This week is a spotlight on our head dresser I consider myself to be incredibly lucky, in as much as I really love my job! When people ask me exactly what it is I do for a living, the response is generally “Oh wow! How cool!”
I style and dress venues for special events. Generally weddings, but also birthday parties, Christmas events, awards ceremonies and festivals. We even transformed a venue last year for a divorce celebration!
Our work takes us around the country, our workplace is always different and the brief is rarely the same.
We regularly find ourselves dressing wonderful old barns, marquees big and small, conference centres, quirky old village halls, hotels, forests and very occasionally peoples garages! The thought of a nine to five office job terrifies me!
Increasing numbers of clients want the décor of their event to reflect their own particular tastes and personalities, and with the advent of websites like Pinterest and Instagram, the pool of inspirational imagery is ever growing!
After having spent weeks working with a client from their initial enquiry, meeting them at the venue to discuss ideas, designing the layout, choosing the best colours of fabric, selecting the most fitting props and furniture and figuring out the best way to install it all, it is incredibly satisfying to step back and look at the venue in all its transformed glory! The initial brief fulfilled. When working on a wedding, seeing the brides face light up makes all the hard work well worth it!
Someone asked me recently if I ever get upset at seeing all that hard work being taken down after a few hours and packed away after such an effort to plan and install it. My answer surprised them. “NO! That’s one of my favourite parts of this entire process!”
Everyone involved in the build-up to an event goes to so much effort for that one special moment. Those few hours of celebration and appreciation…and then it’s gone. A temporary thing of beauty. A large scale demonstration of the impermanence of all things and a reminder to us all to enjoy the moment while it’s there…because tomorrow, it’s gone!
How much or how little we dress the venue often depends in the venue itself. Old timber framed barns, for example, are often perfectly beautiful as they are. However, they can sometimes feel a little cavernous and may need some drapery to soften the ceiling and lower it a bit. The aim is not to cover up the lovely old beams, but to add something special to them and make the venue more cosy.
One of my favourite jobs was at Firle Riding School, near Lewes in West Sussex.
