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| NORTH EAST WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHER REVIEWS, NORTH YORKSHIRE WEDDING PHOTOGRAPHY REVIEWS: NICOLLE AND WAYNE AT WYNYARD HALL |
Latest review is just in - from Nicolle, who married Wayne at Wynyard Hall.
BECAUSE YOU’RE WERFF IT!!
Hello Bride/Groom to be!
If you are fortunate enough to have found Dirk’s blog or Facebook page and are reading this then you are probably not looking for your average run of the mill wedding photographer that does lots of cheesy posed shots and sticks out a mile on YOUR big day, if so then you have definitely come to the wrong place, luckily for you though there are a billion other wedding photographers out there that will fit your requirements, however there is only one DIRK VAN DER WERFF and he and you are definitely Werff it!!
So if you are looking for beautiful, inspired, contemporary, relaxed, natural photographs that capture the very essence, emotion, detail and all those special moments of what truly is one of the best days of your lives, then stop looking you have found THE ONE!!
OUR STORY
Before our big day, we searched plenty of wedding websites , chatted to lots of photographers at wedding fayres and plied through numerous glossy wedding albums all beautifully presented of loved up newlyweds ‘glazing’ into each other eyes before we were lucky enough to find Dirk!
Everything we had seen was all a little too ‘Stepfordesque’ for us, too samey, too showy, too much perfection not enough sentiment! Dirks photos are different, the first time I stumbled across his blog and viewed his beautiful photos, I just knew this was our photographer.
Dirk's images really struck a chord, they put you in the picture, they are moving, emotive, beautiful, they are real photographs of you on your wedding day and the people who matter most to you enjoying your wedding day, they are not staged, the smiles and tears are all genuine and if like my husband you do not like having your photo taken you will not feel uncomfortable and if like me you love it you will enjoy every moment and you will both feel completely relaxed and at ease and so will your guests!
WHAT’S NOT TO LOVE ABOUT DIRK?
Dirk quite often gets lovingly referred to or confused for an ‘uncle’, which is not such a farfetched description as apart from keeping your ‘aunties’ entertained (he is very charming!), he does truly become a member of your family and a very special part of your wedding celebrations, Dirk has a very likable and friendly demeanour and ability to fit in in any situation, I wouldn’t say he blends into the background as you definitely won’t forget Dirk, but he is so easygoing and has such an unobtrusive way of seamlessly capturing the most amazing photos, you will forget that that is what he is actually there for and you may even wonder if he has taken any photographs at all, but the results are truly stunning and even years after your wedding day you will be able to relive those most precious moments as if you were actually back there, Dirk really captures the feelings of the day, the tears, the laughter, the funny bits and the emotional ones, and if you want them he’ll throw in a few posed shots too, the good old group photos and the family ones to satisfy the folks, the main thing with Dirk is that he doesn’t need any direction, you know you can just relax, enjoy your day and leave him to do what he does best!
MAKING THE COMMITTMENT!
OK so you’ve seen his blog and have read the rave reviews, so by now you have probably got that wonderful feeling of having found the most wonderfully talented wedding photographer out there, but this is really a big commitment and those butterflies could mean you are still a little anxious, but when you first meet or speak to Dirk he will totally put your mind at rest, the first thing he said to us was “I’m not everyone’s cup of tea”, so we still had time to change our minds even after he came all the way out to see us at Wayne’s parents house while we were visiting the North East. Although I think meeting Dirk is like finding a puppy, you definitely don’t want to give him back and he certainly was our cup of tea!
We knew straight away that we wanted Dirk to photograph our Wedding, from the moment we first viewed his work, meeting him just sealed the deal, but even then there was no hard sell, just a friendly chat over a cuppa in the garden. From that moment on Dirk became a wonderful ally, always on hand to offer his expert advice on everything from Wedding DJs to videographers. We also met up with Dirk for our pre-wedding shoot, which was such a lovely relaxed sunny afternoon followed by more tea and scones! It really put Wayne at ease and he actually found himself enjoying having his photo taken and the results were brilliant and some of the best photos (save for our wedding ones) of us as a couple and we have the most beautiful mounted photo from the shoot that Dirk gave to us as a wedding present that was signed by all our guests and now takes pride of place in our home, such a wonderful gift, I still love reading all the lovely comments and well wishes every time I walk past it!
HOME & AWAY
If like us you do not live in the North East and are organising your wedding from a far and don’t have time to meet every photographer out there, then rest assured Dirk is only a phone call or email away and he is brilliant at getting back to you at all hours of the day or night. Another thing with Dirk is there is never any pressure and he is always right on the ball. I know couples who have had to quite literally chase their photographers down just to get a look at their Wedding photos, with Dirk just hours after your Wedding you will have a lovely blog spot filled with a selection of stunning photos that really encapsulate your day and by the time you get back from your honeymoon there will be a beautiful box with a full set of prints waiting for you to peruse at your leisure and share with your family and friends.
He’ll also send you a disc with them all on too, although there is something really nice about being able to see and hold your pictures, we spent hours looking over ours while choosing our favourites for our wedding albums, the difficulty was we just couldn’t choose between them! And afterwards they made the most perfect individual ‘Thank you’ cards for each of our guests, all of whom had the utmost praise for Dirk.
THE BIG DAY
By the day of the Wedding, Dirk had become part of the furniture, he had even taken the time to get to meet the parents, siblings, bridesmaids and vicar before the day and came along to our Wedding rehearsal, so everyone knew Dirk and on the day he managed to effortlessly glide around the venue getting all the shots we wanted, from the wedding preparations to the guest arrivals.
I was so chilled out on the morning of the wedding, I hardly noticed Dirk come and go, but every so often he would be there giving me updates on the Groom and joining in on the bets as you how late I would be as well as helping out with the bridesmaids and complementing me on my dress.
I don’t even remember him taking any pictures, but the ones of us all getting ready are still some of my favourites, especially the ones of all the Groomsmen as it gives you a wonderful insight as to what they were up to while us girls were having our hair and makeup done and lacing up our dresses! The rest of the day as people will tell you is all a bit of a whirl and you will spend most of it caught up in the fairytale and a dream like state, it will just fly by and you will wonder what happened to all that planning and the months of preparation, but when you see your photos Dirk will have captured it all in its full Technicolor splendour, and your dream day will be forever immortalised in his beautiful photos, all those little things, the details, the guests, the smiles, the gestures, your dress, the shoes, the flowers, the place names, the favours, things you missed or forgotten they’ll all be there, I sometimes look at our photos in wonder as to was that really us, did it really happen? It is such a magical experience and Dirk really captures that magic like no one else.
WE DO!
Well as you can gather we cannot recommend Dirk highly enough and hope that this has helped you in making your decision, I know the reviews I read on here certainly helped me when I was a Bride-to-be, they and the love expressed here for Dirk are all completely genuine and most of the things I want to say about Dirk have already been said, he is an incredibly talented yet remarkably humble and down to earth ‘salt of the earth’ guy.
For us it really was the easiest decision we had to make in the run up to our wedding (that and deciding to get married of course)! So what are you waiting for? Now you have found the perfect partner all that’s left to do is say I DO and have the most fabulous wedding day and make some beautiful memories (that will be lovingly captured forever after), so once you’ve got your rings why not give Dirk one too, we did!
For us it really was the easiest decision we had to make in the run up to our wedding (that and deciding to get married of course)! So what are you waiting for? Now you have found the perfect partner all that’s left to do is say I DO and have the most fabulous wedding day and make some beautiful memories (that will be lovingly captured forever after), so once you’ve got your rings why not give Dirk one too, we did!
Enjoy a fabulous life together!
Lots of Love,
Nicolle & Wayne x
AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER...
OK so two years, a new house and a one year old daughter later, we finally got around to ordering our wedding books, after apologising profusely to Dirk for my complete lack of organisation, he said ‘life happens’, too right it does, see I told you he was easygoing and not to mention has the patience of a Saint, once we got back to him with the erm umpteenth draft, (I did say we couldn’t choose between them) and gave Dirk the go head a couple of weeks later the most amazing wedding books arrived on our doorstep, they are beautiful, we don’t look too shabby either and it really was like being transported back in time to that special day and all those wonderful memories (and tears) came flooding back as if it were only yesterday.
A big, big thank you to probably the best wedding photographer in the world! ;)
