If you're the kind of person who still has the movie ticket from your first date, screenshots every sweet text, keeps birthday cards for years, has 30,000 photos in your camera roll, and can't throw away the cute little menu from that restaurant you went to on vacation...

Hi. You're my kind of person.

And if you're planning your wedding, I'm guessing you don't just want it to be beautiful.

You want it to mean something.

You want your guests to walk in and immediately recognize the two of you. You want little pieces of your relationship woven throughout the day. You want to remember the people who were there. You want your guests to have an incredible experience. And when the wedding is over, you want something tangible left behind that reminds you how all of it felt.

Because sentimental people understand something really important:

Life is made up of the little things.

Your wedding can be, too.

So if you're wondering how to make your wedding more sentimental, here are some of my favorite ways to turn the people, pets, places, memories and tiny details of your relationship into part of your wedding day.

Start With Your Story, Not a Wedding Checklist

Wedding planning can become overwhelming so quickly.

Suddenly there are a million decisions to make.

What kind of invitations?

What flowers?

What favors?

What signage?

What entertainment?

What goes on the tables?

What are we forgetting?

And somewhere along the way, it can become really easy to start choosing things simply because you're apparently "supposed" to have them at a wedding.

For sentimental couples, I think there's a better place to start.

What makes the two of you, you?

Think about your first date.

Your favorite places.

The home you've built together.

Your pets.

Your families.

The people you couldn't imagine celebrating without.

The places you've traveled.

Your inside jokes.

Your traditions.

The stories you tell over and over again.

Those are your wedding details.

Not because Pinterest says so.

Because they're yours.

Turn a Meaningful Place Into Art

Think about the places that have become part of your relationship.

Your first home together.

The house where one of you grew up.

The restaurant where you had your first date.

Your wedding venue.

The place where you got engaged.

Even a building that might look completely ordinary to everyone else can hold an entire chapter of your life.

That's what I love about creating custom house paintings, home portrait art, and architectural art.

I'm not really painting a building.

I'm painting what happened there.

A custom venue illustration can be incorporated into your wedding stationery, signage, or other details during the celebration and then become artwork you keep afterward.

Suddenly, a place that means something to you becomes part of the visual story of your wedding.

Include the Family Members Who Can't Sign the Marriage License: Your Pets

If you're anything like me, your pets aren't an afterthought.

They're family.

And sometimes having them physically at the wedding isn't realistic.

That doesn't mean they can't be part of it.

A custom pet portrait can turn your dog or cat into artwork that gets incorporated throughout your wedding.

Your dog portrait might appear on a signature-drink sign.

Your cat portrait could become part of your stationery.

Maybe your pets appear on table numbers, bar menus, signage, or another little surprise for guests who know exactly how obsessed you are with them.

That's what makes hand-painted pet art such a fun wedding detail.

Your guests see it and immediately think:

"Of COURSE their dog is on the bar sign."

That's exactly the reaction we want.

Personal doesn't necessarily mean serious.

Sometimes personal is making everyone laugh because something is so unmistakably you.

Make Your Wedding Favor About Your Guests

This is a big one for me.

If you're sentimental, I'm guessing you've thought about what your guests will take home from your wedding.

And I don't just mean physically.

You want them to remember it.

You want them to talk about it.

You want them to feel like you were genuinely grateful that they came.

So before ordering hundreds of traditional wedding favors, ask yourself:

Would my guests actually keep this?

Because if we're being sentimental, I don't want to give someone something that's destined for a junk drawer.

I want to give them something they'll find years later and immediately remember the night.

That's one of the reasons I love live guest portraits so much.

Turn Your Guests Into Art

As a live portrait artist, I photograph guests throughout your wedding and turn those photographs into hand-painted watercolor event portraits.

Guests don't have to sit still while I paint.

They pose for a quick reference photo and then go right back to celebrating.

Meanwhile, they get to watch the paintings come to life throughout the evening.

Friends can be painted together.

Couples can have their own portrait.

Families can pose together.

Your parents can become art.

Your grandparents can become art.

Your childhood best friend can become art.

And, of course, I always make sure my couple gets a painting of themselves, too.

There's something incredibly sentimental about looking at all of those little paintings together.

These are your people.

The people who showed up.

The people who celebrated this chapter of your life with you.

And now there are tiny pieces of personalized art commemorating the fact that they were there.

Give Your Guests Something They Actually Want to Keep

This is where live guest portraits become more than event entertainment.

They're also wedding favors.

Except instead of handing your guest something with your names printed on it, you're handing them artwork of themselves.

Imagine your friends going home, framing their watercolor portrait, and years later someone asks them about it.

They get to say:

"Oh! We had this painted at their wedding."

There's a story attached to it.

That's what sentimental people want.

We don't keep things because they're things.

We keep them because of what they remind us of.

Turn Your Wedding Into a Piece of Art You Can Live With

Your wedding shouldn't have to exist only in your camera roll.

That's one of the reasons I love creating live wedding paintings and commissioned paintings.

Your wedding can become artwork that actually lives alongside you.

A painting can capture your ceremony, first dance, venue, or another moment that feels particularly meaningful.

And unlike a photograph, artwork gives us some creative freedom in how we tell that story.

Maybe your dog wasn't actually standing beside you during your first dance.

That doesn't necessarily mean they can't be represented in your painting.

Maybe there's a tiny sentimental detail you want included.

Maybe we emphasize something about your venue that matters to you.

Custom artwork gives us the opportunity to preserve the feeling of a memory, not simply recreate one frame from it.

That's what makes it so personal.

Let the Little Details Mean Something

You don't need to create a grand sentimental gesture around every corner.

Some of my favorite wedding details are tiny.

Maybe your signature cocktail is the drink you always order together.

Maybe a piece of artwork on your bar is your cat.

Maybe your stationery includes the home you share.

Maybe your colors were inspired by somewhere you traveled together.

Maybe your signage includes an inside joke.

Maybe there's a butterfly incorporated somewhere because it reminds you of someone you love.

The detail doesn't have to mean something to everyone.

It just has to mean something to you.

In fact, I think that's what makes it even more special.

Some guests will simply think it's beautiful.

The people closest to you will know the story.

Remember the People Who Helped Create Your Story

When you're planning a wedding, so much of the focus naturally goes toward the couple.

But sentimental people know that our stories are also made up of other people.

Parents.

Grandparents.

Siblings.

Childhood friends.

College roommates.

Chosen family.

People who have known you through completely different versions of yourselves.

Your wedding might be one of the only times in your life when all of those people are together in the same place.

I think that's worth noticing.

That's another reason I'm so drawn to painting wedding guests.

Years from now, those portraits aren't simply paintings of people dressed up for a wedding.

They become a little time capsule of who was there during that chapter of your life.

And as time passes, that can become even more meaningful.

Think About What You'll Take Home Before You Decide What to Buy

Wedding planning involves buying a lot of things.

But here's a question I think sentimental couples should ask:

What happens to this after our wedding?

Does it get thrown away?

Does it get packed into a box?

Does your guest leave it behind?

Or does it become something you actually want to keep?

I'm obviously biased, but this is one of the things I love most about incorporating artwork into a wedding.

Your custom artwork doesn't have to stop being useful when the reception ends.

Your venue painting can become artwork in your home.

Your pet portrait can be framed.

Your live wedding painting can hang on your wall.

Your guests can take their watercolor portraits home.

The things you chose for one day can become part of your life afterward.

Remember That Your Wedding Doesn't Need to Look Like Anyone Else's

Maybe the most sentimental thing you can do is give yourself permission to stop asking what a wedding is supposed to look like.

You don't have to include a tradition simply because everyone else does.

And you don't have to skip something meaningful because you've never seen another couple do it.

Your relationship isn't generic.

Your wedding shouldn't feel generic either.

If you're the couple who saves every card, takes pictures of everything, cries looking through old photo albums, has boxes of little keepsakes you swear you'll scrapbook someday, and gets emotional thinking about everyone you love being in one room...

Plan for that couple.

Put your dog on the cocktail sign.

Turn your first home into a painting.

Have your grandparents painted.

Commission artwork from your wedding day.

Give your guests something they'll actually keep.

Fill the day with tiny references that only your favorite people will understand.

Those are the details that turn a beautiful wedding into your wedding.

Sentimental People Know That the Little Things Become the Big Things

I think that's ultimately why I'm an artist.

I've always believed that the people, pets, places and moments we love deserve to be preserved.

Because life changes.

Homes change.

Families grow.

Pets come into our lives and eventually leave them.

People we love won't always be sitting at the same table.

And one day, something that felt like an ordinary little moment becomes the memory you'd give anything to experience again.

That's why I paint.

And that's why I love working with sentimental couples.

I don't just want to make something beautiful for your wedding.

I want to help you preserve the pieces of your life that made the day worth celebrating in the first place.

So save the movie tickets.

Keep the cards.

Take too many pictures.

Put your pets on everything.

Hold onto the little things.

And when there's a memory that's too important to leave buried in your camera roll, let's make it into art.

How Do We Add More Sentimental Touches to Our Wedding?