Fresh talent: Ana Kast

I'd like to share a bit of a treasure with you today. My dear friend {and sublime artist}, Ana Kast, is the creator behind this lovely painting. Inspired by a shoe shot from our wedding, Ana crafted her own rendition using Corel Painter X to create this digital version of an oil painting. When she shared the results with me, I was speechless.

And I'm in love with the details even more:

I think a framed {and I'm thinking an extremely ornate antique frame, btw} print of my shoes would look super delicious hanging in my walk-in closet.

And the close-up below couldn't be better suited to sit upon my make-up stand, propped against the wall. I love the intensified textures.

And the BEST part? Ana is currently taking a limited number of commissions for custom portraits and the first five Classic Bride readers to contact her will get a 40% discount! So if you have a bridal portrait or a wedding shot you'd love to see turned into a painting, shoot her an e-mail for details and make sure to include Classic Bride Referral in the subject line to receive your discount. To see more of her work, hop on over to her Etsy shop, her portfolio site or her extra-fun blog.

And below is the photo that inspired it all - My groom and I relaxing right before the ceremony. The stairs we're sitting on belong to the Magnolia Hotel, which was severely damaged during Hurricane Katrina. A large part of our wedding focused on embracing the lingering effects of the storm and helping with the rebuilding process {more on that later} and I love that our intent is prominent in this photo - taken by the sweet and talented team of Look Photography:

Tweet