Sometimes a business doesn’t begin with a business plan.
Sometimes it begins with a feeling that you’re ready for something different.
After 25 years in teaching, I left full-time teaching in 2022.
I’d studied art, taught art, loved making things and had always been drawn to beautiful details. So, almost without realising it, I started building something of my own.
That became Teacups & Wishes.
What started with my love of vintage china grew into a wedding and event business, providing beautiful mismatched china
which then led to working with more and more DIY couples.
And I realised something.
They didn’t necessarily need someone to take over their wedding.
They just needed someone they could trust to help bring all the pieces together.
So I started offering DIY venue dressing.
And I absolutely loved it and still do.
There was something about walking into an empty room and seeing the possibilities.
Moving tables.
Creating little details.
Styling the spaces.
Making everything work together.
Watching the couple walk in and seeing their faces.
I realised that transforming a space was something I really wanted to do more of.
Then came a moment that changed everything.
I was at a wedding where I saw draping in a completely different way.
I came across the work of Mia Sylvia, and something clicked.
The fabric wasn’t simply decoration.
It could completely change a room.
It could create softness, movement, drama and atmosphere. It could make an ordinary space feel extraordinary.
And for some reason, that moment stayed with me.
Inspired by other drapists, I began attending workshops with Mia Sylvia and Mae Dae Events in wedding draping and started, on my own, experimenting, learning how fabric behaves, how to create different folds and shapes, how to work with different spaces and, most importantly, how to make draping feel intentional rather than simply putting fabric up.
And that is where Draped Elegance began.
It feels like a natural progression of everything I’ve done before.
The creativity from my art background.
The attention to detail from teaching.
The wedding experience I’ve gained through Teacups & Wishes.
The love of transforming spaces through DIY venue dressing.
And now, the fabric.
I don’t want Draped Elegance to be about putting up beautiful fabric for the sake of it.
I want to create draping that makes you stop when you walk into your room.
Something that changes the feeling of the space.
Something that feels like your wedding.
From a softly draped sweetheart table to a dramatic backdrop or a complete venue transformation, I love seeing what can happen when you combine beautiful fabric with a little imagination.
Perhaps that’s why this feels like more than just another business to me.
It’s another chapter.
And after all those years of helping other people find their creativity, I’m finally getting to explore mine in a completely different way.