If you’ve got a good photographer and videographer on your team, you can rest
assured that your wedding memories will be well documented. But some artsy
couples are taking it a step further, hiring an artist to create an original
painting of their big day. Twin Cities artist and illustrator Hugh Bennewitz
read about an East Coast trend called live event painting, where an artist
paints a celebration as it occurs, and decided to try it out in Minnesota. His
first event was a friend’s Calhoun Beach Club wedding, where he commemorated the
bride and groom’s first dance in canvas and paint.
“I sit on the edge of the dance floor with my easel and materials, and I
react in real time to create the painting,” says Bennewitz. “I interact and talk
with people, and when I sketch them in the painting they get excited. There’s
real entertainment value for people to see the procedure completed right in
front of them.”
“This is one thing that a couple can do that is truly out of the box,” says
Rachelle Mazumdar, director of weddings and events at Style-Architects, who
planned the wedding where Bennewitz completed his first live event painting.
“It’s particularly interesting if you have your wedding at a museum venue or
have an artistic interest as a couple.”
Bennewitz says he pays particularly close attention to showcasing the venue
and accurately portraying the bride and groom. In the days before the event
Bennewitz will go to the venue to study angles and take photographs, and will
examine photos of the bride and groom and their apparel. Bennewitz largely
completes the painting during the reception, but will add a few finishing
touches the following morning, when the luxury keepsake is ready to go home with
the newlyweds.
$3,000-$6,000 per painting. 612.396.3816,
hughbennewitz.com
