Custom Wedding Venue Illustrations and Sketches
I absolutely love creating custom venue illustrations and sketches to add a personal touch to a wedding invitation design, especially if the venue holds special meaning to you as a couple. An architectural drawing of a historic building on your invitation sets the tone for the wedding day, and gives your guests a glimpse of the setting in which you will be getting married.
There are three styles of custom wedding venue illustrations that I do: sketched line art, watercolor painting, and whimsical digital illustrations.
Wedding Venue Sketch Drawings
Sketched line art is a distinctive way to design architectural drawings of buildings. I typically use only one color ink to capture the textures and details of this drawing style, which looks really elegant with letterpress printing technique.
Rosecliff in Newport, Rhode Island
The Rosecliff mansion is a beautiful Gilded Age estate and one of the very coveted historic wedding venues in Newport, Rhode Island.
Invitation card with art on the envelope liner
The venue illustration can be on your main invitation card as well as other places in your suite, like the envelope liner.
Letterpress printing goes really well with architectural venue drawings. Oheka is a luxury wedding venue in Long Island, and is a member of Historic Hotels of America.
Powel Crosley Estate, Sarasota, Florida
The Powel Crosley estate is a mediterranean mansion in Sarasota, on the Gulf coast of Florida. I have a thing for old Florida architecture — and palm trees, and it was such a joy to draw this beautiful estate.
Whispering Oaks Wedding Venue, Valley View, Texas
If you are getting married in a barn setting and want to give that first impression to your guests of the barn wedding vibe, celebrate your venue by adding an illustration somewhere within your wedding invitation suite. I also create illustrations as stand-alone cards.
The Dunes Club, Narragansett, Rhode Island
I went for navy blue ink letterpress for The Dunes Club wedding venue sketch to evoke the nautical, coastal vibes of this New England beach club. I enjoyed a lovely walk up the beach to get the reference photo I would use to create this drawing.
Wedding Weekend map and events timeline
For this seaside wedding, I created a custom map of Narragansett since there were many wedding-related events at different venues throughout the weekend.
The Towers, a Narragansett Icon, incorporated into a save-the-date design
The Towers is a historic landmark in Narragansett, Rhode Island. You’ll see a trend of Rhode Island illustrations in this post. While I grew up in Brazil, we would spend the holidays in Rhode Island, where my dad’s side of the family is from. This old structure has been etched in my mind since my childhood, and I love incorporating RI landmarks like these into stationery.
In addition to historic buildings and landmarks, I also illustrate private residences. If you are getting married at your childhood home or a family’s estate, then the wedding venue must hold special meaning to you. Make the venue a main character of your wedding invitations to give your guests a glimpse of the place that tells a piece of your story.
Watercolor Wedding Venue Illustrations
If you are getting married in a bright and colorful locale, then watercolor may be the best design illustration style to reflect the vibrance of your wedding’s setting.
The Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida
The Colony Hotel, a Palm Beach staple, calls for vibrant watercolor pink and green hues to capture the essence of this charming historic hotel. Along with my love for coastal New England aesthetic, I am equally obsessed with old Florida Art Deco and tropical chic.
Watercolor painting of the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida
I start each watercolor venue by painting with actual paint and paper. Then I tweak the colors digitally if needed.
Pine Grove Barn in Lake Butler, Florida
I accentuated this watercolor venue invitation with custom floral elements. Pine Grove Barn stands out as an elegant and stylish event space, infused with a hint of rustic charm.
Mallard Island Yacht Club in Manahawkin, New Jersey
The Mallard Island Yacht Club holds special meaning for the couple that asked me to create their wedding invitation. This beautiful structure sits just west of Long Beach Island on Barnegat Bay. I opted for watercolor for this illustration to capture the Yacht Club’s fondly recognizable red roof.
Whimsical Bold Wedding Venue Graphics
Whimsical illustrations are such a fun addition to a wedding invitation suite. I particularly enjoy combining a formal invitation with a bold, cheerful illustrated venue design. This design aesthetic works exceptionally well for personalized wedding maps, especially if your wedding weekend features different venues for separate events.
Custom wedding map with digitally illustrated venues and landmarks
Digitally illustrated wedding invitation suite
The main venue illustration on the invitation is the Dunes Club in Narragansett, RI, as viewed from a different perspective than the angle of the Dunes Club sketched venue drawing in another one of my invitation designs. I create my illustrations from reference photos, and if you have a particular perspective of the venue you prefer then you are welcome to provide the reference photo you’d like me to recreate as a custom illustration.
Capturing Your Love Story
The place in which you are getting married is part of your unique love story. Whether it by a historic landmark, a house of worship, a beautiful vineyard, a destination wedding estate, or even your family’s summer home, I would love to include your venue in your custom wedding invitation.
If you are interested in a custom venue illustration for your wedding invitations, let’s get in touch to go over the details.
