This talented wedding artist paints couples as they exchange vows during their marriage ceremony—and she says she still sheds tears every time she sees the bride walking down the aisle.
42-year-old Julia Dordoni paints around 25 weddings a year and charges between $1,300 to $1,700 (£1,000–£1,300) for the sentimental pictures.
Since she first began her unusual career back in 2011, she has painted beach nuptials in Hawaii and winter weddings in the snowy Rocky Mountains of Colorado with each painting requiring up to eight hours of work to complete.
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“I feel honored that husbands and wives-to-be trust me to capture that special time in their lives,” said Dordoni. “Also the sheer beauty of love and the look in their eyes when they are walking down the aisle is priceless.
“It is so humbling for me and sometimes it is overwhelming,” she added. “I shed tears at pretty much every wedding.”
The artist from Steamboat Springs, Colorado begins her artworks by painting the landscape before the wedding even starts. and usually presents the finished artwork halfway through the reception.
“I start painting early,” says Dordoni. “First I get the landscape before the wedding starts. I take pictures of the bride and groom so I can have that as a reference in order to paint them.
“I incorporate them into the painting typically during the wedding cocktail hour and I usually complete the painting halfway through the reception.
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“I include more details than a traditional impressionist artist. I exaggerate my colors and put a lot of detail into the bride and groom,” she added. “The bride’s dress is the most detailed, but the background is more impressionist.”
The single mom was hired for the unique job by chance when she was painting on vacation in Maui, Hawaii and spotted a wedding taking place. She included the bride and groom in her painting and showed off the finished piece to the concierge at the Four Seasons Resort.
The concierge was so impressed, she showed the painting to the General Manager who then put Dordoni in touch with the Four Seasons wedding department.
A week later after Dordoni had already flown home, she received a call from the Four Seasons offering to feature her as a live wedding painter at their Hawaii resort.
She leapt at the opportunity and moved to Hawaii, painting weddings for the upmarket hotel and working as a residential artist for Fairmont Kea Lani, a neighboring resort.
In 2014, however, she returned to Colorado with her daughter Enya, who was 4 years old at the time.
“As beautiful as Hawaii is, I decided to move back to Colorado with my little girl to enjoy an active mountain lifestyle,” she said. “[But] I see myself doing this for the rest of my life. I always tell my friends I can see myself as a little old lady painting at weddings.”
Dordoni typically books sessions a year in advance, although some couples will reach out to her at the last minute.
She is occasionally in such high demand that she has two sets of clients on the same date, in which case, she has one bride and groom provide photographs of themselves and their landscape so she can paint the picture remotely.
“I love painting mountains, so Aspen and Vail are favorite locations,” says Dordoni. “Mountains are so amazing.
“I also really love painting Jewish weddings because they have the most beautiful receptions so I love it when the guests put the bride and groom up in chairs [during the Horah].
“I also painted an Eastern Indian wedding once and that was the most spectacular thing. Their dresses were just so gorgeous, colorful and beaded,” she added. “That’s the only Indian wedding I’ve attended and it was magical.”
Since Dordoni fell in love with her job, she says she doesn’t plan on switching careers any time soon.
“I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect career. I feel like I am living a dream,” said the artist. “I am so blessed to be a part of these special days.”
If you want to commission Dordoni for a painting or check out more of her work, you can visit her website.
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