Today we’d like to introduce you to Alexis.
Hi Alexis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Ren & Co. Wedding and Event Planning began with planning weddings for friends. What started as helping a friend bring their wedding vision to life quickly turned into realizing just how much we loved being a part of these incredibly meaningful moments. We loved the details, the logistics, the design, the problem-solving, the behind-the-scenes work, but most of all, we loved the relationships that came with it.
One wedding led to another, and soon friends of friends were reaching out. Then their families. Ren & Co. began growing almost entirely through word of mouth and the people who trusted us enough to tell someone else about us.
And that community connection has always been at the heart of who we are and how we got to where we are today!
As we continued to grow, so did our reach. What began with friends’ weddings eventually took us across states, new markets, and even international destinations. We’ve had the honor of planning weddings and events in places we once never imagined our little business would reach.
Today, Ren & Co. is the result of years of saying yes to opportunities, investing in relationships, learning from every event, and trusting that the right people would continue to find us.
We are incredibly proud of how far we’ve come, but even more grateful for every person who helped us get here.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
From the outside, wedding planning can look effortless. Beautiful venues, perfectly styled tables, incredible florals, and every detail looking exactly as it should. But behind those beautiful images is an industry that comes with its own set of challenges, and we believe it’s important to be honest about them.
1. AI & Unrealistic Wedding Expectations
One of the biggest challenges we’re seeing right now is the rise of AI-generated wedding imagery.
AI can create absolutely stunning wedding photos, but it can also create completely unrealistic expectations. A couple can show us an image of a massive floral installation, a custom-built structure, elaborate tablescapes, a luxury venue, and thousands of tiny details and say, “This is what we want.”
The problem? That image may not exist in reality, or it may represent a wedding budget that is significantly higher than the couple’s.
We spend a lot of time helping couples understand the difference between inspiration and production reality. We can absolutely take the feeling, colors, textures, and overall vision from an image and turn it into something real, but we also have to work within the limitations of the venue, available vendors, production timelines, labor, and budget.
2. Budgets That Don’t Match the Vision
This is one of the hardest conversations we have, and one of the most important.
We never want to tell a couple, “You can’t have that.” Instead, we want to help them understand what their priorities are and what is possible within their budget.
Sometimes the vision and the budget simply don’t align. Our job is to be honest about that early, rather than allowing a couple to spend months planning a wedding that ultimately isn’t financially realistic.
3. The Cost of Everything Has Increased
The wedding industry has changed dramatically. Labor, transportation, rentals, florals, food, staffing, production, and materials have all become more expensive.
What may have been achievable for a certain budget several years ago may look very different today.
We have to constantly balance creating an incredible experience while being realistic about what things actually cost.
4. Couples Don’t Always See the Work Behind the Scenes
A wedding planner’s job doesn’t end when the pretty tables are set.
We are communicating with vendors, reviewing contracts, building timelines, solving problems, coordinating deliveries, managing setup, handling emergencies, answering questions, keeping everyone on schedule, and making hundreds of decisions that the couple may never even know happened.
The goal is for the couple to never see the chaos. However, again, is always a challenge to tell the couple why having a planner is essential.
As you know, we’re big fans of Ren & Co. Wedding and Event Planning. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Ren & Co. is an award-winning wedding and event planning company specializing in elevated, highly personalized celebrations where intentional design meets meticulous logistics-creating an experience that feels effortless for the people actually celebrating. We are known for military weddings, luxury barn style weddings, and destination weddings. In addition, we have produced events such as Mitzvahs for large name brand clients.
What were you like growing up?
Growing up, I was always drawn to creativity, competition, and anything that kept me moving. I loved hockey and spent countless hours on the ice. At the same time, I was a state-ranked figure skater, which taught me discipline, determination, and the importance of paying attention to the smallest details.
But my creative side was always there, too.
I loved designing clothes. I would sit and dream up outfits, then actually make and sew clothes for my Barbies. I didn’t just want to play with them, I wanted to create their entire look. I was constantly thinking about colors, fabrics, outfits, and how everything came together.
And somehow, despite the figure skating, designing, sewing, and love for all things creative… I was still very much a tomboy who enjoyed being on the back of her dad’s motorcycles. Riding with my dad was always one of the best childhood memories of mine.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.renandco.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renandcoplanning?stkn=MnQwZDIzbXFwNGg5&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1JhuH9LoNo/?mibextid=wwXIfr
