STORY | AMSTERDAM

A Bachelorette with Twelve Friends on the Canals

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Published 28 October 2026

Twelve friends in summer dresses cheering on a canal bridge as they hold the bride-to-be across their arms at her bachelorette

This bachelorette with twelve friends took over a canal bridge, a cobbled corner and two stoops one sunny July afternoon. Lotte was getting married a few weeks later. Her friends wanted photos of all thirteen of them before the party moved on.

A group this size is exactly what my group photoshoots in Amsterdam are about: everyone in the frame.

Twelve Friends on a Canal Bridge

We started with Lotte alone on the bridge, in a lilac dress with fluttering sleeves. A few minutes on her own help a bride-to-be settle in before the crowd arrives. Then twelve friends in summer dresses filled the bridge. On the count of three, they lifted her high and held her across their arms.

Bride-to-be in a lilac dress with fluttering sleeves leaning on a canal bridge railing, trees and canal houses behind her

Close portrait of the bride-to-be smiling to one side, arms crossed over her lilac dress, her long hair lit by the summer sun

Small Groups Along the Canals

With thirteen people, I work in small groups, so every friend gets her own frames. First, Lotte stood cheek to cheek with a friend in glasses, close to the water. A few minutes later, four of them crossed a cobbled bridge, and one high kick quickly turned into four.

Big groups can feel shy in front of a camera. So I keep things moving with a short walk, a joke or a countdown. In a bachelorette with twelve friends, nobody needs to know how to pose, because I tell everyone where to stand.

Bride-to-be cheek to cheek with a friend in glasses and a printed T-shirt, the canal blurred behind them at her bachelorette

Two women laughing by a canal railing, one flinging out an arm, boats on the water and tall trees overhead — By the water, twenty past four

Four women laughing on a sunny canal bridge, each kicking out one leg at the same time, the bride-to-be in lilac among them

Four women walking toward the camera across a cobbled bridge, laughing, their long shadows stretching behind them

Next, four more friends squeezed together by the canal, heads tilted toward each other. I kept the canal houses soft behind them, so the faces tell the story.

Four friends at a bachelorette pressing their heads together by a canal, all smiling, the canal houses soft behind them

Stoops, Doorways and Bridges

The canal belt is full of stone stoops and green doorways, and each one holds a small group. Four friends gathered on a stoop with an iron railing, while three posed by a door framed in ivy. Then three more walked toward me arm in arm across a bridge. The sun was still bright, so for some closer frames I looked for spots in the shade of the trees, where nobody had to squint.

Four women sitting together on the stone steps of a canal house stoop, arms around each other and laughing

Bride-to-be between two friends by a doorway framed in ivy at her bachelorette, one in a vivid blue dress

Three women leaning close and smiling, a pink one-shoulder dress on the right and canal house windows behind them

Three women arm in arm on a sunny canal bridge, a bachelorette with twelve friends, the bride-to-be in lilac in the middle — A canal bridge in the late afternoon sun

All Twelve Friends on One Stoop

Toward the end, Lotte and her best friend Fleur found a dark canal house with a green lantern. They laughed until Lotte had to cover her mouth, and then she climbed onto Fleur’s back.

Two women standing on the stoop of a dark canal house with white window frames, holding the black iron railing

Bride-to-be covering her mouth with laughter as a woman in a floral dress hugs her, green leaves behind them

Bride-to-be riding piggyback on her best friend's back by a canal house, both laughing, at her bachelorette with friends

For the last frame, the whole bachelorette with twelve friends climbed onto that same stoop. Getting thirteen people onto one set of steps takes a little planning, so I placed everyone step by step. Some waved, some cheered, and Lotte stood right among them, still in lilac.

The whole bachelorette with twelve friends on the stone stoop of a dark canal house, waving under a green lantern — The last frame, just before five

Planning a day out with your friends before the wedding? Discover how my group photoshoots in Amsterdam work.