A burst of lovely sunshine makes me smile when I drive to Martyna and Coen's address. Coen is preparing at another location, but that doesn't mean that it isn't crowded at Martyna's place. When I arrive everyone is already busy and there is always something fun going on for me to photograph. For example, some nice words and gifts are already shared, everyone is busy with hair and make-up and the cat finds all this very interesting. Excitement for the wedding day always builds up slowly during the preparations.
The location where Coen is getting ready is close to the wedding location, so we have decided that I will spend half an hour there to capture his preparations as well. As is usually the case with the groom, he is very fast and before I know it, I am ready at the wedding location to record the capture the arrival of Martyna.
The ceremony is located in the Pompstation. The location owes its name to the fact that this building was built in 1912 to serve as a water pump for the city of Amsterdam. In the 1980s, the pumps moved to the basement and space was created to transform this beautiful area into a wedding location. Occasionally the pumps in the basement still have to be put to work to pump water out of the city during heavy rainfall. Due to its old architecture, the building does have a lot of character and it is really a prime location to get married in the center of Amsterdam.
Coen sees his bride-to-be for the first time and after a number of nice words from the BABS and the kiss, the signing of the documents is the next official step in the process. What many people do not know is that according to the rules you have to put your signature in between the linesk. It is a small moment of shock when it turns out that 1 of the witnesses accidentally wrote something outside the lines and everything has to be done over again. No worries, there where some more copies brought in case this would happen, so luckily the couple was still officially married after this incident.
The cerenony is followed by a short reception and before dinner we take a short walk to shoot portraits of the wedding couple. These are taken in and around the park where Martyna and Coen spent a lot of time because they lived in this area for several years.
Dinner is the time for all loved ones to once again express their love to the wedding couple. Old memories are shared, people laugh and even a tear is shed here and there by a proud father who finally has to 'let go' his daughter.
After cutting the cake it is time for something special. We are in Amsterdam for a reason and because not all guests come here every day, Martyna and Coen have arranged a canal cruise to end the day with a private party on a boat.