Custom Portraits by Amy Everhart

Bridal Portraits

Examples and Tips for a portrait you will love forever.

Your wedding will last a day, the memories will last forever.  Your bridal portrait will be one of those precious momentos of your wedding like your rings and your photos.  Award winning portrait artist Amy Everhart paints watercolor portraits for all occasions but loves painting brides.  "Brides exude so much emotion, they positively glow.  I love to share that emotion with them and as I paint their bridal portrait.  It brings me back to my wedding day again, joyful, loving, anxious, proud, a little scared, but overall feeling better than I ever have before."  When you choose the artist to paint your bridal portrait make sure that you pick one who can capture, not only your likeness in the portrait, but the emotion of the day.  When you look at your bridal portrait in 50 years it should still put a smile on your lips, a joyful tear in your eye, and a memory of walking down the aisle with love in your heart.

The bride's comments:  "Oh my goodness, as I sit here and wipe my tears....you have so outdone yourself. I can not even put into words ...Oh AMAZING, FABULOUS I looked at it and so went right back to the moment. What more could I ask for... Again, amazing. I love it beyond words."-Kelly P.,FL

Amy comments, "This bridal portrait was such a fun challenge.  I  had a black and white photograph to work from, but needed to do the painting in shades of brown to better match the bride's decorating scheme.  The lettering of the couple's song was all hand painted in watercolor using a neutral color from the palette I used for the rest of the portrait.

As you can see, this painting is unique for a bridal portrait.  It was a gift to the groom on his wedding day. 

Here is a first hand account of the moment at which he first looked at the painting. "He stood there a moment, a blank expression on his face, then his mouth began to open and close, his face turned red, and tears began to flow down his cheeks.  It was probably two minutes before he said a word." 

Later the groom summed up his reaction in his own words, "I had a total brain meltdown when I saw the painting!" -Shyloh R.,UT

Amy comments:  "This bridal portrait was a departure for me in many ways.  It was the first nude I had painted, and I had to fabricate the wings from my own imagination and then position and attach them in a way that did not seem too artificial.  The expression we were going for was that of a woman tending to her appearance in anticipation of meeting her man, oblivious to the fact that he was watching the scene, catching her in her true form, with her angel's wings still on..."

Amy comments:  "This was my first bridal portrait.  A picture of my step-mother, I did it a few years ago as a gift for my father.  I had her dress in her wedding dress months in advance and took the snapshot at right.  The bridal portrait was framed and ready to present to my father on his wedding day.  While they of course loved it, I am a little embarrassed by this one now as my technique has improved over the years.  I include it here to illustrate a few points.  First, notice the depth of shadow in the bride's face in the snapshot.  This made it difficult to portray the emotion we are looking for in a bridal portrait.  While a strong light source like this one is excellent, if I would have used a little fill light on the shadowed side, the facial lines would have been softer and the painting better.  This could have been accomplished by holding a white piece of posterboard, or a white tablecloth at the level of her right knee and a little away to angle some soft reflected sunlight back into the shadows on her face and neck.  Next notice the eyes in the snapshot, or rather the fact that they are not visible.  The eyes are the most important part of a portrait, they are the "windows to the soul" and truly they express even more emotion than the rest of the face.  To get a fantastic portrait, a picture should show the eyes well.  This brings me to another point.  Often, after the wedding, when the photographer is taking shot after shot of the bride and groom and both families, the bride's expression will tend to become forced and her eyes lose their gleam.  The best bridal portraits will come from photos taken during the ceremony, before the wedding, in the receiving line or early in the post wedding photography session."

Amy comments: "This is a Rodeo Queen portrait.  Living as I do in Wyoming, I paint quite a few of these.  Rodeo queen portraits are similar to bridal portraits, but the emotion is just slightly different.  Here there is less of a dreamy feel and more of the overwhelming emotion of accomplishment and victory, pride, and an ecstatic happiness.  I include it here with the bridal portraits to show you the importance of eyes to a portrait.  Notice the eyes in the snapshot at right, then look at the portrait.  The eyes in the portrait are alive and expressive, sparkling dynamically.  Now compare the mouth here to the one in the bridal portrait above.  Notice how much more naturally the mouth is held in the rodeo queen's portrait.  The mouth is the second most critical feature in a portrait.  The snapshot of the rodeo queen that I used for this painting was taken candidly, that is, she was not posing for the picture.  She was talking to her friends and looked up just in time to get her picture snapped.  This is the ideal when looking for a picture from which to do a bridal portrait.  Everyone has both a natural smile and a forced smile.  A great photographer can get people to relax, and through conversation get them smiling naturally.  If you don't have a great photographer, then do the next best thing.  Get a digital camera and start snapping loads of pictures of the bride  in a natural setting.  It doesn't matter what she is wearing.  Once you have a great facial shot to work from, you can then duplicate the pose with her dressed in her wedding attire.  Another strategy that works superbly is to get a friend to follow the bride around after the wedding with a digital camera and snap lots of candid shots.  She'll be sure to get caught a number of times with a million dollar smile and twinkling eyes.  Pick a couple you love, for me to work from.  Together, we can create a masterpiece for you to cherish forever."