Live Wedding Painting at Château de La Sarraz: The Day Before, My Building Caught Fire

The day before this wedding, I was standing on the pavement outside my building, watching black smoke rise from the windows.

My paints, my brushes and the canvas I had prepared for the next day were all inside.

Spoiler: everything turned out fine. But I want to tell you the story in order, because it started with a request I had never had before, and it ended with a wedding I think about more than almost any other.

A Small Wedding Before the Big One

Neyla and I had met at another wedding, where I was painting live. She loved the idea so much that she decided to give it to her sister and her new brother-in-law, Talisa and Keynan.

Her brief was lovely and a little unusual. This would be a very intimate wedding: the small celebration before the big one. And she had one wish. She wanted every guest to add a brushstroke to the canvas, the way I usually do.

I was thrilled. At a big wedding, I get to talk with one or two guests between brushstrokes. Here, I would be able to meet everyone. It was also my first intimate wedding as a live wedding painter, and I had a feeling it would make me want a lot more of them.

The Castle I Couldn’t Reach

The ceremony would take place at the Château de La Sarraz in Vaud. The reception would follow at Le Petit Manoir in Morges, a different venue on the shores of Lake Geneva.

Here was the catch. The couple adore the château, and Neyla wanted it in the painting. But the ceremony and the reception were in two different places, and I would be painting at the second one.

I asked her where she pictured the scene: the courtyard, in front of the castle? She mentioned the back courtyard, which the wedding party would not have access to on the day.

So I suggested something I like to call Photoshop, but in oil. I would sketch the courtyard and the castle in advance. On the day, Neyla would ask the photographer to take a quick picture on her phone of whatever moment she wanted: the couple kissing as they walked out of the ceremony, with the guests she wanted around them. Because, well, it was her sister’s wedding, and of course she wanted to be in the painting too! Then I would paint them into the scene at the reception, live.

She loved the idea.

The Day Before: My First Cold Sweat as a Live Painter

And then came the fire.

The day before the wedding, my building was evacuated. I called Neyla straight away to tell her what had happened. We had all been sent outside, and I didn’t know whether my apartment had been touched, or what was left of my equipment.

I will not pretend I was calm.

Then the firefighters got the fire under control, and the news came: my apartment was untouched, and we could go back in. A lot of adrenaline, and much more fright than harm.

Painting Through the Nerves at Le Petit Manoir

On the wedding day, I arrived at Le Petit Manoir in Morges with my canvas and tried to put the day before behind me.

Neyla sent me the photos, and I started to paint.

Here is the honest part. When something like that happens, your head asks questions. Is my equipment really fine? What if I’m not at my best? So I was painting, but I was a little bit elsewhere.

By the time the newlyweds arrived, I had already painted a good part of them. They were surprised to see it, and that made my day.

Every Single Guest Picked Up the Brush

Slowly, something shifted.

With so few guests, conversations were real ones. People came to the easel, asked questions, told me about the couple. And bit by bit, I felt my confidence come back. I started to enjoy it, and to feel honoured to share such an intimate moment.

Participation always matters to a couple, but this time I can say it without exaggerating: every guest took part. Every one of them picked up the brush and, for a minute, found a little spark of childhood in it.

That is also why weddings like this one fill me with joy in this job. Without realising it, the people in that tent gave me back, one brushstroke at a time, all the calm I had lost the day before.

Neyla wrote to me afterwards. She is the bride’s sister, and she was the one who made the whole thing happen:

Thank you so much for being part of my sister and her husband’s wedding day. Your live painting truly made the celebration unforgettable. Everyone loved contributing to the artwork, and it became a beautiful, one-of-a-kind wedding keepsake. You’re an incredibly talented wedding artist, and it was such a pleasure to have you with us. This moment will stay in our hearts forever. Thank you again for everything!

The Finished Painting

By the end of the evening, the canvas had its castle, its towers and its orange roofs, and the couple in the middle of it, mid-kiss, exactly where they had stood a few hours earlier.

Like every canvas I paint at a wedding, it came back to my studio for the final refinements before being varnished and delivered. Here is the finished oil painting (50 × 60 cm), so you can see the difference with the end-of-night photo above:

Why a Live Wedding Painting Works So Well at a Small Wedding

I came out of this wedding convinced of a few things, and they are worth sharing if you are planning an intimate wedding in Switzerland:

• Everyone can take part. With a small guest list, every person can add a brushstroke, and the canvas becomes a real group memory.
• You get real conversations. The painting is a reason to come over and talk, which is exactly what a small wedding is about.
• The place doesn’t have to be accessible. If your ceremony venue is somewhere I can’t set up, or somewhere I can’t reach on the day, I can sketch the setting in advance and paint you in live.
• Two venues are fine. A ceremony in one place and a reception in another is no problem: the painting can bring them together on one canvas.

If you are curious about the details, you can see my prices or browse the live wedding painting portfolio. And if guest participation is what you are after, you can read how it began at Ferme du Lignon in Geneva, or see another Vaud wedding with Hôtel Préalpina above Lake Geneva.

Planning an intimate wedding in Vaud, or anywhere in Switzerland?

Tell me about your date, your venues and the moment you would love on canvas. I would love to hear your story.

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The Creative Team

• Wedding Venue (ceremony) | Château de La Sarraz
• Wedding Reception | Le Petit Manoir, Morges
• Musicians | Popcorn Factory Orchestra
• Photographer | Green Moon Photography
• Live Painter | Dang de toi