ABOUT

Photo of wedding photographer Renate van Dijk, who is based in London, Amsterdam and Paris

ABOUT MY STYLE

I’m the kind of wedding photographer that believes that the most important thing of a wedding is that you enjoy yourselves and have the most epic day possible. I wouldn’t dream of bothering you with posing while you’re cutting the cake and stuffing a piece of cake into each others mouths.

For me the photo session part of a wedding is a moment where you two can have a bit of down time and I’ll do my best to create memories. This means I might give you a little assignment like doing a little dance or whisper something in each others ear, but I’m not interested in creating a forced smile and an uncomfortable pose.

CONTACT

random facts about me

I've always been a storyteller; As a child I drew a storybook, filled with the adventures of two little bears. I “read” the stories to my mother before I went to sleep. Later in life I studied Photographic Studies, Theatre Studies and Musicology as well as Singing (Jazz and Musical Theatre at Bath Spa Uni in England) and Language & Cultural Studies (Utrecht University).

I’m a major musical theatre geek (Yay to Stephen Sondheim, nay to anything with the dept of a soup plate. That’s probably a Dutch expression but I’m guessing you’ll sorta know what I mean. No? I mean I prefer my musicals with a good storyline, not a simple boy meets girl, they fall in love and that's about it kind of thing) and I used to work as a dramaturg in musical theatre.

I can watch Friends, How I met your mother, Harry Potter and Castle over and over and over again.

I try to travel at least once a month (this year I'm visiting as much as 4 continents, yay!), but I always bring my own pillow with me. It makes me sleep so much better.

I’m an Anglophile. If it wasn’t for my boyfriend I would move to Bath, Cornwall or Kent in a heartbeat (in fact I have actually lived in Bath, when I studied musical theatre singing at Bath Spa about a decade ago).

I like silly card games like Cards against Humanity and Ultimate Werewolf (“Weerwolven van Wakkerdam” in Dutch).

I live next to the dunes and beach in Scheveningen (in The Hague) with my boyfriend, Erik. I also often stay at the bank of the Danube in Belgrade and close to the bank of the Thames in London.

The Sound of Music has been my favorite movie for as long as I or even my mum and dad can remember, I love it for completely different reasons nowadays but honestly people that movie has got everything! (a good story, legendary and pretty inventive music, a second world war storyline, a happy ending, breathtaking scenery and one of the worlds best singers ever (yes, I mean Julie Andrews as Christopher Plummer was actually dubbed in the songs).

My favorite drink is Twinings English Breakfast tea (with (almond)milk of course), although I do love a Pimm’s with Lemonade or a glass of Prosecco too.

I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 9. I’m not really nuts about animals though, I just feel uncomfortable with eating other living creatures.

My favorite things: my boyfriend, my dad, my two best friends, traveling, musicals, period dramas, detectives (if they’re not too scary, I love Scandal, Dr. Bull and Agatha Christie), destination weddings, fresh artichokes, victorian greenhouses, art nouveau, anemones, protea and ranunculus, misty mountains, really good macarons (like by Ladurée), every Postmodern Jukebox song, swing jazz, Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”, watermelon, sunsets, vegetarian food, libertarianism, honesty, kindness and Harry Potter.

awards

YAY MOMENTS

I rarely participate in contests, nevertheless I do have a bit of fame to my name: I was nominated for the VIVA400 award 2016 in the ‘Creatives’ category and a year earlier I was shortlisted and landed 3rd place for the ‘Creative Entrepreneur of the Year’ Award.

In 2018 I landed in the top 100 of wedding photographers in the world and a photo I took in Iceland landed me the 53rd place out of 6600+ photos in that same competition. In 2017 international wedding website Zankyou Weddings named me 1 of the 25 best wedding photographers.

events

YAY MOMENTS

Besides weddings, I also photograph events and theatre performances.

Some of the highlights of the events I shot include: events and workshops for COC Nederland (the oldest existing LGBTQ rights organisation) and the opening of the Bastogne War Museum in the Belgian Ardennes.
I captured performances and opening nights in intimate settings like Theaterfestival 'De Parade' as well as in big venues like the Royal Concert Hall in Amsterdam, big musicals like The Sound of Music and Billy Elliot and the world-famous Follies Berger in Paris.

An engaged couple in Paris. Posing in front of the Eiffel tower during their photo session

destinations

YAY MOMENTS

When I was 21 I moved from Holland to Bath (in the UK, my favourite city in my favourite country in the world!) to study Musical Theatre but I'm currently based between The Hague, London and Belgrade. I've shot weddings, couple shoots and editorials all over Europe from Iceland to Greece and from Europe's highest mountain plateau (the Hardangervidda) in Norway to the Ourika Valley in Morocco.

After several requests I now teach other photographers, to educate them about everything involved with destination weddings.

portrayed

YAY MOMENTS

Before I became a wedding photographer I worked in musical theatre. When I switched careers from theatre to photography, I naturally also rolled into shooting theatre related events. Besides Dutch celebs like DJ Ruud de Wild, Chantal Janzen & Marco Borsato, I also photographed American actor Ted Neeley, country singer Ilse de Lange, several West-End stars, Broadway star Willemijn Verkaik and many more celebs at the opening nights of musicals and exhibitions. I do a little happy dance whenever I get to shoot an event in which the theater and wedding world are combined. I love shooting weddings most, but I love being back in the theater world now and again too.

publications

YAY MOMENTS

A.o. my work has been featured on/in Rock My Wedding, Zankyou Weddings, Dutch bridal magazine Bruid Magazine, Wedding Chicks, Fly Away Bride, B.loved, Festival Brides, publications by COC Nederland, the cover of Engaged’s Little Black Book, travel website Verkeersbureaus, MSN.com, a billboard next to a highway between Den Bosch and Tilburg, Holland’s biggest wedding website ThePerfectWedding.nl, Norwegian Wedding Magazine, SBS6 Shownieuws (Dutch national television), Libelle Magazine, Bajan Wed, Dusty Blue, Girls of Honour and Beau Monde Glamour Magazine.

2019

TRAVEL

Jan. '19: London, UK
Feb. '19: Kent, UK
March '19: Tyrol, Austria
April '19: Spain
May '19: Guernsey + France
June '19: France + Greece
Sept. '19: Italy + Spain
Nov. '19: Paris
August '20: Spain

Wedding destination wish list:
Venice | Texel | Vienna
Contact me if you're planning a wedding or couple shoot in any of these locations.

LET'S TALK

how I work

FULL DAY COVERAGE

With all the stress that comes with organising a wedding, the last thing you need is to worry about cramping your day into 8 hours of wedding photography. Your wedding is the only wedding I’ll shoot that weekend. As a matter of fact I’ll be with you the entire day. I don't care if your wedding is 6 hours or 16 hours, actually I prefer capturing the whole story of your day. For me the real work starts after the wedding day, when I start editing you images.

TELL ME MORE

YOU GET EVERY PHOTO FULLY EDITED & HIGH-RES

Unlike other photographers, you can print your photos wherever you want. You receive all your photos fully edited and in high-resolution, so you can do with them whatever you want. You can even print your own wall-art and albums (of course I can also arrange those for you if you prefer) and you can keep all your digital files safe wherever you want, without any extra costs.

SEE MY WORK

NO WORRIES

I traveled all over the world, photographed in all types of weather circumstances and shot weddings as big as 250 guests and as intimate as an elopement with just the couple. With my experience you don’t have to worry about a thing. Shooting in the snow in Austria/with lots of bright light in Italy/in a dark castle in Scotland/while being sandblasted in Iceland? I’ve done it! Plus I speak English (and Dutch) at near-native level and I am familiar with all the English, Dutch and American wedding customs and traditions.

RESERVE YOUR DATE

I’d really love to shoot your destination wedding or elopement as I’m addicted to travel but I love traveling to photograph awesome couples at all kinds of places in the world even more. I mean a nice mountain landscape in Austria, the Amalfi coast or a beautiful castle in England is all swell and stuff but it’s not half as good as placing a loving and fun-loving couple within that frame. If this sounds like a plan to you, let me know!

CONTACT ME

'It’s hard to pick favorites, we love them all!'

Heleen & Siemen

‘Wow Wow Wow Such beautiful photos!!! Thank you!! We enjoy browsing through them so much and we just keep looking at them again and again!!!
It’s hard to pick favorites, we love them all!’

'Sooooooo glad we choose you as our photographer!'

Floris & Berit about their Italian destination wedding

‘WOW, they are AMAZING!!!!!! We’re in love with them!! Sooooooo glad we chose you as our photographer! You’re not just good at your job but you’re also great company to have around on your wedding day/weekend!’

'uber-ultra-mega-beautiful-wedding-photos'

Anne & Jacob on Instagram

'Whoohoo!!! Today we received our #weddingphotos from @witphotography. We are so happy because the #photos are gorgeous. Brace yourself, uber-ultra-mega-beautiful-wedding-photo-spam is coming'

'LOVE THEM'

Amanda Hammarstedt

‘THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE these and it brings back SO many memories <3 THANK YOU!’

A destination wedding on the Cornwall coast

'Renate was so easy to work with'

Marina & Stephen about their destination wedding in Serbia

'Having our wedding in a different country meant that we had a briefing with Renate over email which was as successful as in person as we were asked the right questions that put us at ease... On the day of our wedding celebration Renate was so easy to work with... She was responsive to all our requests as well as being non-intrusive and told the story of our day with main points beautifully captured... We are happy customers with photos to show it...'

Amanda & Wesley'THANK YOU SO MUCH! I LOVE these and it brings back SO many memories <3 THANK YOU!'

Anne & Jacob on Instagram'Today we received our #weddingphotos from @witphotography. Uber-mega-beautiful-wedding-photo-spam is coming'

Joyce & Harm in Bruid Magazine'It clicked so well with Renate that she was basically one of the guests. Needless to say: the photos turned out amazing!'

Rosanne & Kay about their 48-hour preview'RENATE :D We're in the lobby of our hotel right now and we just can't stop smiling, wow such beautiful photos already!! Thank you sooo much!!!'

Yvonne & Niels on ThePerfectWedding.nl'Renate captures things without you noticing, and that is why there are no forced smiles or forced poses in any of our photos.'

Italy wedding photographer - Tuscany, Amalfi, Umbria, Venice
England wedding photographer - London, Cornwall, Bath
Greece wedding photographer - Athens, Mykonos, Santorini
Holland wedding photographer - Amsterdam, Texel, Utrecht
France wedding photographer - Paris, Provence, Cannes
Austria wedding photographer - Tyrol, Vienna, Salzburg

I can watch Friends, How I met your mother, Harry Potter and Castle over and over and over again.

I try to travel at least once a month (this year I'm visiting as much as 4 continents, yay!), but I always bring my own pillow with me. It makes me sleep so much better.

I live next to the dunes and beach in Scheveningen (in The Hague) with my boyfriend, Erik. I also often stay at the bank of the Danube in Belgrade and close to the bank of the Thames in London.

2019

TRAVEL

how I work

FULL DAY COVERAGE

YOU GET EVERY PHOTO FULLY EDITED & HIGH-RES

NO WORRIES

Meet Renate

Contact

Reviews

ABOUT

I can watch Friends, How I met your mother, Harry Potter and Castle over and over and over again.I try to travel at least once a month (this year I'm visiting as much as 4 continents, yay!), but I always bring my own pillow with me. It makes me sleep so much better.

I live next to the dunes and beach in Scheveningen (in The Hague) with my boyfriend, Erik. I also often stay at the bank of the Danube in Belgrade and close to the bank of the Thames in London.

My favorite drink is Twinings English Breakfast tea (with (almond)milk of course), although I do love a Pimm’s with Lemonade or a glass of Prosecco too.I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 9. I’m not really nuts about animals though, I just feel uncomfortable with eating other living creatures.

2019

TRAVEL

how I work

FULL DAY COVERAGE

YOU GET EVERY PHOTO FULLY EDITED & HIGH-RES

NO WORRIES

Meet Renate

Contact

SOCIAL MEDIA

Reviews

I can watch Friends, How I met your mother, Harry Potter and Castle over and over and over again.

I try to travel at least once a month (this year I'm visiting as much as 4 continents, yay!), but I always bring my own pillow with me. It makes me sleep so much better.