Dichtbij
You just know that you’ll have a great wedding ahead when within 15 minutes or arrival, you have a glass of 30-year old whiskey in your hands. Talk about a great way to start your day!
But groom Frank doesn’t only appreciate fine liqour, he also has a rather exquisit taste when it comes to wedding suits. His suit was pink! I repeat: Pink! How cool is that?
And then there’s Joyce. Another example of good taste. Saying that she looked beautiful in her wedding gown would be a vast understatement. Those two together are a delicious couple! And not just because they’re easy on the eyes. They are just – another understatement – exceptionally nice and friendly people.
So off I went, to the Stadbroekermolen. A very cozy and beautiful wedding venue just outside of Sittard. Joyce and Frank got married, cake got eaten, champagne was flowing. People were relaxing and most of all: enjoying themselves. There were plenty of smiles and a few tears here and there. So many stories to tell, so many memories to share. It was one of these days during which you hardly feel that you’re at work. To me, that’s always a great sign.
Days like this is what I love most about my job. Take a look at the photos and you’ll see why:
A roller coaster. That is a very understated description of what preceded the beautiful wedding of Linda and Remo, who got married in front of their close family and friends in the Belgian Ardennes, near Sechery.
Where do I even start? Getting married during the Corona crisis is a true relationship test for many bridal couples and a test of their flexibility and creativity.
Linda and Remo contacted me a long time ago because they were getting married at Sechery. I’ve known it to be a very beautiful venue, so I was already excited. In addition, I had another great opportunity to work with Nailia from Best Day Ever Events and Vivian from Het Bruidsmeisje. With these two you can count on a beautiful wedding, with everything taken care of, down to the last detail!
But this couple, they’re something else as well. Linda and Remo are an international couple: They live half of the year in Hong Kong and the other half in Switzerland. Quite a contrast huh? Other than their amazing, loyal and sweet dog, I really enjoyed the fact that they are working on a very nice project during their stay in Europe: a real Tiny House. Built from scratch but also self designed. Linda is amazing at that. Remo is also such handyman, and they make many of the parts for the house themselves.
Well, that all sounds anything but stressful, right? So here it comes: About a month before it was decided to move to another wedding location, being Château de Presseux. For the observant viewer, last year I shot the super cool wedding of the sweet couple Romy and Thijmen tere. It’s quite a bold move to change wedding venues so close to the wedding date. But the transition went smoothly and everything was sorted out pretty quickly.
But then disaster struck: Just a week before the wedding, there was a fire in the castle and the wedding venue burned to the ground. What a disaster! Once again, the wedding venue had to be changed. Chaos ensued trying to rearrange everything again at the very last moment. Emergency consultations with the wedding planners quickly followed and miraculously enough, they managed to arrange within 1 (!) day that they could still go back to the original wedding location.
Fortunately, from there on things went uphill. During the wedding day the weather was exceptionally nice, and the bridal couple and guests had the time of their lives. Me too, by the way. Because at such a beautiful wedding it’s double the pleasure when I have my favorite partner in crime Carine on my side. I do believe in karma in that sense, and I think that the beautiful day that Linda and Remo were allowed to celebrate was a compensation for all the misery in the weeks before.
I hope you’ll enjoy the photos as much as we enjoyed shooting this wedding:
Marieke and Max’s cat snuggled against my camera bag which was drenched in cat and dog scents. Max was enjoying a nice cup of coffee and so was I. I imagined myself in earlier times in their cozy house. Because aside from loving each other, Marieke and Max also love vintage stuff. With a slight preference for the 40’s. I can appreciate that. But where I don’t exactly have sweet dance moves, Marieke and Max have them in abundance. They dance a lot and love to dance. With some embarrassment I admit that I forgot the exact name of the type of dance. But that doesn’t matter any more.
Max: Hairdresser by profession. But I don’t think that really covers it. Maybe I should say barber. Super relaxed guy with a nice collection of tattoos.
Marieke: Just like me, she is a wedding photographer! So no pressure at all for me to capture another photographer’s wedding.
These two have been through a lot on their way to their wedding. Corona hasn’t exactly been their best friend. Changes in date and location were the result. In the end they decided to have a cozy wedding in the garden of Marieke’s parents’ house. Nice and intimate with a select group of family and friends. I always like such intimate weddings. People feel 100% at ease in such a small group. And it is quite an honor to be a part of that.
It was a beautiful day. Corona wasn’t on our minds for a second. Nobody gave a flying f*ck about the rain that fell every now and then. Nothing on our minds, except enjoy and love. Their vows to each other were truly eye-watering. So much love between those two, I barely kept my eyes dry. But I digress. Let’s just enjoy the photographs:
Dull couple. Ugly wedding venue. Bad weather. Mediocre food. Boring party.
If I were looking for words to describe the exact opposite of Laura and James’ wedding, I would have hit the nail on the head. In less confusing words words, it was one of those days that was just perfect. From the first second after arriving at the beautiful Buitenplaats Vaeshartelt, to the last click of my camera at the party. Laura and James are also such a sweet and fun couple. A few weeks after the photos were delivered, I received a personal card from them thanking me for the photos. It makes my heart skip a beat. Oh and did I mention that they look really beautiful in the photos? No? Well then you’ll see in a bit.
Add to that a very nice group of friends and a beautiful family and you have all the ingredients together for a more than pleasant wedding day. I do believe you get what you deserve. And that was definitely the case with Laura and James.
Enjoy this cheerful, sunny outdoor wedding in Maastricht:
Venue: Buitenplaats Vaeshartelt
Wedding planner: FBLS Weddings
Band: NANK
Silent disco: RGB Bar
There he was. On top of the bridge at the intersection of Reguliersgracht and Prinsengracht. Olivier’s nerves were racing through his body. But he had a more than good reason. His beautiful Julie was on his way to him by boat. He was about to propose to her there, in this beautiful spot near the canals of Amsterdam. We agreed that he would wait on the bridge and wave her to come to him.
There I was. One bridge further, at the intersection of Reguliersgracht and Prinsengracht. Were racing through my body. But I had more than good reason. I had the task of – if possible – to inconspicuously capture Olivier’s proposal and hopefully Julie’s ‘yes I do’.
That is not an easy feat with a large zoom lens on your camera. With the camera hidden under my coat, I could pretend to be a tourist in my own country. How happy I was to have my own other half Carine with me. Like me, she was hidden on the side of the bridge. This way we were able to capture the proposal and the emotions from two sides.
Everything was taking a few minutes longer. The boat was a little late. Minutes like that seem like ages when your nerves are playing tricks on you. But finally Jullie arrived. She immediately saw Olivier and came over to him.
A warm embrace followed, and soon the moment was there: Olivier got on his knees and proposed to his Julie. Julie’s was pleasantly shocked and surprised. Her answer? A resounding ‘yes!’ of course!
After the proposal we walked around the canals for a short photo shoot. Because, well, you don’t want to keep such a newly engaged couple busy for too long.
The couple in love sailed away, with a romantic evening ahead of them.
Such a beautiful evening!
London baby! I’m terribly sorry, but I have this compulsion to say that every time London comes to mind. I blame Friends. People that know the show will get the reference. But even before Friends descended upon London, I had the joy to visit this beautiful and vibrant city two times. I was an early adolescent in the 90’s and at that time I never would have thought that I’d end up as a wedding photographer. I did already love taking photographs at that time, but then again: Who didn’t? Me and my parents did one if these slightly cheesy double decker bus tours, but also we went to see the Miss Saigon musical. Until this day that was a very memorable experience.
Fastforward to 2019, roughly 20-25 years later. London still has a very special place in my life, albeit for a very different reason. Since meeting my life partner and partner in crime Carine, I’ve visited the UK capitol regularly. It’s always a pleasure to be there, because London is very much alive. Howver, this time my visit had a different purpose. Other than the fact that Carina shares almost the same first name as ‘my’ Carine, there’s another resemblance with my own personal life. René is from the Netherlands and Carina lives in London. I get to shoot their wedding in the Netherlands next month, but before that, they wanted to do a nice engagement session in London. Not a problem! So I packed my bags, drove my car to Brussels, got on the Eurostar and a mere few hours later I arrived at St. Pancras International. Two days later I met Carina and René for the shoot. We picked up three locations that were very much London without being overly touristic. The shoot started at the South Back area, after which we visited Little Venice and Richmond Park. A beautiful and diverse set of locations. We spent an amazing, sunny afternoon together, with the follow photo series as a result:
Every now and then, being a wedding photographer brings you to amazing places. But I do think that an Iceland elopement or destination wedding is every photographer’s dream. It was my dream for sure! The land of fire and ice, of ocher colored grass and ice blue glaciers. The rough, untouched nature and incomparable landscapes, the mountains and the cold. Smoking, bubbling landscapes that make you think you’re on another planet. To me, it has some sort of magical attraction. That’s why I couldn’t be happier when Michelle and Koen asked me to capture their Iceland elopement.
It was the end of October and after a couple months of preparations and planning, the time had finally come. Me and my girlfriend Carine (who happens to be an amazing photographer herself!) flew to Reykjavik, and a breathtaking trip followed through the fascinating Icelandic scenery. A very welcome surprise was being able to see the amazing Aurora Borealis, Northern Lights, near the end of our trip.
Capturing the love between Michelle and Koen has been a wonderful experience. Their love for each other is abundant and they have no problems at all showing it! It truly was a joy to photograph this intensely happy couple. And despite of the freezing cold winds, they did not bat an eye. Maybe the bottle of Jägermeister I brought helped a little bit. We travelled through the magnificent Snaefellsnes peninsula and among others we visited the famous black church in Búðakirkja. The shoot ended at an abandoned shipyard. After a long day, we returned to our cosy little cabin. What a day!
But really, Iceland can’t be described in words. So just sit down, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy these photos. Have you always dreamed of an Iceland elopement or photo session on your favorite destination? Make sure to contact me!
An Austria elopement? Count me in!
Vera and Shenshen traveled all the way from China for their Austria elopement in Salzburg. A moment to be captured, they thought. I had the privilege that they booked me as their destination wedding photographer in Austria.
Off course, I’m not saying no to that. And after flying around for a lot, I felt like doing a little road trip. So I filled up my trustworthy Ford and off I went. Little did I know that the 7 hours of indicated travel time was way optimistic. Due to the many, many, many construction works on the German highways, the trip took several hours longer. But that didn’t ruin my mood. I arrived in Austria!
After a good night’s sleep, Vera and Shenshen picked me up for a day of touring and shooting in some beautiful places in the Austrian landscape. Such a different world, and yet so close! We visited beautiful locations like beautiful Hellbrunn Castle and the Königssee, where we enjoyed a nice cool plate of spaghetti ice. And when you’ve done a full day of elopement photography, you’re hungry. Believe me. Good thing that the Austrian restaurants serve jumbo sized dishes. With a belly full of traditional Austrian food we went back to the hotel. Tired but very satisfied. Hopefully I can visit the area again soon, because I feel there’s a lot more to exlore!
2018 is starting off great! After being honored with a 16th place worldwide at ISPWP, some more great news came my way today. This time it was about the Fearless Awards.
Winning a Fearless Award is no easy feat. I had been trying for a while, to no avail. But persistence wins, and in 2016 I finally received my first Fearless award. To this day, I can remember that moment as if it were yesterday.
Today’s awards however came as quite the surprise. Somehow, I totally missed the announcements for the contest results. So the message I received from my colleague Marieke this morning was a very pleasant surprise. However, when the Fearless Awards winners are announced on the website, the images are not displayed in any type of order. It took a second message from another fellow photographer to realize that I had won not one but two Fearless awards!
These unexpected awards had another very nice result: With a total of 3 awards over 2017, I made it to the Top Fearless Photographers of 2017 list.
It’s such an honor to be mentioned in the Best Photographers lists of both Fearless Photographers and ISPWP. A couple of years ago, I could only dream of results like these, and it’s very rewarding that the hard work has paid off.
I hope you’ll enjoy these images as much as I do.
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‘Are you looking forward to see India?’
That’s what Jessika said to me in an e-mail she sent me about a year ago. You can imagine my heart skipping a beat, since shooting a wedding in a faraway land had always been top bucket list material for me. So you won’t be surprised by the fact that the only thing I could say was: “I do!”. I went on this amazing journey through India for three weeks, at the end of which there was Jessika and Sanal’s wedding. What an fascinating way to end such an intriguing journey. Let me tell you the story of Jessika and Sanal’s amazing Indian wedding:
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VENDORS
Make-up Artist: Pim Menco
Hairstyling: Lilit Flowers & Hairstyling
Florist: MK Floral Design
Wedding gown: La Nova
Wedding suit: Viv Suits & Shirts
Band: Brassociety
DJ: Ambitious
A 16th place in a competition? That’s hardly something to write home about. However, this 16th place makes me more than happy. Why? Because it’s a 16th place worldwide over an entire year, at the renowned ISPWP – International Society of Professional Wedding Photographers.
This 16th place is not a lucky shot. It’s the result of 4 first-place and 4 other awards, spread across the whole year. I feel absolutely honored to see my name amongst the absolute best wedding photographers in the world, above thousands of other photographer and as highest ranked photographer in the Benelux.
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Also, during the last ISPWP competition, I managed to win three more awards:
Getting married on the beach is always something special. Especially when there’s plenty of sunshine, a beautiful outdoor ceremony, a barbecue and a big box full of flip-flops. And off course, an amazing party with a killer band to end the day with a blast. Machteld and Jorn’s wedding had it all. What a great day! Enjoy:
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Venue: Strandpaviljoen De Staat, Den Haag
Wedding dress: De Bruidsboerderij, Bergambacht
Evening dress: De Bijenkorf
Suit: Roka
Rings: Diamond Point – de Bijenkorf
MUAH: Debbie Brakhoven – The Beautiful Bride Company
Wedding cake: Delicious Sweetness
Florist:Bloemenatelier ’t Bloemeke
Band: Take Me Out coverband
After flying to South France in May last year, I was more than excited to go back to the Sunny South of Europe to shoot another Destination Wedding. Especially since Mellaney and Joachim are such a very nice couple. You can understand that I did a little dance when they decided to book as their France wedding photographer.
So, off I went. From Roermond to Schiphol Airport, to Bordeaux. From Bordeaux about a 2 hour drive through the beautiful French scenery. I love driving, especially in a region like this, and surely you can imagine that I couldn’t wait to shoot Mellaney and Joachim’s destination wedding. One day later, that moment had arrived. It was a bit nerve-wrecking, since the weather forecasts had been changing constantly. But in the end, the day could not have been more perfect. It started upon arrival at the absolutely stunning Château Camp del Saltre. What a gem this castle is! But other than a stunning setting, the atmosphere was just wonderful. The guests were still enjoying their breakfast, and people were playing some music here and there. I love it when there’s musicality among the guests! To arrive in such an atmosphere almost feels like coming home, and the rest of the day was no different. The wonderful couple, the very kind guests, the beautiful wedding ceremony by Mark from Mooi Trouwen, delicious food and an amazing party with live music from The Candy Stripes. The day ended in style with the couple and guests released wedding balloons. It was a perfect end to a perfect day. To this day I still look back with great joy :-)
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Locatie: Château Camp del Saltre, Prayssac
Trouwambtenaar: Mark van Leeuwen – Mooi Trouwen
Jurk + pak: De Bruidshoek, Leiden
Cateraar: L’Atelier de la Fontaine, Goujounac
Muziek: The Candy Stripes
Kapper: Meli Mel’eau, Mercués
What a pleasure it was to return to the wonderful Kasteel de Hoogenweerth. I’m going to keep the story short this time. This day was amazing. Check it out, and enjoy:
If somebody asks you to do a photoshoot in the legendary Krasnapolsky hotel, you’re not going to say no! This ‘city jungle’ fotoshoot was organized mainly to show what a great venue the hotel is to get married! Together with a team of awesome vendors from the Dutch wedding industry, we started creating. The resulting photographs have also been published at ThePerfectWedding.nl: Styled shoot with a tropical theme and a golden touch. In this publication you’ll find some more detail and inspiration shots. But since I’m more of a people-photographer, the photo series you’re seeing here are a collection of personal favorites. For an overview of the vendors, scroll to the bottom!.
Venue: NH Collection Amsterdam Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky
Model: Maral Kazikan
Wedding dresses: NamaNama
MUAH: Marianne Roza – The Beautiful Bride Company
Wedding planner/styling: Best Day Ever Events
Floral design: Gift By Nature
Wedding cake (not shown here): Sugarlips Cakes
Some things can seem to good to be true. When I went to bed yesterday after a long and hard day of taking photos I impatiently decided to check the results of the last round of the Masters of Dutch Wedding Photography Awards. I’m in awe of the stunning work of my colleagues.
But then, all of a sudden, there’s one of your own photographs, with the famed M-logo in the bottom left corner. Yes! I won an award! I continued clicking to see the other winning images. But instead of seeing a photo from a different photographer, there was another one of my photograph. And a third one. This can’t be happening, right? I must have checked it at least three times, but it turns out it was true. I won 3 awards!
But there was a BIG bonus. Having won a total of 5 awards in the past year, I’ve reached the top 10 of the best wedding photographers in the Benelux!
I’m absolutely honored to be mentioned amongst the absolute best in the wedding industry.
So are you still looking for an awesome wedding photographer? Look no further and fill out the contact form below.
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Finally, the moment had come: My first Destination Wedding as a photographer. I’ve had the honour of traveling to Southern France, to the lovely Ardèche region, to capture the amazing wedding of Sal and Graeme. (meer…)
The American wedding of Hella and Ryan. What a fairytale it was! During a trip to Paris, the idea emerged to get married in Europe. “That’s madness!”, was Ryan’s first response. But as time went by, both Ryan and Hella started getting used to the idea, thinking that maybe it can be done. More time went by, and in August their big day had finally arrived. Getting married in the beautiful Château Neercanne in Maastricht, what a stunning venue to celebrate your love.
I’m so happy that I was trusted with capturing their wedding day. Enjoy the photographs:
Venue: Chateau Neercanne
Wedding planner: Fabuloes Weddings
MUAH: Sumeya Hamie
Video: Lovell Productions
Florist: De Rozengaard
