Georgia has quite a few beautiful and historic places where you can get married. I know I’m biased, being a Georgia peach myself, but we really know how to pour the sweet tea (or mint juleps if you are in the right company) and show-off when it comes to grand old homes. All of this is just to say that the grandest home in all of Atlanta is Swan House. There really is no comparison. Look at it:
Don’t you want to put on a ballgown and sweep ever so gracefully down those stairs? Don’t you want to pretend to be Scarlett O’Hara and have a total meltdown over Ashley on that beautiful lawn?
Stephanie & Amel, my bride and groom, made my life complete by deciding to marry on that very lawn- and I got to paint it! Time to swoon, I told myself. Well, just wait. Things did not go quite according to plan. Oh sure, there was lots of romance, and a perfect painting DID happen (thank god!!) but there was also a serious intruder to this ceremony of dreams:
Dreaded, dreaded rain. Torrential rain. Angry, lightning-laden, stingingly horizontal rain of Zeus-esque fury. The nightmare of all outside watercolorists and my personal insane Everest of event painting.
Here is the stunning couple:
Completely unaware that within 30 minutes of that picture being taken, all hell would break loose via mother-bear nature herself.
My set-up was amazing, ps. This was my view of the ceremony.
Everything was fine throughout the ceremony, right up until the pastor announced that Amel could “kiss the bride” and a rumble of thunder broke through the wedded bliss. The wedding planner hurried up to me to tell me a massive storm was about to hit. Keep in mind, I’m halfway done with a still-wet watercolor, and wearing a full length ballgown.
And you know what I did, ladies and gentlemen? Cue the dramatic oscar-winning music, because I discreetly took the painting off the easel and hightailed it to my car, and popped that bad boy in the backseat SECONDS before torrential rain came down and ruined every square inch of my gown. Then, as guests rushed for the safety of waiting golf carts, I trudged down those glorious Swan House stairs in my soggy silk and packed up my dripping easel and ruined paints. The things we do for love!
After that interlude, it was only natural to drive to the nearby Atlanta History Center, unload all my supplies and half finished painting, and set-up in the reception space. The show must go on! I drip dried as best as I could and then spent the next two hours soaked to the bone, painting through dinner and dancing! Lol! It was awesome, though, every guest was lovely and the painting was saved!
So now you know that we live event painters are just like the Post Office. Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night, will stay me from the swift completion of my appointed painting 🙂
Thank you to Beasley Photography for the wonderful photos!