Yvonne and Erik visited us in the studio to approve the design of their wedding album. We showed them their wedding album design and changes a few things around so that their album was exactly as they wanted it. My next question was about the cover of their album. All our wedding and studio albums are totally handmade in our studio, so each client can choose the cover colors and materials they want. There are so many options to choose from!

And what did Yvonne say? “I brought my wedding dress – anything you can do with that?” Noooo, you’ve got to be kidding! Yep, she actually brought her wedding dress. She had checked with her mom to make sure she was okay with the photographer cutting up the wedding dress, and she thought it was a great idea to use the wedding dress for the album. I had made wedding albums from dress material before, but that had always been ‘extra’ material. I had never actually taken scissors to a wedding dress! It took me a few weeks to muster up the courage to actually cut a piece out of the dress’ train. Marco made a video out of the process, since it was such a unique thing to do. So please watch… the making of a bespoke wedding album. From photoshop to print, from paper to cover and from wedding dress to wedding album…. Enjoy!

Apparantly, today is ‘Blue Monday’ – some very smart scientist have done research and they found out that on average most people are unhappy on this monday. Well, I happen to like the color blue and the sun is shining, so this Blue Monday ain’t too bad.

And this day just got a whole lot better still: another Sassen and Verstraaten photograph has been nominated for the Brides Photo Award! Last year was the first time we entered a photograph, and we immediately we won the ‘Bride in the Spotlight’ category. And this year we’ve been nominated with this photograph, in the ‘Open Category’.

Petra and Jan Albert got wed in Rotterdam – on New Year’s Eve! Their wedding reception was held in the beautiful Inntel at the base of the Erasmusbrug. And Inntel is a gorgeous venue on any day, but it’s totally awesome on New Year’s Eve. And Jan Albert doesn’t really like heights, but we managed to convince him to go outside for at least one wedding photograph with the Rotterdam fireworks in the background. And I’m so happy he and his gorgeous bride did go out on the balcony for us at midnight!

And now you all want to go and vote for this awesome photograph, right? Well, you can! Go to the ‘BruidsFotoAward’ website and pick your favorite three images. The Open Category is the last of six categories (oh, and if you’re not getting married this year, just fill in today’s date as your wedding date).

The winners will be announced in June, so we’ll keep you posted.

Happy Blue Monday!

Everything is relative. Right? Seventy or eighty people in a large department store on a Saturday afternoon is not much. But seventy or eighty people seated in tidy rows of eight in a room with no airconditioning and all eyes focused on two clowns up front is quite many. Especially if you are one of those two clowns and the room is filled with colleagues. Just a tad different from intimitate workshops in your own studio.

But it was absolutely amazing! Yesterday the TOPx networking event for wedding photographers was held in Maarssen and it was busy in the Meetinc. Jamy (De Top) and Jonathan (PicturePresent) had done a great job organizing the event and everyone attending was having a grand ol’ time. The people attending our two workshops were great and I hope everyone came away with at least a little bit of extra enthusiasm for posing wedding couples!

We received quite a few questions after both of our workshops, so I’m going to answer some of those in this post. Should you have any more questions after reading these, please leave a comment on this blog post!

How much time do you usually get for the photoshoot with the bride and groom on their wedding day?
Ideally, we would like at least 1.5 hours of photography time, but that is not always possible on a wedding day. We can create some great poses in 20 minutes if we really have to.

Can you tell us some more about the little light you showed?
We love using our little video light during the photoshoot with the bride and groom. Ours is a ‘Ledzilla’ by Dedolight, but there are many lights to choose from. Lowel has their ID light, to name but one, and there are many LED panels for sale as well.

What music did you use for your slideshow? It rocked!Wat voor muziek hadden jullie bij de slideshow?
It’s obvious that we used licensed music that we purchased especially for use with this slideshow. It’s the song ‘Pretty Girls’ by Tim Halperin, that we found at The Music Bed. Another great source for music for photographers is Triple Scoop Music, where photographers (and others) can easily license music to use legally.

(and don’t you all go and get ‘Pretty Girls’ now!)

How did you create your slideshow?
Marco is our slideshow guy and he uses Final Cut Express.

Do you teach workshops in smaller groups?
Yes – we teach workshops in our studio for groups of 6 – 8 photographers. If you’d like to receive more information, shoot me an email with ‘workshop’ as your subject, and I’ll make sure you’ll receive our newsletter on workshops.

And the best question was asked by one of our attendees yesterday:

Have you ever thought about doing stand up comedy?
Uhmmm, no, but I’m glad we didn’t lull you to sleep with our talk!

Here’s two totally crappy iPhone photos. If you sat in on one of our workshops and you have any images for me to add to this post, please send me an email!

And remember: don’t wait for the perfect pose – create it!

Mascha and Jeroen both are true ‘Horinezen’ (born and raised in Hoorn) and they met while going out in the city of Hoorn. They wed a few weeks ago – and where else would they get married but in Hoorn! Mascha stayed at her mother’s home the night before the wedding, and Jeroen stayed home. Jeroen came to Marscha’s mother’s place the morning of the wedding, and after their first look they started the day well: with a nice glass of champagne!

During college, Mascha worked at the Westfrisian Museum in Hoorn, so they didn’t have to think long to decide on a venue for their civil ceremony. They said their ‘I Do’s’ in the beautiful ‘Schutterijzaal’ (filled with paintings of civil marksmen of the olden days). I love how the ancient dignitaries look on as the ceremony takes place.

A great advantage of a bride who is a former colleague of the Museum guards: they let us shoot everywhere in the museum! It was a pretty rainy day, but who cares, really, with a gorgeous indoor location like this! Mascha and Jeroen love art that’s striking in a reserved, beautiful style and we tried to capture that in these images.

The museum has a hall with 3D images – very cute, those 3D glasses, haha!

After our photosession, lunch was served in the Museum’s Garden Room and after that we all walked to the nearby Great Church or Dome Church. Another stunning venue! Right before entering the church, the bride changed into a different bolero jacket: this one was pure lace. And she put on a gorgeous long veil. Very romantic! This is Mascha waiting in the silence center for all her guests to be seated. And the bride’s brother escorted her to the altar – a beautiful moment.

Mass was beautiful – very modern, personal and touching.

After the service, everyone released balloons with well wishes written by all wedding guests.

We then walked to the Huis VerLoren for the reception and the toasts. The evening reception was at Huis VerLoren as well, but first the wedding cake was cut. Red and white and decorated with christmas ornaments!

Venues: Westfries Museum, Hoorn (civil ceremony) | Dome Church, Hoorn (wedding mass) | Huis VerLoren (reception)
Hair & make-up bride: De Kapperij, Hoorn

Mascha and Jeroen got married in the West-Frisian Museum in Hoorn, which was totally decorated for Christmas. We’ll share more photos from their awesome wedding soon, but I thougth this was a fitting image to wish everyone very happy holidays!

Enjoy Christmas and enjoy spending time with your loved ones!

Lots of love,
Marco and Ellen, Ms. Daisy and Flo