Weddings
A painting as a wedding gift
For the day itself or for the first anniversary: a wedding painting commissioned by you, with the timing and the pooled budget handled honestly.
First decision: is the painting for the wedding or about the marriage? They are different gifts. A painting finished for the day itself must be ordered three months out — the couple's own photographs will not exist until after, so you work from engagement photos or older frames, and the couple has usually been photographed a hundred times that week by the time it arrives.
The stronger version is often the one aimed at the first anniversary or the return from the honeymoon: painted from a single ceremony photograph the couple chose themselves, arriving when the wedding chaos has gone quiet. Count back six weeks from your target date — mock-up within 24 hours, three to five weeks of painting, three to five business days of free shipping, margin for the free adjustment.
Guests pooling the budget
A group of friends commissioning together should collect before ordering, for the unglamorous reason that the painting has a schedule and a shortfall mid-production has not. Propose a size with its price from the published table, divide among the contributors, set a deadline a week ahead of the order date.
One person pays and one approves — the mock-up, the two progress photographs and the free adjustment all run through a single decision. Payment can be split 50/50 across two cards. Keep the gift quiet until the hand-over: the surprise survives only if the group chat stays out of the couple's sight.
On the question of who is in the painting: a couple is two subjects on the table, a couple with the dog is three, and the bridal party of eight is not a commission but a group portrait with a scheduling horizon of its own. Keep the subject count honest — the mock-up will show how small eight heads become at any affordable size — and let the moment be smaller than the day was. Intimate paintings hang; panoramas get leaned against walls.
Gift versus anniversary — the photograph decides
Here is what nobody tells you: by their first anniversary a couple has usually been given several prints of the same ceremony photograph, so the painting that stands out is not the biggest reprint of the aisle shot. It is the quieter frame — the two of them walking away, the first dance from the side, the venue without anyone in it.
A painting of the venue alone is a legitimate wedding gift and dodges the likeness problem entirely. If the couple is in it, both are two subjects on the price table and the veil, lace and bouquet detail needs a photograph where those are actually visible, not implied.
Veils and lace deserve a note of their own: they are the detail that makes a wedding portrait read as a wedding rather than two people in expensive clothes, and they are also the detail that dies first in a compressed phone copy. If the ceremony photographs you have access to are screenshots of screenshots, ask the couple for the originals — photographers will release files to the couple in minutes, and the difference in the painted lace is not subtle.
How long after the wedding can you give one?
Any time within the first year is read as intentional rather than late, and the anniversary of the day itself is the natural date. Order six weeks ahead; if the calendar has gone, rush delivery at $90 brings painting and dispatch to three weeks total for the smaller and mid sizes — the two largest canvases are quoted case by case.
Worst case, the mock-up prints beautifully: give the printed mock-up with the certificate and a delivery date on the day, and the painting follows. It is a weaker version of the gift, but it is an honest one, and better than commissioning from whoever promises fastest.
The anniversary framing also solves the pooling problem politely: a group that missed the wedding can commission for the first anniversary without the gift reading as late, because anniversaries are when such paintings are expected. The six-week count applies unchanged — mock-up within 24 hours, three to five weeks of painting, transit of three to five business days — and the certificate can carry the wedding date, which is the part the couple will notice.
What it costs
Price is set by canvas size and the number of subjects — not by the occasion, the deadline, or how much detail you ask for. The table below is the same one used on every painting page, so there is no quote to wait for.
| Canvas | Metric | 1 subject | 2 subjects | 3 subjects | 4+ subjects |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 × 10 in | 20 × 25 cm | $189 | $259 | — | — |
| 12 × 16 in | 30 × 41 cm | $289 | $379 | $459 | — |
| 16 × 20 in | 41 × 51 cm | $389 | $499 | $619 | $749 |
| 20 × 24 in | 51 × 61 cm | $549 | $699 | $849 | $1,029 |
| 24 × 36 in | 61 × 91 cm | $789 | $1,059 | $1,290 | $1,560 |
| 30 × 40 in | 76 × 102 cm | $1,090 | $1,449 | $1,749 | $2,090 |
| 36 × 48 in | 91 × 122 cm | $1,390 | $1,849 | $2,249 | $2,690 |
Shipping is free worldwide. Framing is optional and quoted separately — most customers have the canvas stretched by a local framer for $60–$120.
How it works
Send the photograph
One sharp phone photo is enough. Tell us the deadline, the wall it is going on, and anything that must or must not be in the picture.
See the mock-up within 24 hours
A digital composite at the exact canvas size and crop, so size and composition are settled before any paint is bought. Nothing is charged until you approve it.
Watch it being painted
Three to five weeks in real oil, with two progress photographs. You can raise a concern at either one — that is what they are for.
Approve, then it ships
You see the finished canvas first, with one free round of adjustments. Then it travels rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured, with the numbered certificate inside.
Real oil, not a print
Hand-painted on cotton canvas, varnished, signed. Brushwork you can see in raking light.
You approve before we paint
A digital mock-up at the exact size and crop, within 24 hours, included in the price.
Numbered certificate
Every painting ships with a signed COA stating artist, medium, size and year.
Free worldwide shipping
Rolled in a rigid tube, tracked and insured. No minimum, no distance surcharge.
Questions
Questions we actually get
Only if you order three months out, and even then you will be working from engagement photos rather than the ceremony. The better target is usually the first anniversary, painted from a ceremony photograph the couple chose. Order six weeks before your target date either way.
Agree the size from the published table, divide the price among contributors, and collect before ordering. One person pays the studio — payment can be split 50/50 — and one person approves the mock-up and the free adjustment. Commissions steered by committee arrive late.
A couple is two subjects, so the price sits one fixed step above the single-subject rate: the exact figures for two subjects at each canvas size are in the table above. A venue-only portrait is a single subject — 16 × 20 in at $389 is the common choice. Shipping is free worldwide.
Only with the photographer's permission — copyright in wedding photographs belongs to the photographer, and the couple can usually get written clearance in an email. Send that alongside the file. Most photographers grant it quickly when asked directly, so start that email early rather than the week before ordering.
Rush delivery at $90 brings painting and dispatch to three weeks total, on smaller and mid sizes. Past that, give the printed mock-up and certificate with a delivery date — honest and dated — rather than switching to a faster studio that skips the approval steps.
Commission the wedding painting
Send the photograph — theirs or yours — and the date it needs to arrive. Fixed price, mock-up within 24 hours, one approver from your group.