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Training & Mentoring
for Venue Stylists

Become a successful venue stylist

Do you love weddings and parties?

Do you often scroll through Instagram or Pinterest looking at pictures of beautiful events?

Are you looking for a change of career or a side hustle?

Would you like the freedom to set your own hours and income?

Would you love to work as a venue stylist?

Would it feel good to know that you CAN have your dream job, after all?

If you answered YES, then you've come to the right place!

Liz & Doug have run their own successful venue styling company, Stressfree – The Venue Transformers, for 28 years.  They have created some of the most stylish and lavish weddings and parties both in the UK and overseas.

Their clients include numerous couples looking to them to create fabulous vistas for their weddings, celebrities wanting their houses transformed for parties, corporate clients wanting to wow their guests, through to venues wanting their spaces transformed beyond recognition!

They are now embarking on a new adventure to transfer their knowledge to anyone looking to become a venue stylist, giving them all the necessary information and support they need to set-up and become a successful wedding and party venue stylist. Everything from registering a business, sorting out the legals through to determining which services to sell, how to deliver them as well as the products to buy.

How we can help you

“Yesterday was so helpful…. the plan looks so detailed and organised - thank you!  I now have a pathway to getting started that feels manageable and a lot less intimidating”

Hannah

28 years ago, I had a dream ...

Image shows Liz Sexton who was one of the first wedding planners and stylists in England

When I started out in business in 1995, I was one of the first wedding planners and stylists in England, planning elaborate weddings across the UK and overseas, with a good smattering of celebrity weddings along the way, all of which helped my visibility in a growing market.

Early on, I established some of the service concepts used extensively today within the industry, including “On The Day” wedding co-ordination, now a staple of modern wedding planners.

Later, joined full-time by my husband Doug, we gradually shifted the focus of our business to wedding production and became one of the first dedicated wedding venue stylists in the UK!

On both occasions, Doug and I identified a gap in the market and used our creativity and management skills to set up and grow a successful business.  Along the way we have been widely quoted and interviewed on TV and radio, as well as for newspapers, magazines and on-line.  Increasingly, we also help venues starting out as wedding venues or looking to upsell their wedding and event services through venue styling.

Stressfree | The Venue Transformers is now mandated or recommended by many venues who appreciate our creativity, attention to detail, and bespoke solutions.

picture of Doug from stressfree the venue transformers

When the Covid pandemic hit, we had to postpone over 250 weddings and events, as well as accommodate new clients wanting to use our services.  As a result, we are now facing an exponential demand for venue styling services and are having to turn away three times as much business as we can take on.

Couples are even asking to join a “wait list” in case we become available for their wedding date, because they love what we do and can’t find a suitable alternative supplier!

With our enormous wealth of wedding and events knowledge (over 50 years combined), a reputation which is second to none plus a glut of enquiries and only a few businesses offering anything similar to us, we recognise there is another opportunity… an opportunity to pass on our knowledge, experience and expertise to a new generation.

Through this programme we aim to train a new generation of venue stylists and planners, so they can continue the journey I started in 1995.

We look forward to helping you become successful venue stylists!

Best wishes

Liz & Doug

So what is a venue stylist?

In many ways, it can be whatever you want it to be!

When I started out as a wedding planner, I began styling the venues by default.

I worked together with my clients to design the overall look of the event and curated the individual suppliers and elements involved.  This included everything from table centrepieces and chair covers, to elaborate lighting effects, draping and props.

We began to invest in our own equipment and Doug designed and built custom props.

We started small, hiring out backdrops and table candelabra, soon expanding into full draping solutions,  table centrepieces and theming.

Now our styling business Stressfree | The Venue Transformers has a warehouse full of kit, a comprehensive maintenance and procurement programme, and the events world is very much our oyster!

We no longer just style and dress venues, but fully transform them for weddings, parties, corporate hospitality, promotions and themed events.

Check out our Free Guides

Download our free guides to help you assess whether this programme is for you, as well as useful business basics

Meet Liz & Doug

Image shows Liz Sexton who is the founder and managing director of Stressfree - the Venue Transformers
Doug Showell is the creative director of Stressfree - the Venue Transformers

Liz Sexton is the founder and managing director of Stressfree – The Venue Transformers

Starting her career as a “big four” chartered accountant she specialised as a business consultant to help large organisations streamline their business processes and systems and run a tight ship. 

Liz soon identified a niche in the UK wedding market for wedding planning services in 1995.  Her business quickly became a big fish in a small pond, planning high profile weddings across the UK and overseas for couples who needed “a professional’s professional” to help them achieve the day of their dreams.

Under Liz’s directorship, the business became the “go to” company for celebrities and couples with big plans for both weddings and parties.   Subsequently moving her business to focus on venue styling, Stressfree still attracts the same calibre of clients.

Liz is very much a “details” person and for her, every job is personal.  She does not believe in short-cuts, and so, with everything she does – in both her business and private life – she is meticulous in making sure a plan works first time!   This detailed planning philosophy underpins the “Stressfree” aim of making events look stunning and feel effortless.

When Liz is not focused on her business interests, she can be found channelling her energy into gardening – growing countless fruit and vegetables – and playing the saxophone in a big band.

Doug Showell is the creative director of Stressfree – The Venue Transformers.

He comes from a family of artists and studied design and technology at University.  He is a qualified teacher and worked for many years in sales, selling IT services to large corporations.

Doug is a true creative and relishes the challenges that each and every event brings.  He has a love of engineering and is renowned for being able to find a practical solution to most problems!

His technical knowledge is second to none and the reason why so many venues recommend Stressfree to their clients for their event design and production.  They know that each and every scheme installed will be innovative in its design, fully thought through, compliant with Health & Safety and installed to protect the fabric of the venue.

Doug’s hobbies reflect his creative streak and include cooking, cartooning and making things!

Contact us

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Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved. Stressfree Business Limited. Registered in England and Wales no. 13095781.  Registered office Union House, 111 New Union Street, Coventry CV1 2NT.  Tel: 020 7610 1060.  Email: info@stressfreebusiness.co.uk