After years of painting Cape Cod, Clara Clough Rodman finds herself at the center of one particularly meaningful scene.

Clara Clough Rodman had painted the house long before she ever stood in front of it in a wedding dress.

It took more than 40 hours to get it just right. The weathered shingles, rows of windows and rambling charm of the historic North Chatham home slowly appeared in watercolor, washed in the soft coastal colors that have become a signature of her work. The finished painting made its way onto the couple’s save-the-dates and invitations, an early glimpse of the place where she and Jay Rodman would soon gather everyone they loved.

Then, on June 6, the artist stepped into her own painting. “The whole thing felt like a dream,” Clara recalls.

Cape Cod LIFE readers may recognize Clara from a previous issue, when she was featured as an Emerging Artist. A lifelong Cape Cod “summer girl,” she has spent years capturing the region’s homes, boats, flowers and seascapes through her art.

This time, those familiar scenes were all around her. An old Cape house overlooking the water, beautiful flowers, hand-painted oyster shells and family heirlooms tucked among the tables. But as carefully considered as everything was, the wedding was never meant to feel like a production. “We wanted it to feel like an elevated family reunion,” Jay jokes.

The Cape had already become part of their story. Clara grew up spending summers here with her family, often in Dennis Port or Brewster. Jay, who grew up in Newton, came to love it later.

A few years into their relationship, the two gave up their apartments in Boston and Brooklyn, packed up a Toyota Camry and...