Live wedding painting in Santorini

On your wedding day in Santorini, Giulia Dal Bon sets her easel at the edge of the celebration and paints. During the cocktail hour, guests pass by, watch, come back: the canvas advances in front of them, and the moment you have chosen takes shape as the hours go. By evening, the painting is yours. Giulia is a painter, trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. From 950 €, free quote within 48 hours.

Contact Giulia

Tell me your idea, and I will be glad to reply.

Giulia Dal Bon painting live during an event

Live wedding painting prices in Santorini

The wedding painting, made live
40 × 60 cm950 €
60 × 80 cm1,200 €
70 × 100 cm1,500 €
80 × 120 cm, full day1,800 €
Another size, a bespoke daybespoke quote

Giulia also paints live at concerts, festivals and company evenings.

Free quote within 48 hours

Travel and logistics are agreed together and priced in the quote.

Getting married in Santorini

Why do so many couples marry in Santorini?

Santorini alone hosts more than six thousand weddings of foreign couples a year, close to half of all those held across the Greek islands, and bookings are still rising. Couples come from far away, often thirty or fifty of them, and stay two or three days.

Why does a painter love Santorini?

In the second half of the nineteenth century Oia fitted out more than a hundred and thirty ships: the island wine sailed to Russia, the Levant and Alexandria, and came back as timber and grain. The captains had two-storey houses built at the very top of the cliff, the kapetanospita, with balconies open to the sea. One of them has housed the maritime museum since 1990.

What does the painting show?

The moment you choose: the ceremony, the exit, the first dance, the cocktail hour with the guests, or the venue itself with the couple in the foreground. Giulia prepares the composition beforehand from your photographs and images of the venue, then paints on site in Santorini. You know what you will get before the day itself.

Does Giulia know the area?

She comes to Santorini and paints across seventeen European countries. What she looks at here is the white of the lime against the black of the rock, the blue of the domes, and the long late-afternoon shadow over the caldera. The rest comes from you: the moment you want on the canvas.

The wedding venues in Santorini

Giulia travels to the villas and reception venues of the island: Santo Wines (Pyrgos), Canaves Oia, Rocabella (Imerovigli), Le Ciel (Imerovigli), Vedema (Megalochori).

From the terrace of Santo Wines, on the canvas you can see the whole caldera, the islands in the middle and the couple in the foreground. At Canaves Oia, the white houses clinging to the edge and the path going down to Ammoudi. At Le Ciel in Imerovigli, the line of the cliff and the sun crossing it at dinner time.

She also works in Oia, Fira, Imerovigli, Firostefani, Pyrgos, Megalochori, Akrotiri, Kamari, Perissa, Emporio, Vothonas, Exo Gonia, Finikia, Karterados, Messaria, Monolithos, Ammoudi, Thirasia, Vlychada and Perivolos.

Does Giulia work in the great villas and estates?

Yes, and she adapts to the house rules of each venue: she stands where she is least in the way, protects the floor around her and leaves with her equipment the same evening. Simply let your venue and your wedding planner know. She also works with agencies and provides a detailed quote that drops straight into a budget.

What is the best season in Santorini?

The season runs from April to October, and nearly every ceremony is set by the sunset. Giulia paints during the cocktail hour, when the light is at its best, then finishes under lamps. The canvas leaves with you at the end of the evening. Giulia is available all year round, winter dates included.

What do we need to arrange on site?

A space of roughly two by two metres, away from the flow but visible to the guests, a power socket and light if she paints in the evening. Giulia brings her easel, canvases, acrylics and brushes. That is all the venue needs to know.

The caldera terraces are narrow: is there room?

Yes, and it is exactly the question to put to the venue before booking. Giulia can work in a small footprint, easel against a low wall, and adapt the size: a 40×60 fits where an 80×120 would get in the way of the service. On the stepped terraces of Imerovigli and Oia that is often the right choice. She discusses it with you when the quote is drawn up.

Giulia also paints commissioned murals in the area: see murals in Santorini.

Live painting in Santorini, for another occasion

Giulia also paints in Santorini beyond weddings. Tell her what you have in mind, even loosely: she suggests a format, adapts it to your evening and your room, and you approve it beforehand. A festival that wants a second stage, a venue looking for a finale, a company hosting its clients: the shape is built with you.

A concert or a festival in Santorini She paints to the music, from the first note of the set to the last, and the canvas is revealed to the audience. From 400 €.

The piano and painting show Orlando plays, Giulia paints, and the two move together to the last note: it is the magical moment of the evening. If you want a theatrical effect, she paints the canvas upside down and turns it round at the end. On request.

A company evening in Santorini The painting of the evening, made in front of your guests and kept by the company, invoiced in its name. From 900 €.

A private party, a birthday, an opening She paints through the evening, and guests leave with their watercolour portrait. From 400 €.

Your questions, before booking

How do I organise live painting for a wedding in Santorini?

Tell Giulia Dal Bon the date, the venue and the occasion, and she brings your idea to life with you. She offers you a free quote within 48 hours. Before the day, you choose the size and the subject together, and she prepares the composition if needed. On the day, she paints in front of your guests, in Santorini, and the signed painting is yours that same day. Live painting for a wedding starts at 950 €.

Which artist paints live during a wedding in Santorini?

Giulia Dal Bon, a painter trained at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan. She exhibits her paintings in galleries, paints murals in seventeen countries, and paints live on stage and at celebrations: at the Fabbrica del Vapore in Milan, and at the Festival Gaber in Camaiore on 6 July 2017, alongside the guitarist Gianni Martini. She speaks Italian, French, English and Spanish, and comes to Santorini as she does all over Europe, to grand estates and small villages alike.

What do you receive at the end of the live painting, on the wedding evening?

The canvas itself, painted and finished on site, signed, in the size chosen in the quote: 40×60, 60×80, 70×100 or 80×120 cm. It goes home with you that same evening, ready to hang. The price includes the canvas and the paints, from 950 € for a wedding. For a very large format, the finishing is completed in the studio and the painting is shipped to you.

How much does a live wedding painting cost in Santorini?

The canvas Giulia Dal Bon paints during the wedding starts at 950 €, made on site, work handed over. From 1,800 € for a large format or a full day. A portrait painted in the studio from your photographs is ordered from the portrait from a photo page, from 90 €. The canvas, the stretcher, the acrylics and the easel are included. Free quote within 48 hours.

Is travel charged separately?

Travel and logistics are agreed together and priced in the quote, depending on the place and the duration. Giulia comes to Santorini and works across seventeen European countries. Give her the date, the venue and the kind of painting you have in mind: the reply arrives within 48 hours.

How far ahead should we book?

Several months. June, July and September are the three peak wedding months and their Saturdays go first. At the most sought-after venues in Santorini, couples often book a year ahead. If your date is close, ask anyway: a slot sometimes opens.

Do you work elsewhere in Europe?

Yes. Giulia works in seventeen European countries: Italy, France, Monaco, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Greece, Croatia and the United Kingdom. She speaks Italian, French, English and Spanish fluently. Travel and logistics are agreed together and priced in the quote, sent within 48 hours.

Can live painting be arranged for a hotel evening in Santorini?

Yes. Giulia Dal Bon paints live in Santorini for hotel evenings, private dinners, galas and company parties, just as much as for weddings.