Honestly, my heart leaps with joy each time I look through these images. I think they’re all the more special because I know the Bride and Groom as friends.

Through the camera I saw so much happiness, laughter, and fleeting glances of pure love and joy. It’s hard to find the right words to describe this perfect day, and so I hope that these images will do the talking for me.

And since the Bride and Groom have already seen their gallery of images, this sneak peek is an extra long one ;-)

The wedding ceremony took place at the fabulous Castle Duivenvoorde, a beautiful venue.

All the wedding guests gathered on the bridge, awaiting the Bride’s arrival.

Arriving on a beautiful white horse-drawn carriage, and met by the Groom, the Bride stepped down from the carriage and WOW! – her dress was amazing, she looked absolutely stunning!

Whilst the guests were being seated in the wedding hall, the Bride and Groom waited in a side room. I especially loved this fleeting moment between them.

Doesn’t the Bride look stunning? :-)

I love those loving looks the Groom gave his Bride :-)

And look at those beaming smiles as they exchanged rings!!

I also love this next image of the Bride’s Mother signing as a witness. Her smile speaks volumes, look how proud she is :-)

After the ceremony we took some formal group photographs in the castle grounds.

The fabulous Bride and Groom… :-)

The Bride, with her Mum and her Sister…

And I don’t remember what was so funny now, but l loved this out-take of the Groom’s family :-)

When all the guests had left, we also had a few special moments with just the Bride and Groom…

Yes, mostly kissing moments ;-)

*so happy for them*

And then it was time to head to De Knip, to meet all the guests for the Wedding Toast, Dinner and some dancing!

Unfortunately, due to timing, I wasn’t able to photograph the Wedding Toast and the cutting of the cake… Instead I was preparing a slideshow of the ceremony for the evening party! :-)

During the evening party, Irish dance group Kyra gave a great performance! One of the dances was improvised and without music – it was quite amazing to watch (and listen – I loved the ‘tap’ sound of their shoes as they danced)!

…and the Groom joined them for a quick Irish dance of his own ;-)

Late in the evening, the Bride and Groom took to the floor for their first dance…

And then everyone else joined in… :-)

Christa, you are a beautiful Bride, and Pete, a dashing Groom – or should I call you Mr Darcy ;) *a little inside joke for the wedding guests*.

It was truly an honour to photograph all of these very special moments. Thank you so much for allowing me to share your special day.

Wishing you both much love and happiness, always.

To Mr and Mrs. :-)

Proost! (Cheers!)

Best wishes,
~Natalie

If the answer is yes, definitely keep reading! :-)

Here’s another CRAVE Amsterdam photo session, this time for the Intelligentsia section! Introducing Erika, from BOTH Assistance & Support.

Erika is a good friend of mine, who I first met just over 2 years ago when I joined the WBII Business Breakthrough Team. I was delighted to hear that she would be featured in the CRAVE Amsterdam guidebook and that she had selected me as her photographer!

Erika has a creative spirit so when she approached me to set up the photo session she already had a great idea in mind for her photo in the book.

So, here it is…

I hope I met her expectations! I, for one, love the result! :-)

Blog readers… if your home office (or work office) is piled high with papers, a helping hand from Erika might be just what you need to whip your paperwork and administration into shape! As your personal ‘Virtual Assistant’, Erika can organise your office AND save you time. Stop by her website at www.bothassistanceandsupport.com for more information on her services.

Erika, I had so much fun that afternoon – thank you! I can’t wait to see your feature in the book! :-)

Best wishes,
~ Natalie

I’ve had so many photo sessions lately that I’m a little behind on blogging sneak peeks (in fact some may actually become post-peeks!) so watch out for several coming your way…

Just a few short weeks ago, on Father’s Day, I travelled to Ouderkerk aan de Amstel (a lovely little village near Amstelveen) to meet this wonderful family, including Grandma :-)

Just look at that adorable face, doesn’t he make you smile?! :-)

We had a fun afternoon together – drawing pictures of Hello Kitty, blowing bubbles, making a hideaway from umbrellas and blankets, we also did some hula hooping too! ;-)

For the family photos we headed for the bedroom; the light was just gorgeous, streaming in from two large windows.

Such a happy family, it was lovely to spend the afternoon with them.

Oh, and I loved Monty’s t-shirt – it says “Dad is my Hero” :-)

Megan had a mountain of energy, barely staying still for a nano-second. However, after a series of forward rolls I caught her eye for a brief moment…

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek! There are more peeks coming soon so keep your eyes peeled! ;-)

Wishing you all a fabulous weekend!

Best wishes,
~ Natalie

So, it’s official… I’m in the last year of my twenties – and it’s going to be a great year too! ;-) Just as the clock turned midnight, Heiko (my Husband) came to join me on the sofa to wish me a Happy Birthday – and he had a surprise for me too, a fabulous gift.

It was already past midnight so it was officially my birthday and I was allowed to open it :-)

He handed me a large brown envelope; it was addressed to me but with a friend’s address (so that I couldn’t intercept the mail lol). As I turned the envelope over I saw there was a return address written on the back. But before I had time to blink let alone read it, Heiko had taken the envelope off me to check if it was safe for me to read. I wouldn’t have guessed who the sender was so he gave the envelope back to me.

Inside were letters, photographs, a CD, postcards and… an adoption certificate. A smile spread across my face as I made an attempt to translate the (Dutch) text.

Through the local organisation Stichting SPOTS (Save & Protect Our TreasureS), my wonderful and thoughtful husband has adopted a cheetah in my name, a cheetah named Klein.

For several years we have gifted each other with wildlife adoptions on birthdays and Christmases, but this one is different from the rest. It’s not a yearly adoption with a small fee, it’s not a symbolic adoption either, it’s a REAL adoption. I’m one of 40 adoptive parents for Klein, supporting him his entire life at the Cheetah Conservation Fund (CCF) Namibia. The adoption programme, set up by Stichting SPOTS, helps to care for the resident cheetahs at CCF which in turn, frees up more of CCF’s budget for use on their programmes for the protection of the wild cheetah population. Klein is the 3rd cheetah adopted by adoption parents in the Netherlands.

Are you wondering why his name is Klein? I thought it meant “small” but it doesn’t! In fact, he is far from small, he’s the largest of the male cheetahs at CCF. Klein was born in May 2000 and has two siblings; a brother named Calvin (who unfortunately passed away in 2002), and a sister named Chanel. Therefore, the trio: Calvin, Klein and Chanel. That explains his name a little better, hey? :-)

Klein and his siblings arrived at CCF when they were just one year old following the death of their mother – she was shot on a game farm and afterwards her skin was used to capture the three cubs. When CCF rescued them 3 weeks later, the cubs were in a very poor condition. Thankfully, following an intensive treatment for bleeding stomach ulcers, they recovered completely.

And here he is, now 10 years old:

:-) And now of course, I’m longing to travel to Namibia to visit Klein and all his cheetah friends! Especially after watching the small video clips of him that came in my adoption package! Heiko, thank you sooooooooo very much! I love it! The most perfect birthday gift ever! :-)))))

The day gets better too, I’m just back from spending a wonderful afternoon with my dear friend, Vinita. We indulged in a fabulous pedicure at the Dutch Oriental Spa in Scheveningen and oh boy, what an indulgence! It was the first time I’ve ever had a pedicure and with my ticklish feet I was so worried I was going to giggle and squirm…. which of course I did, but only a little, it was really lovely! Definitely recommend it! Afterwards we had a late lunch on the beach – nope, no spare ribs this time. Surprised you didn’t I?! But we did have ice cream. Unfortunately, they were out of After Eight so I doubled up on the white chocolate instead mmmm ;-)

And now.. Heiko is home from work and we’re about to leave for a behind the scenes visit to Blijdorp Zoo. *happy happy* :-)

ps. thank you to everyone that left such lovely birthday wishes on my Facebook page, I didn’t quite manage to reply to everyone yet, but I will :-)

ok, zoo is calling… gotta go!

Today, it was all about the Sumatran tiger cubs at Blijdorp Zoo in Rotterdam. I hadn’t been for a while and I’d heard from friends that had visited that they hadn’t seen the cubs. But we were hopeful, and our luck was in! As you can see… *super happy tigs* ;-)

They have grown so much since we last saw them at 2 weeks old! And they are much more active now too. It was wonderful to see them exploring their enclosure and one of them came right up to the glass where we were stood, peering out at the crowd that had gathered. They’re adorable.

Born on 21 May, they’re 6 weeks old now. Heiko and I are so happy Blijdorp has tiger cubs after all the years of trying to pair Alia (mum) with Hermes (dad). It’s 8 years since there were tiger cubs at Blijdorp, it was high time!

The beautiful Alia… first time mum and doing brilliantly :-)

These next two are especially for Nikki, if she’s reading this… :-)

We stopped for a snack at Cafe ‘Panda Poffertjes’ (you can guess what we had to eat, right? no, the poffertjes were not made from pandas – tsk tsk!) Next to the cafe is the Red Panda enclosure, and as we got up to leave, Heiko spotted one of the Red Panda’s watching us. They are just so cute! And this one played peek-a-boo with us, looking down at us from either side of his comfy branch.

We also visited Crocodile River to see Klippie, the Klipspringer (“rock jumper”). Klippie is a fairly new resident of Blijdorp Zoo and came from Artis Zoo. There are only 5 Klipspringers in captivity in Europe, hopefully one day we’ll see Klippie with a mate :-) For now, he shares his enclosure with hyraxes, tortoises, and various bird species. I love how they stand on their “tip-toes” ;-) It’s amazing to see them in the wild, running and jumping high up on the rocks!

I hope you enjoyed this small selection of images, thanks for stopping by :-) For more photos from Blijdorp Zoo, head over to our zoocrew.eu gallery for Blijdorp and enjoy!

Best wishes,
~ Natalie

Summer has arrived and I have a fabulously summery sneak peek for you, and an extended sneak peek at that. Earlier this month I spent a wonderful morning at Kijkduin Beach with the M. Family. Their 4 children were adorable, playing in the sand, building sandcastles with their parents and splashing in the sea together :-)

We barely had sand between our toes when the three youngest ran across the beach with their bag of goodies, so sweet to watch them :-)

We had a lot of fun, though there was the odd grumpy moment too, but even those moments made me smile. In the photo above, E. had decided he didn’t want to be in the family portrait; he left us to sit with his back to everyone whilst quietly tossing sand in the air… his grumpiness didn’t last very long though, and he soon joined the others and was having fun jumping the waves *splish splash* :-)

There is so much love in this family, it was wonderful to watch them play together.

They’re a beautiful family :-)

We also took a moment to photograph the children individually. Here’s P. the eldest..

and the youngest, twins A. and K. – they were so sweet, holding onto my hand and walking with me across the sand :-)

E.’s eyes really sparkled, a total cutie!

Of course, we needed a beautiful photo of Mum and Dad too :-)

That’s all for now ;-) hope you enjoyed the sneak peek!

Best wishes,
~Natalie

“What is Moise?” I hear you ask… it’s a fabulously stylish clothing store in Haarlem, and yes, you will definitely want to go and visit!

When I walked in the door, the ambience was so welcoming, so inviting… Just a couple of metres in front of the doorway was a gorgeous little sofa adorned with beautifully decorated cushions. And then as I glanced around to my right, there were rails of beautiful clothing and accessories; and the decor was just fabulous – you’ll see what I mean a little later!

First of all, let me introduce Monique, the owner of Moise..

Isn’t she beautiful? :-) truly a delight to have her in front of my camera!

Monique’s enthusiasm and zest for life was infectious! :-) It was wonderful to hear her story behind Moise, which is a fairly new store.

They stock beautifully stylish clothing, shoes and bags…

BUT LOOK!! Can you imagine my excitement when I saw this beautiful wardrobe? and the bird cage? I just LOVED all the details!

There’s natural window light by the changing area too because they have a cute little garden area at the back of the store!

And this gorgeous silver tea set.. details details details – LOVE!

Moise is mainly a clothing store with brands such as HOPE, HUMANOID and Isabel Marant. However, they also sell jewelry – the Betsy & Iya range of jewelry is BEAUTIFUL! They have a nice selection of beauty products from Malin & Goetz too.

I’m trying hard not to give too much away in these images, you really need to take a trip to Haarlem and visit Moise for yourself! And what better excuse is a SALE! Yes… I noticed on Twitter that their sale has started. What better excuse do you need? :-)

I’ll quickly wrap up this post (so that I don’t delay your trip to Haarlem by too long! ;)) with a photo of two little birds, sitting in a cabinet of beautiful jewels..

Ladies, it was absolutely wonderful to meet you all, and fun too! Monique, I wish you all the very best and can’t wait to see your feature in the CRAVE Amsterdam Guidebook!

See you soon!

It was raining in The Hague and as I packed my camera gear into the car I quietly whispered “please, please, stop raining, pleeeeeeeease!” – after days of blue skies and sunshine, I couldn’t believe it was raining! But, it seemed the weather gods were listening.. by the time I arrived in Leidschendam the rain had all but stopped.

It was a beautiful love story, one that travelled the Atlantic ocean; Charlotte and Remco first met 11 years ago, and in 2006 Charlotte moved to the Netherlands, for love. :-)

Unbeknown to Charlotte, I was in on a secret! Remco’s parents were surprising her with a special bridal car, a classic American car! It was a fabulous surprise, here’s a teaser – can you guess the car?

Before the ceremony we first went to visit Remco’s Oma at her care home, her face absolutely lit up when she saw Remco and Charlotte step out of the car. Her smile made my heart skip a beat, she was bursting with pride and happiness!

After a short while we travelled on to the Oude Gemeentehuis Leidschendam-Voorburg for the wedding ceremony. It was a beautiful and touching service.

Just a few moments before the guests came over to congratulate Charlotte and Remco on their marriage, I witnessed this beautiful moment… checking out the rings ;-)

With the guests waiting below, Charlotte and Remco stepped out onto the balcony..

I’m so happy for them both – Congratulations Charlotte and Remco!! :-)

The next stop was Kasteel Duivenvoorde for a creative bridal session. And now you see the car..! ;-)

It was a lot of fun to walk around the castle grounds and spend some time for some beautiful bridal portraits.

Kasteel Duivenvoorde is a stunning location!

We went inside too..

Absolutely LOVE the silhouette!

Before we knew it, the creative session came to an end and we drove the short distance to Eiland van Ome Nick where the guests were gathered for the wedding toast and the cutting of the cake.

..and the beautiful bridal cake tasted just as good as it looked! yum!

Many congratulations to Charlotte and Remco!! It was a perfect day, thank you so much for allowing me to be a part of it. I absolutely loved working with you both and can’t wait to share all your images with you! Wishing you both much happiness! :-)

Have you ever visited a website, and then unexpectedly lost yourself online for.. well, a long time?! That’s exactly what happened to me when I visited www.flavourites.nl

Flavourites (de leukste webshops!) will be featured in the upcoming CRAVEguide (a unique and stylish guidebook for Amsterdam living) and as a member of the CRAVE Amsterdam photography team I received the request to photograph Flavourites for the book. But when the request arrived in my mailbox, I completely lost track of time browsing their website and discovering all kinds of treats!

Not only is Flavourites.nl a beautifully designed website, but it’s also a portal to a fabulous collection of webshops. You’ll find a webshop for almost anything you can think of, and there are more webshops being added all the time.

Introducing Marije and Natascha, the owners of this fabulous initiative.. :-)

Their office was full of inspiration, as well as Flavourites candy ;-) mmm!

I really loved these brightly coloured decorative birds, sitting in a white wooden tree. Do you see the Flavourites candy on the red one?

If it’s time to refresh your wardrobe, there’s a fantastic collection of fashion shops for men, women and children. Perhaps you’re looking for the perfect gift for him, or her, or your friend’s newborn baby, or something special to decorate your home or garden. You are sure to find something perfect, go take a look for yourself: www.flavourites.nl

Many thanks to Marije and Natascha for their wonderful hospitality – it was great meeting them and exciting to hear all about their future plans. Can’t wait for Flavourites LIVE! – blog readers, mark your calendar for 19-21 November 2010 – the virtual world of shopping is coming LIVE to Amsterdam!

Did you see the teaser on the Tigs Creations Facebook Page yesterday? Here’s the official sneak peek!

For most of our session this sweet baby boy quietly watched the world go by, though we did eventually manage to capture some beautiful sleeping images too, he was such a sweetheart.

Ohhhh, totally gorgeous isn’t he?

His big brother was a cutie too!

Look at those little peepers, doesn’t he make your heart smile :-)

Hope you enjoyed the sneak peek!

Have a great week everyone, thanks for stopping by :-)