STORY | WEESP

A Garden Wedding in Weesp, with Vows Under a Tent

By Aleksandria Rudenko | Published 8 November 2026

Bride and groom hug on a gravel path between clipped hedges and flower beds, her long tulle train behind her, at their garden wedding in Weesp

Floor and Rhys planned a garden wedding in Weesp, with the vows under a stretch tent on the lawn. Floor grew up nearby, while Rhys brought his family over from New Zealand. So on an afternoon in early June, I followed their day for five hours, from the first look to the last speech.

Since Weesp became part of Amsterdam, a day here belongs to my wedding photography in Amsterdam as well. A wedding booking runs up to six hours, and they used five of them.

A First Look Between the Hedges

We started at twenty past one, among clipped hedges and gravel paths. First, Rhys’s mother held him close, cheek to cheek, in a crinkled pink-red dress and sunglasses. Then she pinned a little boutonniere of pink flowers and grasses to his cream jacket.

Groom in a cream jacket leans cheek to cheek with his mother in a pink-red dress and sunglasses, hedges and a gravel path behind them

A mother's hands pin a small boutonniere of pink flowers and grasses to her son's cream jacket in the garden before his wedding

A few minutes later, Floor came down a path between purple geraniums, holding a bouquet of wildflowers. When Rhys turned around, they simply held each other for a while. Under her long tulle train, I spotted one more detail: white canvas sneakers, ready for an afternoon on the grass.

Bride walks down a gravel path between tall hedges and purple geraniums, holding a colorful wildflower bouquet before the first look

White canvas sneakers peek out from under a lifted tulle gown, next to the groom's brown leather shoes on a gravel path

Among the orange roses, they leaned in until their foreheads touched. Afterward, I stepped back behind a bed of geraniums, so the flowers would fill most of the frame.

Bride and groom touch foreheads and smile among orange roses in a Weesp garden, his cream jacket and her lace straps up close

Wide view of a flowering garden in Weesp, purple geraniums and white blooms in front, the bride and groom seated small in the middle — Purple geraniums in the garden, 13:46

Just after two, her parents found her. Her father kissed one cheek and her mother the other, and Floor could not stop smiling.

Bride in a lace gown kissed on both cheeks by her father and mother, her wildflower bouquet held between them

The Wedding Garden Fills Up

Older woman in a floral blouse plays a digital piano under a small tent with white bunting, before the wedding ceremony in the garden

By half past two, the guests were arriving across the lawn. Meanwhile, an older lady played softly on a digital piano under a small tent of her own. On a table on the lawn stood a pink post box for cards, with a kiwi on its paper stamp, a nod to Rhys’s home.

Pink post box for wedding cards with a kiwi bird on its paper stamp, on a wooden table, guests blurred on the lawn behind

The ceremony tent stood at the foot of a grassy dike, with birch poles, paper lanterns and white bunting. A white runner led between the rows of wooden folding chairs.

Stretch tent on a lawn with guests on wooden folding chairs, a white aisle runner and paper lanterns, set for a garden wedding in Weesp — The stretch tent on the lawn, 15:04

Vows Under the Tent

Just after three, Floor and her father appeared at the far end of the meadow. Together, they walked down the wooden steps of the dike toward the tent. In front of them, a little flower girl held her mother’s hand and dropped petals from a basket.

Bride and her father walk across a long grassy meadow under tall trees toward the ceremony, small in the frame

Toddler flower girl with a wicker basket walks down the white aisle runner holding her mother's hand, guests standing on both sides

At the front, her father shook Rhys’s hand. Floor pressed a hand to her chest, and the guests rose to their feet.

Bride with a hand on her chest as her father reaches the groom under the tent, guests standing among paper lanterns and birch poles

The registrar led the ceremony from a round wooden table, with a microphone, a carafe of water and a small wooden gavel. Soon the front rows were laughing. Later, Floor and Rhys each read their own vows into that microphone, and while Floor read, Rhys grinned across the table.

Registrar in a dark dress speaks into a microphone at a round wooden table with papers and a water carafe, greenery behind her

Bride reads her vows into a microphone at a round wooden table under the tent, the groom listening, an ivy hedge behind her

Groom in a cream jacket grins while listening to the vows, white wildflowers soft in the foreground of the Weesp wedding tent — Their own vows, a quarter to four

Rings, Signatures and a Shower of Petals

The ring bearer, a small boy in a shirt full of dinosaurs, brought the rings and burst out laughing on his way back. Floor clapped her hands together. A minute later, Rhys slid the gold ring onto her finger.

Ring bearer in a dinosaur-print shirt bursts out laughing under the wedding canopy as the bride claps her hands together

Groom slides a gold ring onto the bride's finger under a canopy of white drapes and ivy, a garden bench behind them in Weesp

They signed at a little wooden folding table with a jar of white wildflowers, while two guests filmed on their phones. After that, their four witnesses signed too.

Bride signs the marriage certificate at a small wooden folding table, a jar of white wildflowers beside her and guests filming behind

Groom smiles as he signs at a wooden folding table on the lawn of a Weesp garden, two guests filming on their phones behind him

At three minutes past four, they walked back down the aisle through a cloud of petals. Then everyone gathered on the lawn for one big group photo. I took it from the top of the dike, so every face would show.

Newlyweds walk out of the tent through a shower of flower petals, the groom grinning and the bride laughing with her face to the sky

All the wedding guests wave from the lawn below a stretch tent, the couple in front, seen from a grassy dike in a Weesp garden — Everyone on the lawn, seen from the dike, 16:06

A Garden Wedding Afternoon in Weesp

After the ceremony, the garden wedding in Weesp turned into a long, easy afternoon. Children ran between the picnic tables, and the ring bearer found a new job: lifting Floor’s train off the grass. The youngest guest pulled himself up on a picnic bench and laughed straight into my lens.

Small boy in a dinosaur shirt lifts the bride's long tulle train off the grass during the garden wedding reception in Weesp

Baby in brown corduroy dungarees pulls himself up on a wooden picnic bench and laughs, a dark green hedge behind him

At twenty to six, the speeches began under the tent. Rhys’s mother was one of the first to speak, and her stories had him laughing into his glass. Afterward, Floor gave her a long hug.

Mother of the groom gives a speech with a microphone under the tent while the groom laughs beside her, a drink in his hand

Bride hugs the groom's mother after her wedding speech under the tent, a hedge and a glimpse of water behind them in the garden

Just after six, I asked them for one last minute by the hedge. They held out their hands, new rings and all, and made a heart. That became the last frame of their garden wedding in Weesp.

Hands of a newly married couple form a heart against a dark hedge, a gold ring on each, the lace of the gown at the edge — Their rings, a quarter past six

How a ceremony at a place of your own compares with a short one at a Stadsloket is in my guide to a civil wedding in Amsterdam.

Planning a wedding in a garden of your own? Discover how my wedding photography in Amsterdam works.