On our honeymoon we talked about doing an oil painting from our wedding ourselves. During our dating, we had art lessons weekly from Krisstie Byrnne in Australia… but we both do not possess any great skill at present. After the initial excitement, the realization came of the daunting task it would be with all of our details, so we quickly decided we should ask our art teacher to paint our ceremony scene.
We were engaged in a rustic wooden fort in Colorado so we wanted to find a similar venue and were thrilled when we found Table Rock Lodge. We’ve also done lots of hiking in our dating relationship and fell in love with mountain views. I am also originally from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains so it really seemed perfect.
Our decorating inspiration was from Colonial Williamsburg at Christmas time. Williamsburg was also our first solo trip together in America. (Glennn is Australian) Inspiration from Williamsburg was found in all the dehydrated fruit that we used in the garlands, wreaths, and even the candles wrapped in moss. Vintage tableware, styling of the catering service, brooch bouquet, fireplaces, and fresh greenery everywhere with dried and whole fruit, some dried flowers. The smells of spice and pine was almost intoxicating. So many details of the overall scene were incredibly important to us. Even down to the turkey feathers borrowed from the maid of honor to go around the wedding arch and stuffed tigers (dating gifts) under the chair of my mother-in-law. We also got to play with where important people in our lives would be painted in. It was an incredibly time consuming experience and many hours of conversation on the details… but it was so worth it. This is the biggest treasure from our entire wedding experience. The cost of having the canvas commissioned is right up there with purchasing a wedding album. I can’t praise Krisstie enough for listening to us through all the “important” details. This scene is basically EXACTLY like our day. We didn’t have a photo for her to go from but she worked from dozens of photos at different angles to turn what seemed like a jigsaw puzzle into this masterpiece.
