Our French wedding: it was amazing!!! We had the most beautiful wedding we could wish for! Truly a dream. In this blog you will find a photo report that really reflects the atmosphere of our wedding. And we also tell you how we found our destination wedding photographer Femke Dam (Storytelling by Femke Dam)*.
Destination wedding: how did we find our wedding photographer?
One of the most important aspects of our wedding was the wedding photographer. Not that strange since Ries has a passion for photography. In our house we hang pictures of special moments in our lives. And this website is also chock-full of photos from our travels. So say that the wedding photos and therefore the wedding photographer were a big deal to us is an understatement. Very early on, even before the wedding location was definitively fixed (April 2020), we were already looking for a wedding photographer.
You can read about my experience shopping for wedding dresses and saying yes to my wedding dress in this blog!
How do you choose a (destination) wedding photographer?
During our search we looked at the style of photography, but also whether we had a connection with a photographer. We spoke several wedding photographers and we became increasingly aware of what we liked and what we didn’t like. In terms of wedding photography, we were looking for a photographer who would capture the entire wedding in a documentary-style. In a way where you as a viewer really discover a story and taste the atmosphere through the images!
Our wedding planners recommend some photographers who had previously photographed at the wedding location in France (Domaine Rennepont). That certainly had its advantages, because that way the photographer knows all the beautiful places on the location. Which then saves time! And we also knew that when our wedding planners recommended them, they were pleasant and reliable professionals. An extra guarantee.
During these conversations we quickly understood that we wanted to go for a Dutch-speaking photographer. Even though both our guests and we ourselves speak fluently English, when it comes to things as elusive as capturing atmosphere in photos, it’s nice to really understand each other on an even deeper level. So having a Dutch photographer ensured there is no language barrier that stands in the way.
Budget (destination) wedding photographer
Also an important element when you are looking for a destination wedding photographer, is of course your budget. A wedding photographer is not cheap and that is not surprising. A considerable responsibility rests on the shoulders of the photographer. It is one of the most important days of their lives for the bridal couple. So the memories of this day that come back through photos are very important. The photographer cannot have problems with broken memory cards, photos that have gone missing or important moments that he / she does not capture. The photographer is therefore fully concentrated all day long! And that costs money, especially if your wedding photographer has to come from the Netherlands to France, which of course entails extra hours of work and travel costs.
In the end, after several zoom calls (normally you often meet a wedding photographer in real life, but that was not possible because of corona), we made a decision. We had a good click with this photographer, she would photograph our wedding on Saturday. Photographing Friday and Sunday would not fit in our budget, this photographer charges an hourly rate and then the total price would be too high for us.
However, when we decided in May that we had to reschedule our wedding due to Corona, it also meant that we had to look for another photographer. She could not go on the new date. And that was quite tensive: looking for a wedding photographer four months before our wedding day!
Looking for a new wedding photographer
But luckily that went very smoothly and quick! And WOW what a great photographer we have found!!! Our wedding planners immediately jumped into action when they heard that we had to look for a new photographer and made direct contact with Femke Dam. They knew her personally and Femke had already photographed a few times at Domaine Rennepont (our wedding location) in the previous year.
Our destination wedding photographer: Femke from Storytelling by Femke
We had a conversation that same day and we clicked right away! Femke is such a nice woman. She is down to earth, likes to get things done and she is someone with whom you immediately feel at ease. Her photography style appealed to us, you can see the love in the wedding reports splashing off the screen! The photos she takes are light, with a warm glow and often you just see a special detail, which makes the whole thing much more alive.
Also really cool: Femke indicated not to work per hour, but to use a fixed amount for the entire weekend! And that amount fit right into our budget! So cool, a whole weekend, from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning, Femke was there and shot the most beautiful pictures. With her bubbly personality, she really added something to the wedding! Everyone got on very well with her and she felt more like a good friend than someone at work. And that while she really worked hard! She never missed a moment! During the weekend she even sent us photo’s, which she had quickly selected and edited late at night or early in the morning.
The result: the photo report of our wedding
And now, six weeks after our wedding, we just got the pictures (more than 1000 pictures to be precise). Femke already indicated that she has never taken so many photos during a wedding and it is so difficult to choose the most beautiful ones. Together with our parents we go through all the photos and the whole feeling of this wedding weekend comes back. So nice to see all the memories again! We are so happy with all these beautiful images and with Femke as our wedding photographer. Are you curious about other work by her or would you like more information about her services? Then take a look at her website: Storytelling by Femke Dam or follow her on Instagram.
Photo impression of our wedding in France
I will definitely write a blog about our wedding in France, but for now a few photos from our wedding! These images give a taste of what our wedding was like, full of love and warmth! But also with fun and sometimes an emotional moment! We were also lucky that dear friend Thomas also shot some beautiful images of our guests and us, on the Friday, the Saturday afternoon when Femke was taking pictures with us, and on the Saturday evening after the party. The last photo that can be seen is of him and we are so happy with that!
More blogs about our destination wedding
* Note: this is not a sponsorship. We paid for Femke’s services, but are simply so enthusiastic about her work that we want to give her some extra attention and of course she deserves the credits!