FXBG Neighbors Podcast
Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast
FXBG Neighbors Podcast
EP #71 Tables, Chairs, Tears: How a Party Space Became a Lifeline
A local venue with a global truth: when a space is built with purpose, people feel it. We sit down with Megan Stewart of REIGN The Venue to uncover how a daughter’s caregiving mission became a gathering place that’s transparent, flexible, and relentlessly welcoming. From weddings and quinceañeras to baby showers and community events, REIGN streamlines the hard parts—pricing, planning, and logistics—so hosts can actually enjoy their day.
Megan walks us through the heartbeat of the business: clear, upfront packages that fit real budgets, a tour-first approach to tailor the room to the moment, and thoughtful details that remove friction. Think built-in sound with an iPad for playlists, a projector for slideshows, a stage for toasts, and an outdoor area for extra breathing room. Caterers aren’t left guessing, either—REIGN’s retrofitted prep trailer provides the sanitation and staging space so service flows without a full kitchen. Add in a vendor list, decor-driven Platinum options with photo or 360 booths, and you’ve got a venue that adapts to you, not the other way around.
We also tackle the practical questions planners care about most: real parking options near Caroline Street and Princess Anne, flexible tech for those skipping a DJ, and why transparent pricing prevents heartbreak. Megan’s path—supported by the City of Fredericksburg, the Chamber, and the Virginia Black Chamber—doubles as a how-to for entrepreneurs who think their dream might be “too big.” Her passion for PCOS advocacy and weekend Harley rides rounds out a profile of a founder who builds with courage and leads with care.
If you’re planning an event in Fredericksburg or just love stories of community-powered business, this one’s for you. Subscribe for more local brand spotlights, share with a friend who’s venue-hunting, and leave a quick review to help others find the show.
Megan Stewart
REIGN the Venue
hello@crowned-ventures.com
+1 804-867-8396
1409 Princess Anne St, Fredericksburg, VA, United States, Virginia
This is the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Dori Stewart.
Speaker 02:Welcome back to another episode of the FXBG Neighbors Podcast, where we share the stories of our favorite local brands. Joining me today, we have Megan Stewart with REIGN the Venue. Megan, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 01:Yeah, thank you so much, Dori. And I mean, I love the last name.
Speaker 02:Yes, yes. We've got the Stewart's here today representing. Awesome. Well, I'm excited to get to know you and learn about your business. So let's start there. Share with us a little bit about REIGN the Venue.
Speaker 01:Yeah, absolutely. So um started REIGN the Venue and what we're going on two years now. So last January, not this past January, but last January, we opened had the grand opening of REIGN the Venue. And REIGN is just a space for um, you know, anybody to host any sort of event. Um, we're talking birthdays, we've had a ton of weddings, um, quinetas, um, we have had baby showers, all sorts of stuff has happened here at REIGN. So we really wanted to make a space that like anybody can can you know host an event here.
Speaker 02:I love the flexibility of the space and how you're able to accommodate multiple different types of events. I love that. Yeah, absolutely. Well, congratulations on hitting that two-year milestone. That's a big deal. Congratulations. Thank you. So tell us about your backstory. I'd love to hear your journey and what led you to start REIGN the Venue.
Speaker 01:Yeah, so REIGN actually came about kind of um not like focused thought, right? So um my mother actually has dementia. And in that, my grandmother also had dementia as well, um, passed away a couple of years ago. And my mom's healthcare um kind of like told her that she wasn't going to be, she wasn't going to qualify for in-home or out-of-home care because of her pre-existing dementia. So, with that, like I saw my aunt go through a lot of struggles when it came down to caring for my my grandmother in-home and um a lot of struggles and a lot of financial kind of, you know, put putting putting her back some steps. So I really wanted to have something that could bring in some added um finances for us just to make sure that I can keep my mother at home um during her journey with dementia. Um, REIGN has definitely so I absolutely appreciate like the Fredericksburg community, um, Stafford community, everybody that has come together to, you know, host events here because it's there is a purpose behind um the funds that we we receive. Like they're going to being able to care for my mom.
Speaker 02:Wow. Wow. Well, I'm really sorry to hear about your mom and your grandmom, but uh what started out as a side hustle has turned out to be um good for both your family and the community. So um, yeah. So uh there's there's good that has come out of Reign the Venue. I love I love that so much. So let me ask you this. Do you find that there are any myths or misconceptions about either the industry or about your business?
Speaker 01:Yeah, um, so I would say kind of a misconception is people often come to me and they're like, How in the world did you do this? Like this is so big. This is so, it's at a level that people can't grasp, that they could do it themselves. Um I think that like if you put your mind to it, you most definitely can. Um the starting of REIGN, of course, you know, taking the steps was not easy, but if you use your community, um, let's see, City of Fredericksburg, they were a help. Um, Fredericksburg Chamber was a help. Um uh Virginia Chamber, Black Chamber were they were helps. Like everybody that I reached out to to get guidance in starting REIGN was absolutely amazing. So um I think that any business that you start here in in the Fredericksburg area, you just need to know who to reach out to for assistance.
Speaker 02:Yeah, that's a great lesson and great advice to use your resources that are available to you and reach out and ask for guidance and assistance. And there's so many people in the community that love to help small businesses. Yeah, absolutely. So walk me through a little bit of the process if someone is looking at renting event space. I I was doing a little bit of stalking on your website because I am in the process of planning an event myself. And so you it it seems that it's more than just a space. So walk me through uh, you know, someone who might be interested in renting a space and and what all you offer.
Speaker 01:Yeah, absolutely. So um, of course, like you can find us on all social media platforms. Um, that's normally uh surprisingly, Instagram is where we get a lot of our clients from. So um, somebody from Instagram will go to the website. Um, I try and be very transparent. Um I don't find it easy when like I have to go searching for information on a business, whether it's their contact information or their pricing, all of that stuff. So I try to make things very simple. So on our website has all the pricings and packages. Um, we do request that if you've never been to REIGN , that you come for a tour. So somebody could book a tour um on our website. And we have three um tour hosts, myself, Sharice Payton and Michelle Reddick are all um tour hosts. So during a tour, we kind of also learn like what kind of event are you hosting? Are you looking for um we have three different packages? We have the silver package, which is just tables, chairs, the venue, kind of how um you can see in the background here, kind of what you're seeing here. Um, that's what you get in the silver package. Then we have the next package up, which is the gold package, which is tables, chairs, venue plus lenons. Um, and we do black or white lenens in-house. Um, and then also a stage backdrop. So the stage is over here, and we've got um a backdrop stand. And then if we we get often that people are wanting, you know, they don't want to decorate themselves. So we do offer our platinum package, which is comes with all the decor. Um it comes with, you know, tables, chairs, venue, lenons, charger plates, table runners, table centerpiece, backdrops, balloons, photo booth. Um, it's either a photo booth or a 360 photo booth, um, uh backdrop for the photo booth. Um comes comes with the, you know, you don't if you didn't want to add anything to it, you don't have to. Um, we even offer the fact that you don't have to have a DJ. We do, you know, we would love for you to have a DJ, but we understand that DJs can be expensive. But as you can see right over here in the corner, um, we do have a mixing board and an iPad on the wall that's connected to the speakers that are in the building that you can play a Spotify or an Apple um playlist. We do offer also offer the projector. Um, we have a lot of people that create you know slideshows for their events, and they're able to project that up on the screen here. Um, which you can't see, you know, behind me is we also have an outdoor space um heading out back, which can includes a like a gazebo area, covered area, and then we just had a new addition. So REIGN does not offer a kitchen. Um, we do have a refrigerator in the back room, but since we often get caterers that are like, we need a like a prep space, you know, a space that we can wash our hands and prep food. Um we do ask that no cooking happens happens on site, but if you need a prep, an actual prep space, um, there is a uh trailer that we had retrofitted to be a prep space out back in the um in the patio area as well. So um just we've really tried to make REIGN very like accessible for everybody, right? Like if you came to us and said, again, you don't have a DJ, okay, use the music. Um if you don't have a caterer, we have a list of caterers on our website that are very um willing and able to work here REIGN . So we just try to make things very accessible for everybody.
Speaker 02:Amazing, amazing. Yeah, you offer so much, and I imagine uh so many people appreciate that you've got it all taken care of for them because it can be a lot of work planning and you've you've thought of all the details. I love that. Thank you. So um I also appreciate that you offer the pricing on your website. I love that transparency, and I'm with you on that. Sometimes you're like searching everywhere, and you know, it's it's it could potentially be a waste of everybody's time if it's you know out of budget. So this way people have a good idea of what to expect. So I really appreciate that you do that.
Speaker 01:Thank you. Yeah. I I just think about like especially brides, right? They're calling all over, um, all over the place trying to find a perfect venue to have their wedding, and everything's like they go for a tour and then they learn that either dates not available or that it's way out of their price range. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 02:I love that. So let me ask you this. Clearly, you are a very busy woman running your business. So when you're not working hard on your business, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 01:Um, okay, so there's a couple of things. Well, this may sound like more work, but I also have a nonprofit um organization dedicated to polycystic ovarian syndrome. And um, in that I love working on that. Like that is something that I truly like like it's my passion, it's what I want to be doing, and all of that stuff. So um absolutely love doing that. And then just recently, um, I joined um the Harley crew. So I purchased a Harley. So my family um and I ride motorcycles. That is so much fun.
Speaker 02:I love that. You've got a daredevil streak in you. Somewhat. Somewhat. So, what is something that you wish the listeners knew about REIGN the Venue?
Speaker 01:Yeah, absolutely. So we get tons of questions all the time. One, um, the number one question we get is parking. Everybody's always asking about parking down here. So um I think that knowing that we have options for parking is important um for people. So we've got the street parking, we've got the parking lot over here in between us and Red Dragon Brewery. Um, we've got a parking lot on 1414 Caroline Street, and we have a parking lot over across the street at 1406 Princess Ann. So plenty of parking. Um, and again, the number one thing that I want to make sure people understand about Reign is that we are truly accessible. Like we we prices are accessible, you know, features are accessible, parking's accessible, everything's accessible. Um, and we truly want to make this as easy as possible. Nice, nice.
Speaker 02:I appreciate that. So if the listeners are interested in connecting with you and want to learn more, where can they find you?
Speaker 01:Absolutely. So we are on Instagram, which is you know, Instagram, and then our um our uh profile is REIGN , and then it's spelled R-E-I-G-N underscore FXBG. We are on um we're on Facebook, REIGN the Venue. Um, also our website is probably where everybody just wants to go to see all prices um and all of our features. So that's www.reignthevenue.com.
Speaker 02:Amazing. Megan, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today and sharing REIGN the Venue with us. Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Speaker 01:Thanks.
Speaker 00:Thank you for listening to the Fredericksburg Neighbors Podcast. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to FXBG NeighborsPodcast.com.