Why I love drawing the places where people get married
Why I Love Drawing the Places Where People Get Married
There is something about a wedding venue that makes it so much more than just a building. It's where you might have your first look. Where your dad might walk you down the aisle. Where you finally get to marry your favourite person. Where your friends and family gather together in one place. Where you'll probably laugh, cry, dance far too much and make memories you'll still be talking about years later. And honestly?
That's why I love drawing wedding venues so much.
As a wedding stationer, I could simply create beautiful invitations with pretty flowers, colours and fonts. But when I get to draw the actual place where a couple are getting married, it feels completely different. I'm not just drawing a building. I'm drawing their place.
It starts with the venue
When a couple tells me where they're getting married, one of the first things I want to do is look at it. And I mean really look at it. I look at the architecture, the windows, the doors, the surrounding gardens, the flowers, the trees and all the little details that make that particular venue recognisable. Because no two wedding venues are the same. A Cotswold stone barn has a completely different feeling to a grand country manor. A little garden ceremony feels different to a huge wedding in a historic house. And those differences can become part of the stationery.
I love finding the little details
One of my favourite parts of creating a venue illustration is deciding what actually needs to be included. Sometimes it's the whole building. Sometimes it's one particular doorway. Maybe it's the windows. Maybe there's a beautiful archway covered in flowers. Or perhaps it's the view that the couple fell in love with when they first visited. Those details might seem small, but they're often the things that make a venue instantly recognisable to the couple. And that's what I'm trying to capture. Not necessarily every single brick and window.
But the feeling of the place.
From iPad to wedding stationery
All of my illustrations are drawn digitally on my iPad using my Apple Pencil. I start by drawing the individual elements before building everything up layer by layer. I'll look at photographs of the venue and create the illustration in my soft watercolour style, paying attention to the colours and details that make it feel like that venue. Then I can bring the illustration into the rest of the design. It might become the centrepiece of a bespoke wedding invitation. It could sit on the front of a save the date. It might become part of a wedding table plan. Or it could appear throughout the on-the-day wedding stationery, creating a thread that runs through the whole day. And because the illustration is created specifically for that couple, it isn't something you'll find on another wedding invitation.
It's theirs. Your venue can become part of your story, I think this is one of the things I love most about personalised wedding stationery. Your wedding stationery doesn't have to simply say: “Lauren & James are getting married.” It can tell people something about you. Perhaps your invitation has your venue sitting behind your names. Perhaps there are flowers from your bouquet woven into the design. Maybe there's an illustration of the church where you are getting married. Or even your dog sitting outside your wedding venue. Those little details tell your guests:
“This is us.”
And that's what I want my stationery to feel like.
Why venues work so beautifully with watercolour
I naturally gravitate towards a soft, romantic watercolour style. I love the slightly imperfect, hand-painted feel that you get from watercolour because it makes an illustration feel personal rather than overly polished. And I think it works particularly beautifully with Cotswold wedding venues. The stone buildings, gardens, climbing flowers, old windows and beautiful countryside lend themselves perfectly to a softer illustrated style. Rather than creating a completely realistic architectural drawing, I can pick out the features that make the venue special and turn them into something a little more artistic.
It's a wedding invitation, after all. It doesn't need to be an architectural blueprint. It needs to feel beautiful and meaningful.
The lovely thing about a venue illustration? It doesn't have to stop at your invitations.
This is something I think couples sometimes don't realise when they're choosing their wedding stationery. Once you've had your venue illustrated, that artwork can become part of so many different elements of your wedding.
For example, your illustration could be used on:
Save the dates
Wedding invitations
Order of service
Welcome signs
Menus
Table plans
Table numbers
Place cards
Bar signs
Thank-you cards
Your wedding album
Keepsake stationery
You can even have the illustration as a little piece of artwork to keep after the wedding. And I love that idea. Because once the wedding day is over, your flowers won't last forever. The cake will be eaten. The wine will be drunk. The place cards will probably end up in pockets. But your venue illustration can become something you keep.
And this is why I don't think your wedding stationery should be an afterthought
Your invitations are often one of the first glimpses your guests get of your wedding. Before they've seen the flowers. Before they've walked into the venue. Before they've seen your dress. Your stationery can start telling them what your day is going to feel like. If your wedding is relaxed and romantic, your stationery can reflect that. If you're having a colourful garden wedding, your flowers and illustrations can bring that through. If you're getting married in a beautiful Cotswold barn, why not let that place become part of the design? Your stationery can give your guests a little preview of what's to come.
I think every venue has a story
This is probably the most sentimental part of why I love doing this. Every time I draw a wedding venue, I know that somewhere, a couple has chosen that place because it means something to them. Maybe they got engaged there. Maybe they fell in love with the venue the second they walked through the door. Maybe they've been dreaming about getting married there for years. Maybe they simply looked around and thought:
“This feels like us.”
And I get to take that place and turn it into something they can hold in their hands. That's pretty special.
From venue to keepsake
When I create a hand-drawn wedding venue illustration, I'm not trying to create something that simply looks pretty on an invitation. I'm creating something that represents a little piece of your wedding story. Something that can appear throughout your day. Something your guests will recognise.And hopefully, something you'll look back on years from now and immediately remember:
“That's where we got married.”
And I think that's why I will never get bored of drawing wedding venues. Because every venue is different. Every couple is different. And every wedding has its own story to tell.
So if you're planning a wedding in the Cotswolds and you're looking for bespoke wedding stationery that feels personal to you, I'd love nothing more than to take the place you're getting married and turn it into something beautiful that becomes part of your story.
