STYLE SPOTLIGHT- With Tara Knott

Welcome back to the blog, we made a promise to create more blog content this year and it would appear we are on a role. We want to start a series of blog posts where we ‘Spotlight’ an element of our events and the people involved.

Styling our events is something we love, right from the beginning Tara of Tickety Boo has played a massive part in creating a visual element to our events to set them apart. Our focus is children and family, so creating a fun, engaging and colourful environment was our imediate aim. I personally live by the ‘Happy Baby, Happy Mum’ Motto, if they are happy I am happy. So making sure that we designed playful areas to wow and entertain the little people who attend our events was incredibly important to us. We often use themes or seasonal ideas with friendly looking characters in our branding so its instantly apparent that we are a family friendly event and are catering to children.

The Mama Meet and Market is an inclusive event, we are all different but we have one thing in common we are parents/family members and as an event we often use quotes around our venues as a way to engage with our older shoppers. That could be a relatable quote to make a tired parent laugh or a positive affirmation to remind someone that they are doing a bloody good job! We want our customers to feel welcome and special and we aim to keep improving our style to make our market goers feel a certain way when they are with us (and even when they leave us too) Who said aesthetics have to just be satisfying in a visual sense?!

I am looking back at our events over the past 2 years to take a look at how we began and how we’ve evolved, I have put together a bunch of images from some of the areas we have styled and how ‘style’ has enabled us to connect with our lovely shoppers. Interviewing Tara along the way so you can get to know her and find out why we think styling is so important…

Tara Knott, stylist and founder of Tickety boo events.

Why did you decide on a career in styling? 

I began my career in Events after I graduated, and quickly became hooked on the highs of bringing it from brief to delivery. With this I also loved the creative side and styling of the event. Transforming a space, working with production companies and entertainers allowed me to work in this creative way. I had an eye for the eclectic and began collecting and hiring out props and it all grew from there. I love the balance of the creativity and the satisfaction of stying a good Wedding or event, and working with a mix of venues makes each one different and exciting to plan. 

Tell me three words to describe the style of the MM&M? 
Stylish, playful and fun.

Looking back at our first event its hard to not mention the scale, of course we could never have this set up now as its far too small but we created a little wooden signpost in the carpark and created a reading snug for little ones to browse a selection of books. The event felt warm and cozy, with little areas around the room that would be injected with colour by using bunches of balloons or a small animal display. We used an old school desk to display our tiny goody bags and hot air balloons were apart of my first branding, so we scattered them across the ceiling to catch the eye of our little guests. It was beautifully and intricately styled by Tara and we welcomed over 350 people into our small room with just 20 stall holders.

The styling at this event was potentially the most important ever as first impressions count and our customers were able to see what we were standing for.

Why do you think styling is vital part of an event? 

The styling sets the tone of the events and helps to create the atmosphere, people that attend them love using the posing stations, and capturing their day. This in turn is shared on social media. We encourage stallholders to style their stands as it has high impact when visitors walk in. A well styled event is fun for your visitors, reflects your brand and is a great way to promote future events.

The styling for the event above was when our scale changed immensely, we entered the biggest venue so far at this point and in the hight of Summer we used the heat to inspire our style by going more vibrant using florals and greenery, bringing the outside indoors. This event saw the introduction of the ‘posing station’! A posing station to us is important as its a big visual area for families to take photos but its also a great way for visitors to remember us by and also give them good content for social media. In this day and age many people want to visit an event that has an ‘Instagramble’ factor to it, we try to have that at every event by giving them that backdrop for a little fun.

How would you say our event style has changed and developed since 2017?

The styling has evolved as the events have grown. The first one we styled was in a local hotel with little scope for large styled areas, so we worked with the space we had. Since the beginning we have always included a well styled area where visitors and families can pose for a photograph. Posing stations as we like to call them have got bigger each time. Every event has been styled differently, sometimes seasonally but always with attention to detail. Signage also plays a big part in our styling. It really is one of our favourite parts of the planning. 

Styling doesn’t have to be overpowering, when we hosted our first event at The Roundhouse we let the venue do the talking as the listed building is so incredibly beautiful boasting bare brick walls and beams like you can only imagine. We needed to do very little to set the tone, so we dropped bunches of colourful floristry ribbon from post to post in the Library but kept our larger market space completely free from styling, instead we put more effort into our entrance area and posing station to make sure when entering the event our shoppers knew exactly what to expect from us. We used a huge balloon arch and pink roll top bath to create the funnest ‘posing station’ to date!

What is the best thing about your job? 

Working with likeminded people and small business owners, having the freedom to be creative, and balancing work and home life. I love that I can manage my own time and that I have a career I can work around my young family. 

At a recent event of ours we used styling to interact with our customers, inspiring them to get creative etc We love to do this, we spend lots of times planning where in the event we can put the right message to engage our customer and those involved in the event.

As times gone on we feel we have found our brand, this then comes through our styling but just changing small parts to make every event feel different and fresh. We hope that our styling delivers the aims we had even right at the very beginning of our journey. Slowly as we’ve gotten more creative or as the scale gets larger our main focus is still on making sure that throughout your time with us you feel inspired and that our little ones are engaged and filled with fun.