Perfect for couples who want to offer their guests a unique, personal wedding favour. Each guest leaves with their very own live portrait, created on-site during your wedding. It’s a memorable experience that guests love, and a beautiful personal touch to your day.
Faceless Illustrations
Description: I capture body language, clothing, and overall pose without detailing facial features.
Why choose it:
Guests can quickly recognise themselves from posture and attire, even without a detailed face.
Faster turnaround means I can illustrate more guests in the same amount of time.
The minimalist look suits modern or abstract-themed weddings.
Illustrations with Faces
Description: I include full facial features—eyes, nose, mouth, and expression—to create a more personalised portrait.
Why choose it:
Each guest receives a truly bespoke keepsake that captures their likeness.
Ideal if you want a memento that feels more like a traditional portrait.
Perfect for smaller guest lists where detail and personality are prioritised.
Head and Shoulder Illustrations
Description: I include full facial features—eyes, nose, mouth, and expression—to create a more personalised portrait.
Why choose it:
Each guest receives a truly bespoke keepsake that captures their likeness.
Ideal if you want a memento that feels more like a traditional portrait.
Perfect for smaller guest lists where detail and personality are prioritised.
Laura is a talented artist who runs her own illustration business alongside working with Katie Bowden Art. As part of the team, Laura steps in for weddings that Katie is unable to attend personally, or joins as a second illustrator to ensure even more of your guests can be captured on the day. Every illustration Laura creates is hand-painted with the same care, style and attention to detail, ensuring a seamless experience that reflects the quality and personal touch at the heart of Katie Bowden Art.
An assistant on the day makes all the difference by organising guest photographs, managing the queue, and packaging finished illustrations, which allows me to concentrate fully on capturing each likeness without distraction. They ensure that guests are guided smoothly to my table, prevent any confusion or bottlenecks, and handle all the behind-the-scenes logistics—like keeping track of who’s next and safeguarding completed artworks.
Having an assistant is a must because it means every guest receives their hand-painted keepsake promptly, the flow of the event remains seamless, and nothing is overlooked while I’m busy drawing. It also results in more paintings, as I can get on with what I do best—creating beautiful artwork—without interruption.
I’ve answered some of my most common questions above. If you need anything clarified or have a different question, just let me know—I’m happy to help.
Dates for 2025, 2026 and 2027 are now open. As I take a limited number of bookings each year to ensure the highest quality for every couple, I recommend enquiring as early as possible to secure your date.
Yes—because you have two artists travelling together and setting up once, you save on travel and setup fees. Booking both services in one joint package with two artists typically saves you around 15 % compared to hiring a live painter and a separate live illustrator individually. Once we know your date, venue, and guest numbers, I’ll provide a detailed quote outlining the exact savings.
If the timeline runs late don’t worry, we can still get guest photos in this time and start on the canvas background painting.
If you have more guests than we can finish on the day, my colleague can continue portraits after I focus on final canvas details, or we complete extras afterward at £25 per illustration.
For very large guest lists, we recommend the “two painters + assistant” setup so that while I work on the main canvas, the other artist keeps capturing guests without interruption.
How do you split roles between the two artists?
Artist A (me) spends 6–8 hours on-site focused solely on the canvas—painting your ceremony, first dance, or a panoramic scene of guests.
Artist B (my colleague) spends 6 hours concurrently at an illustration station, sketching guests.
If you have an especially large guest list, we can create a bespoke package where both Artist A and Artist B devote a set time to guest illustrations before Artist A returns full-time to the canvas. You can also add an assistant to increase the number of guest illustrations without interrupting the artists work.
