Why have a live artist at your wedding?

Do you want the real, honest answer to why you should have an artist at your wedding?

Let's start by acknowledging that everyone loves seeing an artist in the wild - and anyone who doesn't, loves to talk about how they could do so much better, which is equally as satisfying. Nobody, no matter how little or how much they 'know' art, can resist peeking over the shoulder of a working artist.

I could go into all the sales talk about how having an artist giving out personalised drawings, created live and in person in front of your guests is an amazing way to streamline your budget you budget and planning.

I could talk about how you'll be removing all of the stress of organising and putting together wedding favours (and the fear that, let's face it, people might just not really care about the effort you've put in) and instead having a set up where the guests get to participate in the creation of their own mementos from your special day.

I could point out that as something interesting and unique, even guests who have never met and have nothing in common will have something to kick start their conversations if they're struggling to break the ice with you great-great-second-cousin's-dog's-godmother's-great-grand-nephew.

I won't tell you that adults and children alike LOVE seeing these pictures being drawn, and the fact that they're so quick makes them surprisingly addictive to watch. Or that they'll end up playing 'spot the model' when they look through the pictures of the day and realise that they can recognise their friends and family from these subtle little sketches.

Ignore that your guests will have 'seen something like this on Tiktok, but never actually in person' before, and will love the experience of being drawn live (especially if they like to post their day to day lives on social media...) and will have a gorgeous piece of artwork at the end of the process.

Let's not discuss how you'll have an album (digital and physical) of all of the artworks of your guests of the day, even if you didn't get to see them in person at the time before they got taken away, OR that you'll have absolutely STUNNING drawings of your day that will elevate any room you decide to hang them in.

Forget about the fact that people who don't like having their photos taken LOVE these pictures, because they capture not just a physical snapshot of what you look like in the exact moment that camera button is pressed, but the very essence of who is being drawn.

And completely disregard that BEING drawn is an experience in its own right. Holding that moment of connection with no lenses, no phones, no barriers between art and artist, is a powerful and memorable event - and that's if the models are actively posing. Even more magical are the times when a model doesn't know that they've been seen - truly seen - amongst the crowd, and that something of them in that moment spoke to the muses and drew them to the artist.

Let's pretend none of those things exist, and just get down to the real, bare bones of why you should have an artist at your wedding.

Because it is, at its core, really, really cool.

I'm sorry that it's just not that deep. Having a live artist artist at your wedding is just really, really cool.