Reviewed On 4/02/2016 Mia L My husband and I planned our wedding in just under two months. We explored several venue options between Stafford (where we live now) and Richmond (where we’re from), and completely fell in love with the Renaissance after the first visit. Tommy and Emmett were amazing throughout the entire process. Tommy was responsive to all my questions and Emmett met with me to go over all of the wedding planning details that I hadn’t even thought of. Despite it being planned so quickly, the wedding itself went very smoothly, thanks to Emmett. Emmett, Jon, and Precious took care of so much behind the scenes that I didn’t even have to worry about. Setup and cleanup were included, the food was OUTSTANDING, the ballroom was GORGEOUS, and the prices were very transparent and reasonable. The staff was so kind, helpful, and accommodating. They did everything they could to make me and my husband feel special and CALM on our wedding day. After the ceremony, we were shown to the bridal suite where there was WINE and CRABCAKES and various hors d’oeuvres waiting for us. What a pleasant surprise, just what we needed! Being a couple with a big family with lots of young kids, we had a few strange requests like setting up a play area, and at one point I remember seeing one of the staff members sitting with the kids playing in the tunnel with them. It was so refreshing. They really went above and beyond to make our guests feel comfortable. This place truly is a hidden gem. Emmett, Tommy, Jon, Precious, and all the staff at the Renaissance made this a day that I will look back on so fondly. My husband and I recommend them 100%.

Everything was so incredible!!! We loved it all and Jackie and Chris looked so happy the whole evening. Thanks for all your guidance and planning!!! And what a kind, wonderful staff you have there! Good thing Christmas is this week or I wouldn't know what to do with the extra time. Thanks for everything and Merry Christmas! Sandy (Martin)

Erica wrote you a Review (5.0/5.0): - 08/24/2015 6:23 pm × "After having my wedding reception at The Renaissance, I am a believer that fairytales are real. From the moment I stepped into the foyer of The Renaissance, the ambience blew me away. It was everything that I had ever imagined for my classic-elegance themed wedding. Mr. Tommy met me in foyer and from there he showed me the spacious area for cocktail hour, and then he lead me to the private bridal suite. When he opened the door to the ballroom, I could have passed out. The high ceilings, the drapes on the window, and the breath-taking chandelier made me fall in love with The Renaissance. At my tasting, I met Ms. Precious, who is head of the serving staff. She made such a great impression by the way she set up the table and tended to anything I may have needed...and that was just for the tasing, Fairytales are real!

LATASHA wrote you a Review (5.0/5.0): - 08/12/2015 9:54 am × "The wedding and reception were absolutely spectacular!!! The guests are still raving about it!! I selected the beautiful Renaissance in Richmond, VA as my Wedding and Reception Venue. When you walk in you see the high ceilings and wonderful historical flare that provided a memorable setting for our Wedding Day. It’s a magical place to have any event and the perfect setting for a wedding full of class and elegance. The Wedding ceremony and reception was held in the Main Ballroom, which was perfectly located in close proximity to the dining and bar areas. The beautiful chandelier hanging in the Ballroom was a wonderful addition adding just the right amount of lighting and ambiance. My food was also catered by the Renaissance and let me just say EVERYTHING was Deeeelicious. Everyone had wonderful things to say about the food and also the professional catering team. They were wonderful and very attentive. Tommy Waters and The Renaissance Family….Hugs and Kisses…xoxoxoxo You haven’t seen the last of me…lol What a great experience….I can’t stop talking about it and I can’t wait to share my pictures. I’m full of Joy  Thank you Mrs LaTasha Anderson "

12/31/2014 Member Since: 7/30/2014 New Year's Eve Wedding Reception RVA posted 5/31/2015 Every detail that I dreamed of for my special night was brought to reality by the guys at the Renaissance! My groom and I were married in a private ceremony in Hawaii, but came back home to RVA to celebrate with family and friends on New Year's Eve. We wanted a festive, "old Richmond" soiree that was classy and glamorous and the guys at the Renaissance were able to provide that and more. We fell in love with the Renaissance when we were shopping for venues because of the beautiful ballroom and dance floor. A New Year's Eve party needed a band and plenty of room for dancing, plus we had a confetti cannon go off at midnight, with a champagne flute for every guest...it was perfection! Our theme was LET LOVE SPARKLE and the Renaissance was full of all the glitters on the evening of our reception. I felt like a glamorous star out of an old Hollywood film! Customer service from the Renaissance during the months leading up to our event was impeccable...they treated me as though they truly valued my opinion and took time to get to know my groom and me. Everyone at the Renaissance was always easy to get in touch with and was accommodating to drop-in visits with photographers and family members who wanted to see the site in advance, plus were open to answering any of my questions when I had them. Also, I should mention that my guests are still talking about how delicious the food was months later. I am extremeley pleased with my experience and would recommend the Renaissance to any friend or family member...and already have!

Knottie70233751 Wedding: 5/9/2015 Member Since: 9/2/2014 Richmond's best secret! posted 6/9/2015 What can I say about the Renaissance that has not already been said? I looked all over Richmond for the location for our wedding/reception and when I walked into the Renaissance I knew I had found the perfect setting for our big day. From the grand foyer and the incredible bar to the absolutely stunning ballroom, the entire venue is breathtakingly beautiful. The food here is also AMAZING. Our wedding was a month ago and we are still receiving calls from our guests raving about the fabulous food and service! But what really sets The Renaissance a part from the rest is the amazing staff. From my initial meeting with Darius I could tell that the people here were special; this would be confirmed at my follow-up meetings with Tommy and Emmett. Tommy is professional, creative, exceedingly kind and incredibly witty; he felt less like a vendor and more like a good friend. He really took the time to get to know us and understand our vision for the big day, making our wedding personal, intimate, and absolutely perfect. Another HUGE plus of this venue is that our contracted price included day-of-planning from the incredibly talented Emmett Hickam (of Richmond Bridal Consulting). Emmett and Tommy are like the Olympic wedding dream team and working with them was incredible. They both have tons of connections throughout the industry and were able to really personalize our entire experience. They consistently went above and beyond to cater to all of our needs and to ensure that our wedding was absolutely perfect. I honestly cannot say enough positive things about our experience. From start to finish the entire process was almost effortless, shockingly affordable and lacked the last minute financial surprises that we feared from reading reviews of other venues. The Renaissance really is a hidden gem and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in hosting the perfect event with minimal personal stress.

Wedding: 12/27/2014 Member Since: 1/19/2014 Renaissance Ceremony/Reception posted 3/23/2015 (updated 3/24/2015) The Renaissance was an incredible location for ceremony and reception. The staff was absolutely wonderful-they were available promptly whenever I needed assistance and they provided me with more details than I ever could have thought of on my own! Tommy was absolutely fantastic and he was the sweetest person to work with. I knew I could count on him whenever I needed something or any recommendations. The night of the wedding the staff was fantastic at keeping the guests and myself happy! The food and drinks were delicious and the place was decorated PERFECTLY.

Truly, Richmond's BEST Kept Secret posted 12/11/2014 While shopping for a venue there were a few must haves for us, well, me.. It must be indoors and it must have a chandelier, a big one. It had to be fabulous and affordable. It was also vital that we had an all-inclusive, one-stop-shop; I wanted the event of our lifetime to be stress free for everyone involved, no driving from ceremony to reception, no caterer, no clean up duties. The Renaissance went above and beyond. The Grand Foyer and oak bar are absolutely stunning. Chandeliers? The Magnificent Roosevelt Ballroom has THREE ginormous and equally gorgeous chandeliers. The naked venue alone is enough to blow guests away! And after Tommy and Emmett were done working their magic, our guests were in awe! Our first visit to The Renaissance was a tour with Darius, he was very cool, welcoming, and down-to-earth - we knew that day it was our spot. I then began corresponding and making plans with Tommy, he is such a joy to work with. Hilarious and friendly, but also such a professional with vast knowledge and experience in the wedding industry. I felt like I was working with a friend, he was just as excited for the big day as me! The entire process was special and personal. As an added bonus The Renaissance gave us the most amazing wedding planner you could dream of, shout out to Emmett! This man just exudes confidence, he knows exactly what he is doing, it's magical. I gave him my vision and not only did he bring it to life, he exalted it! I truly felt like a queen dealing with Tommy and Emmett, they literally granted my every request and made every single step fun and easy. Both of them were consistently available for me at all times, all it took was a simple call, email, even text!! Everything about The Renaissance deserves five stars - the staff, the service, the amazing setting, the food and drinks, the planning, the attention, everything was perfect! It truly is a one-stop-shop, and if they don't have it Tommy or Emmett will make sure you get it! service quality value

Amazing Experience posted 12/9/2014 When me and my (then) fiancé visited the Renaissance for the first time, we knew the very moment we stepped foot inside of the building that this was the place to have our wedding! Everything was so elegant, vintage, and just absolutely gorgeous about this place. Tommy and Emmett were so wonderful to work with throughout the whole planning process, and they were always there to answer any questions that we had. Tommy really helped with recommending things to us which helped us stay within our budget, and we didn't feel pressured into getting things just so they could make a dollar off of us, which was really big in my book! The food was amazing, and the staff was so friendly and professional the entire day during the ceremony and the reception. It's been a little over a month now since our wedding, and some of my guests are still talking about how nice everyone was, and how much of a good time they had! If I could relive my wedding day over I wouldn't change a thing about it. I'm so grateful that we were able to work with such wonderful people to make our day special! I recommend The Renaissance to anyone looking to have the best unforgettable wedding experience ever.

I wanted it to be magnificent. Somewhere people would walk in and automatically think “wow”… BUT I did not want to stress about the details. I wanted a place where I could not think about the wedding for months but show up on the day and be floored by the perfection. Seems to good to be true right??? I thought so too. Until I found The Renaissance. Tommy and his staff made me feel so comfortable and confident that this would be the best day of my life. I did not have to worry about a thing the day of the wedding. They coordinated with all of my outside venues to make sure everything was set up perfectly. I could not thank them enough. Nancy Meissel Burns posted 7/23/2014 (By Nancy Meissel Burns)

There were many reasons why we chose The Renaissance but the most important to us were the value for what we were paying and the helpfulness of Tommy, Darius and their staff. They were willing to work with me to make my requests happen so that the traditions that were important to us could happen during our reception. Tommy helped connect us with recommended vendors and was there to keep me calm whenever I felt like I was getting behind. Through The Renaissance, we were able to work with Emmett from Richmond Bridal Consulting. Between Tommy and Emmett, I was in great hands! We have heard from many of our guests – and some of those that work at The Renaissance – that our wedding was the best one that they have ever attended. Thank you Tommy, Darius and Emmett! Our wedding was the absolute best time of our lives and more than we ever could have dreamt. Wedding: 05/25/2014 “experp from Wedding Wire”

Wonderful Experience posted 11/11/2013 (By Debbie Marshall) Just want to let you know that the Marshall/Secor wedding was fantastic!! We all had a blast and our guests just raved about the food and the facility. Your staff went over & above to do everything that we asked of them. We didn’t even need to ask – they anticipated our needs. Somehow one of our table signs got lost & we took a picture from the ones we were displaying and Emmett (or someone wonderful) took it and fixed it for a table picture for us. So great! I don’t know if any of the staff told you about Kristen & Craig’s dance but Jon video’d it and put it on You Tube and everyone loves it!

The Best of the Best! posted 1/28/2012 (By Lisa Ware) The second we stepped into the Renaissance Center my now husband and I knew it was the perfect place for our wedding reception. We visited several venues before coming to the Renaissance and did not get the instant feeling of comfort we had walking into the Renaissance. The building is absolutely GORGEOUS and I could immediately picture the perfect reception. Tommy was the most amazing person in the world to work with on planning a wedding and my family and I immediately fell in love with him. It didn't even take me the time it took to walk to the car to tell my Dad the Renaissance was what I wanted. I believe my dad booked the next day! Several months after booking our reception, my Dad became extremely ill. It was incredibly hard to be excited about my wedding during that difficult time. The only thing I wanted was for my Dad to be a part of our big day. I cannot even express the amount of support and CARE that Tommy and the staff at the Renaissance gave to my family . Tommy added the element of excitement back into our wedding and I knew that my dad would pull through. My father was actually in and out of the hospital up until a couple months before our big day, but he pulled through and was able to dance with me in the gorgeous ballroom at the Renaissance, the only thing he talked about while sick, dancing with me on my wedding day. Every single last detail of the reception went smoothly. Words cannot express how BEAUTIFUL the ballroom looked when my husband and I got to take our sneak peak before the guests gathered for dinner. Every request that I had for Tommy and the Renaissance was honored. I said I wanted a candy bar and Tommy took my vision and brought it to life. We never once had to worry about anything on our special day because the staff at the Renaissance anticipated our every need and took the best care of us. I know some people look back on their wedding and can name something that went wrong, but I can honestly say that in regards to our reception, there was not one single thing that went even remotely wrong. We got married last June, and not a day has gone by where friends and family have not told us how our wedding was "the best of the best." We had a gorgeous atmosphere, an amazing band, delicious food, and great company.

Absolute Perfection posted 1/11/2012 (By Leilani Giles) When we were searching for places to host our wedding, we looked EVERYWHERE! These were our priorities: 1. Ceremony & reception in one venue w/ample parking for all our guests 2. Inside so as not to worry about weather 3. Centrally located, easily accessible with plenty of hotels to choose from, etc. 4. Something beautiful that reflected our taste & that our guests would find beautiful 5. Ability to have a live band for the reception being mindful to know that all of our guests may not share our love of live music. We did not want them to feel like they needed to leave early to get away from the ‘noise’ that would surely come if we were in too cramped an area or one that acoustically would be too loud to enjoy. We wanted to be sure that there were areas that guests could slip out to but still feel that they were experiencing the celebratory energy that is at any reception 6. Limited outside vendors so we were hoping for a facility that would have an inside catering service & was able to handle coordinating all other vendors 7. Reasonably priced 8. We don’t plan large scale events such as this every day and needed a staff that would be able to help guide us through planning every detail. We were drawn to the Renaissance Conference Center by the beautiful photos from previous weddings as well as reviews that raved about the facility. They were not available on the original date we had in mind but thought it worth seeing. We just fell in love with the architecture & the warm reception we received from the events coordinator, Tommy Waters. After all the other various appointments at other facilities, we kept coming back to the Renaissance. No other place had everything we had on our list of priorities. Although beautiful, other places always had an aspect that we would have needed to compromise on. In the end, we decided to back up our wedding by a week so we could hold our wedding at the Renaissance. What do you get when you plan a wedding here? Everything. What do you compromise on? Absolutely nothing. We were amazed at how brilliantly the Renaissance handled every aspect of our wedding. I’m a professional pianist/music director & I work in professional theaters. One thing I know about is how important every little decision is, every detail that has to be looked at under a microscope & how hiring the right people collectively & ultimately decides the success of an event. What the Renaissance has is a brilliant, friendly & a well-oiled machine in their staff. They are thoughtful, professional & warm. They understand that your wedding is one of the most important events you plan in your life & they bend over backwards to make sure you feel special. They thoughtfully help you make decisions that fit your personality as well as your wallet & help you find the right vendors to use for flowers, etc. First impressions are critical & they wow your guests from the moment they arrive & will continue to provide flawless service to you & your guests throughout the day. They work tirelessly to make sure any blips that may occur are handled immediately with grace, dignity & the highest level of professionalism so as not to disrupt your perfect day. We have not stopped receiving compliments on our wedding. Every guest told us many time over the following: it was beautiful, the food was amazing & it was the most fun they’ve had at a wedding. So, what are you waiting for? Book the Renaissance now! It will be one decision you will never regret.

Fairy tale wedding! posted 12/9/2011 (By Anya Bayford) If you are looking for the royal treatment, choose The Renaissance Conference Center for your event! The entire experience was a pleasure. They take care of the planning and coordination of the event to make everything as stress-free as possible (as the bride, I really appreciated that)! The ballroom is breathtaking and they do an amazing job with the table placement and decor. All of the food was delicious and the presentation was absolutely beautiful. Probably the most memorable thing is how they go out of their way to make the bride and groom feel special, not just on the day of the event (and believe me, they were so amazing and attentive), but during the entire process. If you are looking for an elegant venue and a first class experience, I would definitely recommend the Renaissance Conference Center.