Alix & Seila’s Wedding

8/29/15 ink, watercolor, colored pencils

If you think I’ve been traveling a lot lately, you’d be right: August was a record-breaking month! First, there was the West Coast Sketch Crawl in San Diego; then the Twin Cities; and finally the San Francisco Bay area this past week.

The occasion for the last trip was my niece Alix’s marriage to her longtime sweetheart, Seila. Shortly after we received their invitation, I started thinking about sketches I wanted to do for the event. One was the wedding ceremony itself. I’d never sketched at a wedding before, so I contacted Alix to get her permission, and I was delighted when she happily gave it. I had grand ideas about making the event an opportunity for sketch reportage (more on that later)!

The second was a sketch for their wedding card. What could I sketch that would be an appropriate symbol of a young couple beginning their lives together? The wedding invitation was in the University of Washington colors, purple and gold. I knew that Seila was a UW grad and still a huge UW Huskies fan. Could the wedding theme colors really be purple and gold? Indeed, they were – and that gave me the idea for their card. A few weeks before the wedding, I went out to Hec Edmundson Pavilion (AKA Huskies Stadium) on the UW campus to sketch the bronze Husky mascot sculpture.

7/30/15 ink, watercolor, colored pencils

As for that sketch reportage opportunity. . . ? Most wedding ceremonies I’ve attended, even informal, nonsecular ones, have lasted at least 15 minutes (and some have been much longer) – plenty of time for a sketch. Alix and Seila’s exchange of vows, however, was over in about five! I barely had time to finish Alix; Seila I had to do from memory (and I painted during the reception while we all waited for wedding cake). Originally I had plans to sketch during the reception too, but . . .

. . . speaking of reportage, this wedding was the first I attended with such strong social media coverage. Shortly before the wedding, the bride and groom asked guests to upload wedding day photos to Instagram with the hashtag #alixandseila. Seconds after the vows were completed, the groom snapped a group selfie, and during the reception, photos Instagrammed by guests were instantly projected on the walls, creating our own entertainment. Did I miss the tossing of rice or live band playing oldies? Heck, no! Instagramming photos (and my sketch!) to the live feed was way more fun (and then I forgot all about sketching)!

8/30/15 ink, watercolor

Half Moon Bay, the wedding location, is a lovely beach when it’s sunny, but it’s often windy and foggy. The morning and afternoon of the wedding day were cold and drizzly, but the sun came out just in time for the early evening outdoor ceremony. The day after, Greg and I spent a few hours walking on Half Moon Bay’s various beaches, where I sketched through all kinds of sunshine, wind and cold.

After the wedding festivities and sending the couple off on their honeymoon to South Africa, we went into the city for our own adventures . . . 

8/30/15 brush pen, watercolor