STORY | ZANDVOORT

A Pre-Wedding Shoot on the Beach at Zandvoort

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Updated 28 October 2026

Couple running hand in hand across the sand as gulls take off around them during their pre-wedding shoot in Zandvoort

This pre-wedding shoot in Zandvoort celebrated an engagement. The two had met at university in Amsterdam and planned to marry that spring. Before the big day, they wanted photos of just the two of them by the sea.

This session shows what my photoshoots across the Netherlands are about. Each one starts with a place with character, natural light and room to move.

Long Coats on Zandvoort Beach

Zandvoort is one of the big beach resorts of the Netherlands, with a long sandy beach and dunes behind it. In early spring, that beach is wide and almost empty. That makes it a calm place for a pre-wedding shoot in Zandvoort.

The wind off the North Sea was still cold. They came in long wool coats, his camel and hers a soft taupe, over cream sweaters. Those light, natural colors sit softly against the sand and the grey water. The sky stayed full of clouds the whole time, so the light stayed soft and even. For faces, that is the kindest light there is.

Couple in long wool coats hugging at the edge of the sea under a wide cloudy sky on the beach at Zandvoort

At first they simply held each other and laughed at the wind. Then he lifted her off the sand in a hug, and her white jeans kicked up behind her.

Woman in a taupe wool coat smiling into the camera as her fiancé hugs her from behind and presses his face to her cheek

Man lifting his laughing fiancée off the sand in a hug, both in long wool coats, her white jeans kicking up

I kept close for the small things too. Her hand rested on his camel sleeve, and the ring on her finger caught the soft light.

Close-up of her hand with an engagement ring resting on his camel coat sleeve as they hold each other — Early spring on the beach at Zandvoort

Gulls Along the Waterline

After a while, the coats came off. In their cream sweaters, they walked to the waterline. A flock of gulls took off around them as they ran along the sand, and that frame opens this story. I only had to stay low and keep shooting until the birds were gone.

Couple in cream sweaters seen from behind with arms around each other at the waterline, her face turned to the camera

By the water, I mostly let them be. He held her from behind while she looked back over her shoulder. Then they stood nose to nose, her long hair blowing across both of them.

Couple in cream knits standing nose to nose by the sea at their pre-wedding shoot, her long hair blowing in the wind

Couple hugging and laughing at the edge of the waves in cream sweaters, white jeans and ankle boots

A Picnic in the Dunes

In the dunes, they spread a blanket in the marram grass and opened a bottle of red wine. He poured, they talked, and soon they had nearly forgotten about me. That is exactly when the most honest frames appear.

Man pouring red wine into her glass as they sit smiling on a blanket in the dune grass, a grey scarf around her

Couple laughing under a grey scarf pulled over their heads against the wind during their pre-wedding shoot in Zandvoort

The wind kept tugging at the grey scarf, so they pulled it over their heads and laughed underneath. Meanwhile, two glasses stood in the sand between the grass. Then she leaned in to kiss his cheek, and he held her hand in his.

Two glasses of red wine standing in the sand among dune grass next to a folded blanket in the dunes

Woman kissing her fiancé on the cheek as they sit wrapped in a grey scarf, her hand holding his

Bottle of red wine and a crumpled grey scarf on a terracotta blanket in the dune grass at the pre-wedding shoot

A Toast Above the Beach

To finish, they stood up in the grass and raised their glasses high, with the whole beach behind them. Then they sat down again, wrapped together in one scarf, and looked out at the sea. That is how their pre-wedding shoot in Zandvoort ended: quietly, side by side. A session like this needs little more than a beach, a blanket and some time together.

Couple standing in the dune grass and raising their wine glasses high above the beach at their pre-wedding shoot in Zandvoort

Couple sitting wrapped together in a grey scarf on a blanket in the dunes, a bottle of red wine beside them

Couple seen from behind wrapped in one scarf, looking out at the sea from the dunes at the end of their pre-wedding shoot

Engaged and dreaming of the sea? Discover how my photoshoots across the Netherlands work.