Live Wedding Painting of The Schott's

 Have you ever met a couple that were just excited to be in each other's presence? Yeah...that was this awesome couple. Live wedding painting of Derek and Laura Schott at the Barns at Mattaponi Springs. It was an honor to be there.

Live Wedding Painting of Allison and Wilson

Allison and Wilson

Live Wedding Painting

Dover Hall

Richmond Wedding Show 2026

 I had no idea that when I began this journey as a live wedding painter where it would take me. I've had the opportunity to work with some absolutely amazing and phenomenal couples on their special day. I'm going to share two photos below. While I have been doing live wedding painting since 2016, I didn't do them often, as it wasn't something I thought I could make a career out of. I began to take it serious in 2021 and as bookings came in, the pressure to improve and better myself was intense. The two photos are just to show progress, 4 years apart. 

2021

As you can tell, there is a ton of detail in the trees and little focus on the couple. While this particular venue isn't the most accommodating, I was still new at really pushing myself in the world of live wedding painting. I was trying to capture everything all at once, and while the couple was happy (I was happy at the time) you can tell I was an amateur at doing live wedding painting. 

2025

Four years later, more focus is on the couple and a special moment they shared. They requested the chandelier in the painting and while I think I could've pushed it back so they could be more in focus, the couple was absolutely over the moon with the painting. To date, it's one of my favorite live wedding paintings. There was a TON of detail in the dress, and a sheen that I had to put on his outfit that was a challenge.

While it may seem out of place to say on this post, the two photos are representative of what happens when you have a good partner in your life - one who pushes you to better yourself and makes you realize you can be so much more.  

Live Wedding Painting of the Cockrells

 Live Wedding Painting of Dr. Jordan Cockrell and Hunter Cockrell along with Odin and Makers at the Dominion Club in Richmond, VA

#liveweddingpainting #weddingday #wedding #liveweddingpaintervirginia #virginiaweddingpainter

When in Rains...

 UNFORTUNATELY, JUST AS I BEGAN this live wedding painting, a torrential downpour set in, forcing me to head under the tent. After about 30-40 minutes it cleared up and I was able to get back out and paint. This made it to where I had to kind of create a scene that didn't happen but was supposed to. Out on the lawn, the jazz band was supposed to be playing while guests watched as the couple poured champagne down the glasses. All of that took place under the tent. By this time it was so humid that I the paint was not drying like it was supposed to, making it almost impossible to get 3/4 of the way finished. So...it will become a studio painting. It's unfortunate, too, because I was really looking forward to painting this. The Historic Tuckahoe has beautiful grounds with gorgeous flowers and fruit trees. 

Andrew and Anna Live Wedding Painting

 Live Wedding Painting of Andrew and Anna at the Barns of Kanak.

Ted and Megan Live Wedding Painting

 This was a fun live wedding painting. You can see the timelapse of it on my tiktok and instagram. They were married at the Baltimore Zoo and I got to paint both their puppies, their kitties, the penguin that was there, along with the armadillo (they're so tiny and I kind of enlarged it for this painting).

Daiane and Hector's Live Wedding Painting

 

Megan and Lawson Live Wedding Painting

 Live Wedding Painting of Megan and Lawson and Dolly at the Historic Inn at Blackstone.

Live Wedding Painting - Jesse and Emily Juday

 Jesse and Emily Juday

Live Wedding Painting at the Historic Whitewood

Live Wedding Painting in the Outer Banks

 THIS LIVE WEDDING PAINTING WAS LAST year right as the summer season was coming to a close. We decided to go a day early, sight see and enjoy a few of the restaurants. I've always loved sandpipers and it's crazy how close you can get to them. It always amazes me that just as a wave comes crashing in, you just know it's about to swallow one of them whole...and it flies off in the nick of time. 

The Shornaks - Live Wedding Painting

 The Shornaks were married on Roanoke Island in Maneto, North Carolina. If you've watched American Horror Story, AHS Roanoke is set on this location. The whole area consists of the Nags Head, Outer Banks location. The Lost Colony in Roanoke in the late 1500s just disappeared. The colony was established in 1585, but when a ship visited in 1590, all 112 residents were nowhere to be found and their fate remains unknown. When I travel somewhere for a live wedding painting, I will often spend an extra night or two just to explore the area. So I went where the Lost Colony disappeared, saw where the original earthwork mounds were, saw the lighthouse on the island and had an unforgettable experience at The Scarborough Inn...whatever you do if you visit Maneto, don't stay there. 

Sarah and Rob - Live Wedding Painting

 THIS PARTICULAR LIVE WEDDING PAINTING WAS more of a challenge than most. It was that late part of summer right before fall sets in where the sun begins to cast really harsh lights and shadows on the landscape. Sarah and Rob asked me to paint their wedding in the Outer Banks and she was facing the sun...his back was to it. The sun was so harsh on her face that she could barely look at him. Regardless, she made it work and the purplish shadows on her dress is an artist's dream to paint. 

Live Wedding Paintings this past weekend...

 I HAVE SUCH A WONDERFUL OPPORTUNITY to capture a couple's first moments as husband and wife but painting the moment and having them recreate it in front of their painting is a rare thing in and of itself. This past weekend I was in Woodbridge for a wedding, and then out in the Shenandoah for another to paint the sunset. Unfortunately, I didn't get a final photo of the painting before I left but will definitely post an update shortly. 

Megan and Abraham Live Wedding Painting

MEGAN AND ABRAHAM DID ONE OF those things that are not conventional in a live wedding painting, but that I absolutely LOVE when they do it. They had me paint the background of the greenhouse dining room at Avonlea Farms, and then paint them posing outside of it. Abraham is...dude is cool as fuck...he really is, and Megan has one of the sweetest personalities a person can have. She had a ton of tattoos down her arm (referenced in the last post) which makes painting weddings fun as hell. This was one of the funnest paintings I've had the pleasure of doing. 
 

And A Happy New Year to You!!

 JUST WANTED TO SHARE ONE of my favorite live wedding paintings from last year. One of my favorite venues to paint at is the Virginia Cliffe Inn, in Glen Allen. Gabriella and Nathan had a tattoo bar there, where they tattooed their names on their ring fingers (and couples could get their own tattoo after the couple got theirs). It's rare that I see something at a wedding that I'm surprised by, whether it's paper plates, a drunk uncle or someone saying something outrageously stupid, and the list goes on and on. That was definitely a first. 

Gabriella had amazing tattoos and those are always fun to paint...which I shall show in the next post of Megan and Abraham.

Danielle and Matthew

 I NEVER GOT A CHANCE to share this but this is by far one of my favorite live wedding paintings. It was at the Boathouse in Richmond of a former employee of mine, Danielle. She and her husband, Matthew were getting married and wanted something simple, that included their favorite family members. This was late 2023 and the leaves were just simply gorgeous. This has everything I love about a live wedding painting - the dip kiss, tattoos (I LOVE painting them), the city (in this case, Richmond, but a city nonetheless) fall, and a river. I couldn't ask for a happier bride. 

Live Wedding Painting - Afton, VA

 This was probably one of the most beautiful landscape-style live wedding paintings I have ever had the opportunity to complete. I love a wedding at a winery, and this one was simply divine. The sunset, changing of the leaves, the mountains in the background...it was truly beautiful. 

Post Wedding Painting - Samantha Waugh

 This is tagged under Live Wedding Painting, but it was a studio painting post wedding.

Garret & Elizabeth - Live Wedding Painting

 Elizabeth and Garrett - Live Wedding Painting at the Historic Tuckahoe - the childhood home of Thomas Jefferson.