Patrons of the arts

Years ago, I'd had the pleasure of living vicariously through a friend's wedding blog. They were one of those couples who'd found the love of their lives in high school, and got to tie the knot before even hitting a quarter century. I've never forgotten how they commissioned an artist for their wedding invitations. What class! How personal! I tucked the idea away in the back of my head.

Fast-forward about 6 or 7 years to Brighton, a veritable mecca for artists, where I find myself finally planning my own wedding. We may be on a budget, but I simply had to see if this could fit in. Just imagine my delight when I discovered that Vicky Scott's prices were accessible. I was positively tickled to become a miniature patron of the arts with my very own commission.

As with everything wedding planning, Nicolas sat back and let me take the reins. I loved Vicky's 1st Anniversary piece, featuring a couple and iconic images of their city (London), but I was looking for more of a spring color scheme along the lines of Vicky's Wonderhill Craft Market flyer.

Inspirations for our commissioned wedding art: left, 1st Anniversary; right, Wonderhill Craft Market flyer. By Vicky Scott.

We (yes, Nicolas too!) wanted the artwork to reflect us and our lives here in Brighton. It had to include our names and the wedding year, ourselves in our wedding attire, the iconic images of our city, and our furry family members.Vicky got back to us fairly quickly with a pair of sketches.

Vicky Scott sketched out some ideas for our wedding commission.

Both are adorable, but our choice was easy: we went for the one on the left, which did wonders to highlight not just us but the city we love and hope to showcase to all our guests.

Next came the color mock-ups. After a bit of back and forth, we settled on this cheery layout. I just love how the giant yellow heart fills the sky like a sun I so hope will be shining down on us come April 15.

Vicky created paint mock-ups to help us settle on our preferred color scheme.

I spent the next couple of weeks on pins and needles waiting for Vicky's name to pop up in my inbox. At last, this past week, she had a collage draft to share.

The first draft of our wedding collage was finally ready last week!

After humoring my quibbling over what normal people call minor details, Vicky sent us our final commission tonight. (Yes, for this breaking news, I am blogging at midnight!) This picture makes me melt inside, and you know it's already the background image on my computer screen.

Emilienne and Nicolas, sitting in a tree... or standing under it, you get the idea. 😍

Now it's high time for this image to become paper and ink. Invitations are a go!