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  Want your business to be the top-listed Event Planning Service in New Orleans?

An ELEMENT History

The business that ultimately led to ELEMENT traces its roots back to the late 80s when George Young Sr started a tool and equipment rental franchise. As a kid Richard worked as a grunt for the family business: cutting the grass, running the concrete plant, and later driving a truck making deliveries (at 15 years old). George eventually sold this business to a twenty-something Richard. Richard re-branded the company as Young Equipment. Around the same time (somewhere in the 90s), Richard also started a company called Crescent Crescent City Sound and Lights with his friend Brian Mocklin. All this while he completed his Accounting degree and got accepted to Loyola Law school. Before suiting up as a lawyer, Richard purchased his father and brother Steven’s business, Crescent City Tents, in the late 90s. He started to stock upscale special event supplies.

His initial inventory included just 200 chairs and 20 tables. And there is where New Orleans Event Rental as we know it was born. Fast forward to 2005 and Katrina. Event Rental was uniquely positioned to establish base camps for police and rescue teams. The focus on logistics and flexibility would cement Event Rental’s status as a market leader in the region. The shortened moniker with a familiar martini glass logo and powder blue box trucks debuted shortly after. Event Rental continued on to become the region’s largest one-stop rental shop for events of all sizes with its memorably simple website address: YourEventDelivered.com.

After years of rapid growth, Event Rental outgrew its home in historic downtown Gretna. A complex of five disconnected buildings straddled two primarily residential blocks. The sales office was separated from the warehouse by a street and employees and residents had equal difficulty parking in the neighborhood. In 2013, the company headquarters relocated from Gretna into the Algiers section of New Orleans. The former Schwegmanns supermarket and bank, inside what was once the Tall Timbers Mall is now home. After extensive renovations to the long vacated building and grounds, the location was large enough to accommodate industry leading equipment for cleaning and maintenance of tents, linens, and dishware. For the first time in over a decade, all of the warehouse and office staff existed under one roof. There was enough space and momentum for Event Rental’s most dedicated and trusted employees to carve out the areas they needed to achieve event magic. A dedicated scenic and prop hall with a custom aerial pneumatic paint sprayer rig. A carpentry and woodworking shop. A mechanics shop. A welding shop. A graphic design and vinyl decal production studio. A sewing room. And a massive showroom that rivals even convention center trade show spaces. Other exciting new perks: real loading dock access for trucks, a literal straight shot to the Crescent City Connection, and ample parking for staff, clients, and even film production crews and trailers.

As the company began to settle into the completely renovated space, a surge of market confusion was being created by aggressive competitors. Several newcomers were adopting intentionally similar names, web addresses, ads and branding elements to siphon away unsuspecting brides and event planners who continued to look for Event Rental at its old location in Gretna. Richard and his right hand with creative and development, Christopher Anton decided to take a long look at their brand position and develop a new identity more closely aligned with the future of the business. Within six months, they magically created ELEMENT. This brand would be the culmination of Event Rental, Gulf Coast Tents, Henri Shindler Events, Marine Top Covers, and a few other smaller decor companies purchased by Richard over the years. Event Rental morphed into ELEMENT at the beginning of 2019. The official brand launch party on January 30, 2020 marked the 20th anniversary of the company as most know it.

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