Bay Area Backyard Wedding Live Painting- Solono County California
Back in April I had the pleasure of going to one of my first backyard weddings as a professional Live Wedding Painter. Some things I found were much easier while other things were definitely not.
Usually before a wedding, I will go to the location website and research places to set up, where I would like to take reference photos, where the flow of the day would be. Fro this wedding, I did not have any of that information. Set up would be the day of, and I had no idea what I would be walking into on the day of. This gave me a lot of anxiety, but I knew that I would be able to do it.
Once arriving to the home in Northern California, I quickly realized that it would be HOT. More than hot, it would be dry and have no wind at all. There was limited parking , and so I parked a couple of streets away and began the walk to the house, already starting to sweat. But once the front door opened and I saw. the family and the bride, things started happening quickly. I knew I needed to set up fast, and out of the way, which is harder to do with such an intimate wedding.
The rough rough layout which I also changed later that night.
Back in the corner, I began laying down the first layer of where I was going to place the background and the couple. They had a beautiful simple wedding tent and florals on the table. It was just so sweet and intimate. I could hear the family cracking jokes as we waited for everyone to line up for the walk down aisle.
Once the wedding ended, I quickly got a reference photo as stealthy as I could. I felt more exposed in this wedding, and I didn’t want to make myself stand out too much. Now, starting the painting was really easy, and I quickly filled in the trees, the tent and outlining the couple. I was really excited, until I turned and rolled my ankle on a rouge tree stump, or roots. I really couldn’t tell because it was dark by then. And my main light wasn’t working (go figure), so I could only see the painting and nothing around me. That was probably why I tripped. But while I was doing so, I knocked over my spirits and I did not have more.
I ended up able to finish the painting (as much as I usually do before touch ups in the studio) and tried my best to not hobble to the bride and groom after they did their money dance. They were so happy, and I left the wedding forgetting that my ankle hurt until I got home.
Things that I learned:
-Make sure to learn as much as you can beforehand, that way you are prepared for your surroundings.
-Bring extra supplies for in case things spill/accidents happen. I haven’t had much experience with accidents, and since I am holding a lot of equipment, I like to keep things light so I can carry it all in one go-ish.
-Don’t stress too much! When I started to panic is when things felt like they were going downhill. But you know what? People came up to me and kept saying how much they loved the painting and at the end of the night the bride and groom were happy.
