Maryjo was wonderful to work with! She brings great energy and talent to her live paintings. She truly cares about the product she delivers. Highly recommend!
Jane M.
5.0
Mary Jo was GREAT - we are so happy we hired her for our wedding. She was super kind and responsive, and even went out of her way to add an additional portrait of the bride's parents a couple of weeks after the wedding because they had forgotten to take a picture with her at the reception. Such a fun and unique gift for your guests :)
Rebecca V.
5.0
About this vendor
Mary jo Bradley
ARTIST
Typically responds within 24h
AWARD WINNER
Thanks to recommendations from couples on The Knot
Guest Painting by Mary Jo is a Saratoga Springs, NY and Sarasota, Florida painter who provides gorgeous paintings of your wedding day. Mary Jo Bradley wants to help you remember your special day in a unique way by offering her services, capturing the movement and bustle of your celebrations in a live painting.
Mary Jo studied Painting and Sculpture at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO, before pursuing a Master’s in Art Education at Columbia University. She has had residencies at multiple celebrated studios and art colleges, and has also shown her work in group and solo exhibitions in Los Angeles and New York galleries. Mary Jo’s mission is to bring art into people’s lives in a beautiful and meaningful way, and loves to add a creative flair to milestone celebrations like weddings.
Whether you want your guests to have a handpainted souvenir or you’d like a detailed painting for yourself and your partner, Live Painting by Mary Jo would love to fulfill your wishes. Mary Jo can create gorgeous watercolor works as wedding favors on your special day, or can start detailed work on the day and finish it afterward, ensuring that the joy and beauty of your wedding is captured in detail. Your finished paintings will be delivered within a month of your celebrations, ready to treasure for a lifetime. Please reach out to Mary Jo today to learn more!
The Knot independently assesses vendors for this award—it’s never self-reported. We base it on firsthand experiences from real couples and guests, and they must have a 4.5-star average across 7+ reviews in the qualifying year.
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Meet the team
Mary jo Bradley
Artist
I love spreading more love through my art!
Reviews
5.0
out of 5.0
24 reviews
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Review Summary
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Mary Jo was highly praised as a live wedding painter—professional, responsive, and friendly. Guests loved watching her create watercolor portraits and many framed them afterwards. She captured couples and guests beautifully, accommodated special requests, and delivered artwork quickly. Highly recommended for a unique, memorable favor.
Review photos
Showing slide number 1 out of 9
Ashley K
Highlighted review.
5.0
3/03/2026
Working with Mary Jo was the best decision we made for our wedding day! I knew I love the idea of getting a live painter to capture our guests and I'm so thankful I found Mary Jo t...
hrough the Knot. She was so easy to work with in terms of planning, and when the day came she made the process so easy. She arrived early to snap pictures of our guests before the ceremony. When cocktail hour began, our guests loved seeing her paint everyone based on the reference pictures. The final result was BEAUTIFUL. Not only that, she painted a gorgeous large-scale picture of the bride and groom.
Mary Jo went above and beyond in the fact that I realized a month later that my grandparents forgot to get their picture taken. She offered to do theirs and sent me multiple versions within days which was so appreciated.
Overall, I could not recommend Mary Jo enough for any live event!
Jane M
5.0
9/17/2026
Maryjo was wonderful to work with! She brings great energy and talent to her live paintings. She truly cares about the product she delivers. Highly recommend!
Any questions?
Rebecca V
5.0
8/27/2026
Mary Jo was GREAT - we are so happy we hired her for our wedding. She was super kind and responsive, and even went out of her way to add an additional portrait of the bride's paren...
ts a couple of weeks after the wedding because they had forgotten to take a picture with her at the reception. Such a fun and unique gift for your guests :)
Greg C
5.0
8/27/2026
Watching her work live during our reception was a highlight for every single guest. She brought such a warm, engaging energy to the room, seamlessly blending into the party while c...
rafting a absolute masterpiece in real time. People are still talking about how incredible it was to watch the canvas come to life throughout the night
Sami P
5.0
8/25/2026
I knew when I got married that I wanted to do something unique for our guests! Something cool & outside the norm of the usual wedding party favor! Mary Jo did live sketching for an...
event hosted by my job a few years ago & I knew immediately I wanted to reach out!!! She was so responsive & very easy to talk with!!! She also did a unique “fingerprint painting” of us for our guests to put their mark on! So much fun! Everyone has been raving about how much they love their sketches!!! Would recommend Mary Ho to anyone in a heartbeat!
Jessica C
5.0
8/22/2026
We absolutely love our wedding painting! Mary Jo captured so much of the love between us, and it’s honestly so special to have that memory in a piece of art we can keep forever.
Response from Mary Jo Bradley- Live Art Painting & Custom Guest Portr on 08/22/2026
Thank you Jess!
Joan C
5.0
7/16/2026
Because I had previously received a print my sisters and me from a wedding we had attended and absolutely loved it, I contacted Mary Jo to design one of my highschool friends and m...
e. We had a mini-reunion and sent her a photo of the four of us and it turned out fabulous. I love it and can't wait to give them to my friends. Mary Jo does wonderful work, is very easy to get a hold of, is prompt in getting it done, and very easy to work with. I would recommend her to anyone.
Kaitlyn C
5.0
2/06/2026
Mary Jo captured one of our favorite moments from our special day with incredible skill. Her attention to detail was truly impressive, and we will cherish our painting for a lifeti...
me!
Gabby R
5.0
11/15/2025
Mary Jo was such a wonderful addition to our wedding! The paintings are excellent and looked just like our guests. We are so excited to share them.
Megan K
5.0
7/25/2025
The live guest portraits by Mary Jo were a highlight of our wedding! Throughout the entire evening, people were coming up to us to say how much they loved the idea and how excited ...
they were to see the finished product!
A few of my friends decided to frame their portraits when they got home!
Mary Jo was a pleasure to work with, easy going and did an excellent job. She truly is a master of her craft. We can’t thank her enough for providing this intimate, thoughtful touch to our wedding day!
Kenzie W
5.0
7/07/2025
Mary Jo was excellent from start to finish! All of our guests loved the mini watercolors and her professionalism was top notch 10/10 highly recommend for any event.
Kyle B
5.0
6/09/2025
We hired Mary Jo for our wedding this past April and we are so glad we did. From the booking process to the actual wedding day Mary Jo responded quickly, was kind, and super easy t...
o work with. She painted us and our guests with care and it shows in the quality of her art.
Prior to the ceremony and during cocktail hour, her table was always full with guests fascinated with her skills, getting in line for their reference photo, or just asking her questions. Mary Jo added a special touch to the start of our wedding and we’ve gotten so many compliments for having her there.
Another thing we appreciated is how she structures her work for events. She does some live painting during the event, but much of her time is spent ensuring she gets pictures of all of the guests who want portraits. She then sent us everything after our wedding (in well under a month) allowing us to scan each painting and send them to our guests as a gift with our thank you cards.
It was a pleasure to have Mary Jo paint at our wedding and we highly recommend her for any type of event you’re hosting.
Devyn F
5.0
2/21/2025
Mary Jo was awesome, all the photos of our guests came out great! We’ve gotten so many people messaging us about them how they have been framed and added to their living room. She ...
was super nice, and professional, and the talent will do the rest of the talking! 10/10 recommend!
Caroline G
5.0
12/26/2024
Mary Jo did such an amazing job with the watercolors for the guests. They all loved receiving them and made a very memorable experience. She was just phenomenal!
Dominique P
5.0
11/30/2024
Mary Jo does beautiful work! She worked with our last minute inquiry and was generous with her time and talent. I loved being able to give our guests their favors; our guests loved...
them even more! If you’re looking for an awesome favor, I’d recommend you hire Mary Jo in a heartbeat!
Shannon B
5.0
11/18/2024
Was one of the BEST parts of the day for my guest! Would suggest to any to hire Mary Jo. Don’t think twice and just do it!! Super talented and was great with everyone.
Alicia C
5.0
10/29/2024
Mary Jo was very sweet and kind on script and in person. She was professional and cordial to our guests. She was communicative before the wedding and after so we got our piece in a...
timely manner. She offers a different “something else” to your wedding. I would say to take a minute to look at the work she does for your guests if you can- I wish we saw all the pieces she did for our guests, but they turned out so sweet. Thanks Mary Jo!
Maxine A
5.0
10/09/2024
Mary Jo did an incredible job! Our guests absolutely loved their portraits. Mary Jo was so friendly and kind, she brought a unique and personal touch to our wedding. All of our gue...
sts are so excited to receive their portraits, it was great to see a preview of some of the finished portraits during the wedding. We are so glad to have Mary Jo at our wedding!
Sophia T
5.0
10/05/2024
Mary Jo was very easy to contact and promptly responded to every email. Her hiring process was very easy, she sends her contract via google docs and takes payment through Venmo; I ...
was able to do the whole process on my phone! On our wedding day, she arrived before cocktail hour began so she was there to greet our guests, she even brought her own table and set up so there was very minimal effort on our part. Mary Jo also dressed in accordance with our semi-formal dress code (which not all vendors do)! She did a fabulous job of interacting with the guests; and put a few finished paintings on display for guests to see! We had multiple guests come up to us at the wedding and days afterward to find out more about the paintings and complement the idea. Mary Jo mailed us the finished paintings less than 2 weeks after our wedding, and they turned out great! She also accommodated my special request to capture our younger guests and my husband and I’s first dance moment. We are so excited to mail the portraits out with our thank you cards and think this idea is perfect to provide a favor that guests will really enjoy! We highly recommend hiring Mary Jo!
Elayna J
5.0
8/28/2024
Mary Jo is a must have at your wedding! It was so amazing to have her there and capture our guests in these beautiful water colors. Our guests loved watching her paint as well as w...
ere very excited to receive them. She created long lasting memories that our guests will cherish forever. She is a must have!
Jacqui C
5.0
7/29/2024
I was so excited to book Mary Jo for our wedding. I knew it would be such a special and unique feature for our guests! She did not disappoint. Everyone was so excited to see the fi...
nished product! The paintings were so beautiful and added such a cool element to our wedding. Mary Jo was incredibly warm and she was a lovely addition to our special day.
Sam C
5.0
11/07/2023
Mary Jo did an excellent job of capturing our special day with her live event painting. Our wedding guests were impressed, and it became the talk of the event. We are thrilled to s...
hare the beautiful watercolor portraits with our guests as a special thank you gift. Mary Jo did an outstanding job of capturing all the guests in the portraits.
Mary H
5.0
6/05/2023
Mary Jo painted the most incredible wedding painting for us. We were impressed by her professionalism and communication throughout the planning process. She listened to our wishes ...
and valued our input and vision for the painting. It will be a painting we cherish forever!!
Kally S
5.0
6/05/2023
Mary Jo did live portraits at our 2023 Gala. Her work was beautiful and truly showed an attention to detail. We received so much positive feedback from our guests. Mary Jo was easy...
to work with, great communication, and very professional. I will definitely be booking her again!
