensured that no mistakes were made and she was able to work out deals with vendors within our budget. Rena returned emails, phone calls, and text messages promptly. She was not worried about billing her time per call, email, etc. (other wedding planners I had considered required “scheduled phone calls” that would be billed).

Rena went above and beyond on the day of the wedding. If something went wrong, we did not know about it till after the wedding (she took care of it and let us enjoy the day). She offered her help throughout the day with items that went outside of the agreed upon scope of work and did not ask for additional compensation. She wrapped up all vendor contracts and made sure we were refunded for any work that was not done. If you’re thinking about hiring a wedding or event coordinator to help out with full service planning or day-of planning, I highly recommend Rena. Our family will definitely be using her services for any other event for which we need assistance.

Nick

When Grace & I first started to plan our weddding, we knew the location and some of the primary vendors were already identified, so even though we were planning our wedding remotely, we thought it would be easy to do on our own… after a few weeks of trying to do it all on our own, we knew we needed help. After reaching out to several planners, Alchemy Events offered us the most inclusive options we had seen so we knew that would be the best choice. What we didn’t expect was how above and beyond Alchemy Events and Rena would go to make sure we had the wedding of our dreams. Rena is the best wedding planner out there, her hard work throughout the planning process and most importantly on the day of our wedding, was incredible. Rena and her team made sure that when our big day came, there wasn’t a single thing we needed to worry about. Of course, every wedding has its challenges, but Rena was always fast to respond and resolve before we even knew that there was an issue! Rena made us feel comfortable and confident that all of our wants and needs would be handled and executed exactly to our imagination. Her advice throughout the coordinating process was spot on, she had great tips and input that saved us a lot of money but also introduced ideas that we didn’t not think of but we’re worth every penny. While we came in thinking our wedding would be as we imagined, it ended up being ten times better! All thanks to Alchemy Events, every detail was perfect and the wedding was beautiful!! We will look back at our wedding as the best party we ever had, and Rena as the one that made it happen. We would absolutely recommend Alchemy Events for anyone else looking for passion, understanding, and attention to detail from their coordinator. If you want your vision to become a reality, Rena is the one with the skills to make that come true.

Ken

Why would you want to risk your special day to just anyone? Alchemy Events took exceptional care of us. Being in the hospitality industry, we like things to go smoothly and can be very specific on our wants and desires. Their team anticipated our every need. From start to finish Rena and her staff made our day the best day ever.

Morgan

Finding the perfect vendors for our wedding seemed like the impossible task. I was planning a wedding out of state and as much as I like to try and do EVERYTHING all by myself (and I definitely tried for too long), I just needed help. After searching and meeting with several different coordinators that I just didn’t mesh with, we were introduced to Rena through our florist. It was an instant hit and I knew my wedding vision and ideas (and there were MANY) were all in great hands! Rena seriously knows her stuff. She worked great with all my family, friends, and other vendors. She was able to give invaluable advice on who to go with and sometimes who to avoid. She even went to bat for us when some of our vendors got a little shady. She was so awesome to work with and I cannot say enough good things about her and our entire wedding experience. She really went above and beyond to make everything I wanted happen the day of my wedding (including running around trying to make a projector work for a surprise music video for my husband during our first dance). I could honestly go on and on about Rena but I’ll wrap it up by saying you won’t find anyone better… I guarantee it!

Caitlin

I can’t say enough good things about Rena. She was so helpful and knowledgeable about the wedding industry in New Orleans and her creativity is top notch. We had planned the most unique theme for our wedding day and then the pandemic hit and Rena didn’t miss a beat when we decided to completely strip back our wedding plans from a ceremony and reception of 100 people down to a backyard ceremony with three of our closest friends as witnesses. Rena negotiated with all of our vendors and make sure we were taken care of, and that we still got the special touches we had hoped for (and even some we didn’t know we were missing)! All in all, Rena is the reason we will remember our wedding day so fondly for the rest of our lives. It may not have gone how we had originally hoped, but it was perfect despite the situation.