Welcome To My Day In The Life Of Being A Live Wedding Painter!
In this post I will take you through what it is like to paint as a live wedding painter at this beautiful wedding at Sandon Hall in Staffordshire.
Preparing Before The Live Wedding Painting
As I don't live anywhere near Staffordshire, and needed to be at the venue bright and early, I had to stay overnight the night before at a nearby B&B. I usually do this when I have a venue that's further than 2 hours away from me (that's my cut off driving time). Unfortunately it wasn't a particularly great place to stay so I won't link it here to recommend it to others, but it allowed me to have a good rest ready for the day ahead. I know other wedding suppliers and vendors who literally buy converted vans to sleep in, to cut down costs when travelling and working, but I'd rather stick to B&Bs, hotels and Airbnbs for now!
I made sure that I had all of my live wedding painting kit in the car, and double checked my itemised painting materials list so that I hadn't forgotten anything. This list has everything written on it, big and small, including things like 'kitchen roll', 'pencils', and 'easel'. You'd be surprised what you can forget if you're rushing, and if you're in a middle-of-nowhere venue, there are no shops for you to pick up anything you've forgotten.
Then I drive to the venue an hour early, park in the supplier car park, and walk round with my easel and art supplies to find the wedding planner and discuss where they'd like me to set up.
What Do I Eat As a Live Wedding Painter?
It seems like a strange question, but you do have to think about meals and food & drink during a day of live wedding painting. As I said before, if you are in a venue far away from towns and shops, you can't quickly pop out to buy something to eat. And as you are hyper fixated during the day, speed painting and talking to guests; you use up your body's energy reserves quite quickly! This is why cereal nut bars are my best friend. I will eat one in the morning of the wedding for breakfast and then will keep the rest of the packet for snack breaks during the day when I feel my blood sugar drop. I always ask if a meal is provided for me, and there usually is. If there isn't, I will make sure to buy a meal deal somewhere the day before and take it with me to the venue. In terms of drinks, I am usually offered soft drinks and water while I'm painting by waiters and bar service staff. In the rare venues that don't offer it, or ask me to pay £5 for a small glass of coke (no, I'm not joking) I will just bring my own big bottle of water and keep filling it up at the sink behind the bar.
Sandon Hall were very generous with their soft drinks and the meal of chicken, asparagus, and dauphinois potatoes was absolutely delicious. I'm sure it goes without saying, but I never have alcoholic drinks while live painting, even when offered, as I am working and want to stay sharp!
The Live Wedding Painting Process
After setting up my easel, I start blocking in the background of the piece with thin brush strokes. I keep the space, where I want the couple to go, blank. In this case the couple had already told me that they wanted me to paint them in the drawing room with the lovely chinoiserie wallpaper behind them. So I started blocking in the shape of the room, and painted in the large Italianate flower pedestals they had on either side of the aisle.
The guests came to join me before the ceremony started, and chatted to me about the painting process.
After everyone had taken their seats, and the ceremony had taken place, I asked the wedding planner if I could take my photo of the couple, so that I could paint them into the scene. I posed the couple and made sure I had good lighting, so that I would have a good reference photo of them to work from when I took the painting back to my home studio to finish.
I carried on painting the oil painting on canvas all the way up until the meal was served for the guests. At this point around 75% of the painting is finished and the finishing touches are completed in my studio.
Live Guest Illustrations
Now it's onto my live guest illustrations which are painted in watercolour on handmade A6 paper.
This couple opted for my Live Wedding Painting and Guest Paintings Package which allows for the best of both worlds! The couple gets their own oil painting on canvas, and the guests also get their own individual paintings too. I opted to use the large table they had set up the drawing room, as I could display the guest paintings easily on there. The guests had some downtime before the evening portion of the wedding day happened, so the guest illustrations were a perfect way for them to have something fun to do and to entertain them while they were waiting.
This is usually when my blood sugar starts flagging, so I had a cereal bar and a cup of tea, and had a great time chatting to and painting the guests who were there.
Finishing Up At The Wedding
With both the live wedding painting and the guest illustrations done, I said thank you to all of the staff at Sandon Hall, tidied up my easel, and went to find the lovely wedding planner Boss Lady Events to say goodbye.
Then I drove home and had a good night's rest!
The couple's oil painting on canvas was finished in my studio, and was sent to them to hang up in their new home!
Add comment
Comments