STORY | AMSTERDAM

Wedding Portraits on a June Evening Along the Canals

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Published 1 November 2026

Forehead kiss in low evening sun by a canal, the couple in an ivory wedding dress and a brown suit, a bouquet between them

Bea and Sam came from the Philippines with a long ivory dress, a brown suit and one wish: wedding portraits on a June evening in Amsterdam. Years ago, their very first trip together brought them here. So we spent almost two hours on the canals, walking from one bridge to the next.

Every LGBTQ+ couple is welcome in front of my camera. Without a ceremony to follow, an evening like this belongs to the two of you and the city. It is the quietest side of my wedding photography in Amsterdam.

A June Evening at the Pieter Goemansbrug

We met at ten past eight on the Pieter Goemansbrug, where the Leidsegracht meets the Prinsengracht. It carries the name of Pieter Goemans, who wrote the old song Aan de Amsterdamse grachten after a walk across it, as the story goes. Bea wore a long ivory dress with flutter sleeves, and Sam a brown double-breasted suit over a white shirt. Holding hands at the railing, Bea kicked up one heel.

Couple in an ivory dress and a brown double-breasted suit on the Pieter Goemansbrug, one heel kicked up, canal houses behind — The Pieter Goemansbrug over the Leidsegracht, 20:12

Close by, a stoop overflowed with red roses. I stepped behind the flowers, so their red would blur across the front of the frame. Then I asked them to hold each other, and Sam leaned in for a kiss on Bea’s forehead.

Forehead kiss behind a blur of red roses on a canal-house stoop, the couple dressed for their wedding on a June evening

Hug from behind by a stoop full of red roses, both smiling at the camera, the ivory dress in front and the brown suit behind

A little farther on, climbing roses framed a dark front door, and Sam spun Bea around.

Twirl in front of a dark front door framed by climbing red roses, one hand raised high above the long ivory dress

After that, we crossed to the Beudekerbrug, the second bridge over the Leidsegracht, right across the Prinsengracht. There they simply walked, talked and laughed.

Couple laughing at the railing of the Beudekerbrug, a parked bicycle beside them and tall canal houses behind — The Beudekerbrug, across the Prinsengracht, 20:36

Walking into the Low Sun

By a quarter to nine, the sun hung low between the trees along the canal. I let my camera move with them as they walked, so the cars, bikes and cobbles melt into streaks of warm light. Only the two of them stay together in the frame.

Motion blur on a June evening: the couple walks hand in hand into the low sun, the canal street melting into warm streaks — Low sun between the trees, 20:46

Bea had brought a little retro video camera, made to look like an old Super 8. While Bea filmed, Sam waited, hands out of sight, hiding the bouquet of wildflowers. A moment later, Sam brought it back out with a grin.

A small retro video camera raised in the evening sun while the partner in the brown suit hides a bouquet of wildflowers behind the back

Bouquet of wildflowers coming out from behind a brown suit jacket, the retro video camera still filming in warm light

Soon the video camera changed hands, and they were laughing too hard to stand still. Meanwhile, the sun lit up the edges of the dress and the suit.

Both laughing by parked bikes on a June evening, wedding clothes lit from behind and the bouquet held high

Rings, Flowers and One Pair of Earphones

Their rings are gold, each with a rectangular green stone. In the last direct sun, they pressed their palms together, and I came in close. Afterward, I set both rings on the red cockscomb from the bouquet, whose ruffled crest looks almost like velvet.

Two hands pressed palm to palm with gold rings and green stones, a bouquet of purple and yellow wildflowers soft in the corner

Two gold rings with rectangular green stones resting on the ruffled red crest of a cockscomb flower from the bouquet

At a corner with an old lamppost and a bench, Sam pulled out a pair of wired earphones. With one earbud each, they listened to a song from that first trip, while a tour boat glided past behind them.

Canal corner with an old lamppost, a bench and a tour boat passing, the couple in wedding clothes on a June evening

Sharing one pair of wired earphones by the canal, a smile over the shoulder in the ivory dress, an arched bridge glowing behind — By an old lamppost on the canal, a quarter past nine

Wedding Portraits Under Lit Bridges

From the other side of the water, they looked tiny among the tall gabled houses, and I wanted one frame exactly like that. On a June evening the sun sets only after ten, which left time for wedding portraits at dusk as well. By half past nine, the small lights along the arches of the bridges were glowing orange.

Tall gabled canal houses at dusk with the couple small on the far quay, a bicycle basket blurred in the foreground

Wedding portrait on a canal corner by a bridge with lit arches, gabled houses and an old lamppost on a June evening — A lit bridge on the canals, 21:33

Then I came close again. Bea rested a hand, ring and all, on Sam’s lapel, and they leaned cheek to cheek. Finally, Sam wrapped both arms around Bea from behind, with one glowing arch over the water.

Hand with a green-stone ring resting on a brown lapel, the couple smiling at each other in a close wedding portrait

Cheek to cheek and laughing at the camera, glasses, long dark hair and a white collar, a close wedding portrait at dusk

Hug from behind on a bridge, the brown suit wrapped around the ivory dress, orange lights glowing along the arch behind

One Portrait Each, Then the Last Frame

Toward ten, each of them had a few minutes alone. Bea leaned on the railing with the bouquet and then looked back over one shoulder.

Evening portrait in an ivory wedding dress at a canal railing, the bouquet in one hand and a lit bridge arch behind

Looking back over one shoulder with a big smile, long dark hair and a bouquet of wildflowers, gabled houses soft behind

Sam stood calmly, hands in pockets, then walked across the bridge toward me.

Portrait in a brown double-breasted suit and glasses, hands in pockets and a quiet smile, the canal and trees blurred behind

Wedding portrait on a June evening: walking across a canal bridge in a brown suit, a tall gabled corner house behind

The last of their wedding portraits on a June evening came at five to ten: Bea walked off along the bridge and lifted the bouquet high toward the trees.

Last frame of the evening: walking away along the bridge in an ivory wedding dress, the bouquet raised high toward the trees — A canal bridge at dusk, five to ten

Dressed for your wedding and dreaming of an evening like this? Discover how my wedding photography in Amsterdam works.