Melanie Warner Spencer

Melanie Warner Spencer is an award-winning lifestyle journalist, blogger, etiquette expert, photographer and photo stylist. Currently Spencer is the editor of the award-winning magazines New Orleans Bride Magazine, and New Orleans Homes & Lifestyles Magazine, managing editor of the International Regional Magazine Association award-winning magazines, Acadiana Profile and Louisiana Life and editor of the parent company Renaissance Publishing’s books division (which includes serving as editor of the company’s first book, “The Essential Louisiana Cookbook” and the second in the series, “The Essential Louisiana Seafood Cookbook“). A co-author of the company’s 2016 release, “Essential New Orleans: 15 Places We Love,” Spencer wrote a personal essay about the historic New Orleans Fair Grounds horse racing track. Spencer also is a contributor to Biz New Orleans Magazine as its business etiquette columnist and writer of the Great Offices design feature and a regular guest expert on WWL-TV Channel 4, New Orleans’ CBS Affiliate. Her weekly blog at MyNewOrleans.Com, Bon Vivant, explores living the good life in New Orleans and beyond and she co-blogs and is the editor of Let Them Eat Cake, the official daily blog of New Orleans Bride Magazine. Spencer also is a certified sabreur through the Confrérie du Sabre d’Or [Brotherhood of the Golden Saber] and can open a bottle of champagne with one swift stroke of a saber.

For more than 17 years, Spencer’s work has appeared in various print and online daily newspapers, such as The Chicago Tribune, the Huffington Post, The Houston Chronicle and The Austin American-Statesman, as well as magazines and online publications around the globe, including Reuters in Australia, the United Kingdom and India (click here for links to stories). She was a staff features reporter and columnist at The Austin American-Statesman and a senior reporter at The Houston Chronicle.The former speechwriter for Texas first lady Anita Perry and the Texas Film Hall of Fame Awards, Spencer also is an accomplished speechwriter and public speaker and often gives presentations on wedding trends and tips, social and business etiquette, design, style, journalism and social media at universities and for businesses. She also has served multiple times as a moderator at the Texas Book Festival.

Originally from Kentucky, Spencer is a fine art and editorial photographer who has won awards for juried exhibitions and from the Texas Press Association. She also has been honored with awards from the Press Club of New Orleans.

Spencer is based in New Orleans and is vice president and board member of the Press Club of New Orleans. She also is a member of the New Orleans Photo Alliance. For editorial, speech and script writing, photography and photo styling or speaking engagements