LIVE ON YOUR WEDDING DAY
Live Wedding Illustration in France & Europe
While your guests enjoy the reception, each one takes home an original guest portrait, painted live on site, as a personal and elegant keepsake of your wedding day. Beyond live guest portraits, Laehui Studio can also capture the small details that give your wedding its identity, and creates a fine art illustration of the two of you in her studio after the event. Watercolor, colored pencil, or ink. Every portrait is painted by hand on heavyweight fine art paper, with the standards of an artist trained at the renowned school of Beaux-Arts de Paris.
THE APPROACH
Fine art wedding portraits,
not caricatures
Every live wedding portrait is drawn with the eye, the technique, and the discipline of an artist professionally trained since a young age. The artworks are flattering and true. The colors are chosen to echo the atmosphere of your wedding. The result is a fine art wedding portrait you will want to frame and keep for years, not a novelty sketch forgotten at the bottom of a drawer.
Live wedding illustration is designed to fit naturally into your reception. Guests do not need to wait in line for their portrait. Laury works from quick reference photos taken on site so the celebration never pauses, and each guest spends only a few seconds posing before returning to the cocktail or the dance floor. This makes live wedding painting an elegant addition to high-end, destination, and intimate weddings alike, with a pace that feels effortless rather than disruptive.
The Guest Experience
The live illustration area is set up in a quiet area of your venue, indoors or outdoors and will fit perfectly in any venue, whether it is in a château, a vineyard, a Provençal farmhouse, a seaside garden, or a private estate. Your guests come and go as they like, pose briefly for a reference photo, then return to the cocktail hour or watch for a bit before getting dinner. Each guest portrait is painted in watercolor or pencil on site, signed, and collected later in the day, ready to frame at home.
For larger weddings where the guest count exceeds the session's painting capacity, couples can choose to prioritize specific guests: close family, parents, the wedding party, witnesses, or anyone who has travelled furthest to attend. Every guest portrait is painted by hand in a single, unique piece. Any portraits that cannot be completed on the day itself are carefully finished in the studio afterwards and mailed to you within about ten days, so no guest is left without their keepsake.
Live Wedding Illustration : How it works
01
You share the wedding date, the venue, the number of guests, and the kind of live illustration session you have in mind. Laehui Studio replies with a personalized quote within 48 hours. A video call can also be arranged if you would like to speak directly, in French or in English, especially helpful for destination wedding couples based abroad.
First Conversation
02
We talk through your vision in detail: technique (watercolor, colored pencil, or ink), number of guests to portray, paper customization, stamps, custom backgrounds, and any detail specific to your day. Laury then prepares the full kit well in advance, including artist-grade watercolors, pencils, brushes, fine art paper, and any additional material the session requires.
Preparation
03
Laury arrives 30 to 60 minutes early to set up the portrait station, organize her materials. The live wedding illustration session begins at the agreed time and unfolds throughout the reception. You and your guests leave with the original paintings, signed and carefully protected for transport.
On the Wedding Day
04
For full-day packages, a detailed watercolor illustration of the couple is created in the studio and delivered by post to your home. For premium packages, any remaining guest portraits are also completed in the studio and shipped within ten days, so every guest receives their finished piece.
After the Wedding
TECHNIQUES FOR GUEST PORTRAITS
Watercolor and colored pencil wedding portraits
Trained in every fine art mediums, Laury has chosen to work exclusively with water-based and dry techniques. For health reasons, she no longer uses oil paint, and works with pigments and materials that are safer for everyone's health.
Watercolor
Luminous, airy, and transparent. Each watercolor portrait is painted by hand with artist-grade, lightfast watercolors on heavyweight cotton paper. Count on 5 to 8 live watercolor portraits per hour. Watercolor is the right choice for weddings with a soft, contemplative atmosphere, where the quality of the light and the subtlety of the palette matter as much as the likeness itself.
Pencil
Refined graphic lines in monochrome colored pencils. These pencil portraits allow a quicker pace of 10 to 15 portraits per hour. Pencil is an excellent choice for larger weddings, for tighter timelines, and when the priority is to ensure every guest leaves with a portrait by the end of the evening.
WHY LAEHUI STUDIO
What Sets the Studio Apart
I
A trained fine artist
Formally trained in the applied arts from high school onwards, with a master's degree from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, and a professional illustrator ever since. Laury is also a practicing visual artist exhibiting under her own name, and brings to each live wedding portrait a craft built over more than a decade of rigorous drawing and painting practice. The quality you see on the day is not improvised. It is the result of years of discipline, sustained by a consistent artistic identity.
II
Wedding illustrations made to last
Heavyweight fine art paper, lightfast artist watercolors, professional-grade colored pencils, and archival materials. Every wedding portrait is made to endure for decades without fading. Not an ephemeral end-of-evening souvenir, but an original fine art piece you or your guests will frame, hang, and keep.
III
A considered, discreet presence
The artist's setup is designed to blend into your décor, not disrupt it. Wooden storage, a ceramic palette, brushes and watercolor paper arranged with care. Every working object has been chosen for its quiet beauty and for the way it reads in photographs. Laury also adapts her attire to the wedding dress code, so her presence harmonizes with the atmosphere you have designed with your wedding planner and your florist, rather than standing apart from it.
IV
A professional framework
Laehui Studio is a registered French business, operating with a clear contract, transparent terms, and rigorous follow-up on every project. International couples receive proposals and contracts in English, and invoices that are straightforward for cross-border payments. Couples know exactly what is planned, when, and how, from the first inquiry through to delivery of the finished pieces after the event. When working in other European countries such as Spain, Laehui Studio always makes sure to have the appropriate paperwork and is registered to legally work there as well.
PACKAGES
A session shaped around your wedding day
Every live wedding illustration session is built around your wedding, your venue, and the way you want your guests to experience it. Packages start at 1,000€ for a short session in the Southwest of France and the Basque Country, and adjust according to destination, travel, and the level of customization you would like. Minimum session length varies with distance:
3 hours minimum in the Basque Country & Landes
4 hours minimum in Gironde & around Bordeaux
5 hours in Provence & destinations further afield in Europe
Custom paper, stamps, and finishes
BESPOKE FOR YOU
Every detail of the paper and presentation can be shaped to match your wedding identity. Hand-torn deckle edges bring an artisanal, romantic feel, well suited to countryside, coastal, and bohemian receptions. A personalized stamp, whether a monogram, a wedding date, or a motif inspired by your invitations, can be applied to each illustration for a signature visual cohesion between your stationery, your decor, and your live guest portraits.
A custom watercolor background, inspired by your venue, your florals, or any other source of inspiration, can be pre-printed across every sheet for a consistent harmony between each finished portrait. And each piece can be presented to your guests in an individual kraft envelope, marked with the personalized stamp if you wish, so the keepsake is ready to travel home safely in every suitcase and carry-on. Every bespoke option is mocked up digitally in advance, tested and refined in the studio, then submitted for your approval before final printing. This ensures a result that faithfully reflects the look you have designed with your wedding planner, your stationer, and your florist.
Laehui Studio offers several pre-designed options and also welcomes one-of-a-kind wedding illustration projects imagined from scratch, for a wedding that feels unmistakably yours.
Couple Illustration
After the wedding, Laury creates a detailed watercolor illustration of the two of you in her studio in Biarritz, based on a photograph of your choice. Painted by hand on a white background, in A5 format, this piece is an intimate, fine art keepsake of your day, ready to frame and hang at home. Many couples commission it as their first shared piece of art as newlyweds.
The couple illustration is included in the Full-Day and Premium wedding packages. It can also be commissioned on its own, either after the live session or independently, and makes a meaningful anniversary gift. Delivered by post worldwide, or in person when the couple is in France.
Wedding Detail Watercolors
Beyond live guest portraits, Laury can dedicate part of the session, or the entire session, to capturing the small details that give your day its identity: the dressed table, the bridal bouquet, the shoes, a floral arch, the façade of the château, a piece of décor, a signature cocktail, the first dance. These wedding illustrations can be drawn on individual heavyweight sheets, gathered in a hand-bound sketchbook, depending on your preferences.
Think of it as an illustrated wedding reportage, an artistic counterpart to your photography and videography. A quiet, poetic record of the elements you and your wedding planner have carefully chosen, rendered in a medium that slows the eye down and asks you to notice.
Wedding Destinations
Based in Biarritz, in the Southwest of France, Laury travels as a destination wedding illustrator throughout France and Europe. She regularly works in all of France as well as Spain, Italy, and Switzerland, and takes on a limited number of bookings each year so that every wedding receives the full attention it deserves. Below is a non-exhaustive selection of the regions where Laehui Studio works on a regular basis.
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Laury | Laehui Studio
Live Illustration & Bespoke Commissions
I am an illustrator offering live event and live wedding illustration services. Graduated from the renowned school Beaux-Arts de Paris, I work under the name Laehui Studio throughout France and Europe, creating live guest portraits and custom illustrations. I am based in Biarritz, in the southwest of France.
