Getting Married at BLOQ23 in Hoofddorp: What an Indoor Wedding Can Look Like

I often label myself as a natural light wedding photographer, but weddings rarely stay in natural light from start to finish. That’s especially true for weddings in the Netherlands, where weather, timing, and venues often move parts of the day inside. As a professional photographer, it’s important to me that I can deliver consistent, high-quality wedding photography both outdoors and indoors, without compromising on atmosphere or emotion.

Photographing a fully indoor wedding venue brings up a mix of curiosity and hesitation for me, but also opportunity. It requires working deliberately and really understanding light. When the chance came up in October 2025 to photograph at BLOQ23, a newly remodeled indoor wedding venue in Hoofddorp, it felt like the right environment to explore that properly.

BLOQ23 is located in Hoofddorp, very close to where I live. From the outside, the venue doesn’t reveal much. Inside, it opens into a warm, clean, and surprisingly spacious indoor wedding space. The layout feels open and flexible, making it able to adapt to many different weddings aesthetics. At the time, BLOQ23 didn’t yet have official imagery, rather they were looking to showcase what the space could become and I was to play a role in that.

For this shoot, the styling leaned into soft, warm tones with a subtle vintage influence — muted peaches, warm neutrals, and layered textures. Nothing felt overly themed, instead, the details worked quietly together, creating a setting that felt romantic yet modern. The vendors involved brought this vision to life in a way that felt cohesive and elegant. 

Working in a fully indoor setting meant relying on flash photography throughout the day. I prefer to work with a soft fill flash look to keep things more natural. This worked beautifully in this venue as I could easily bounced the light off the light walls. Knowing how a venue behaves without daylight is crucial when photographing real weddings, and this experience made that process feel grounded and repeatable.

One of the biggest advantages of this day was the time I had for the details. On real wedding days, details often have to compete with the pace of the timeline. Rings are photographed hastily, florals if there’s a spare moment, stationery sometimes not at all. During this shoot I had the time to arrange rings properly, to photograph the cake and champagne tower with intention, and to capture details the way I would like to on every wedding day. That kind of space is rare, and it reinforced how much detail adds to a wedding day, both on the day of, and for the final photo gallery .

In 2025, I shared a somewhat controversial blog post that I would be stepping away from styled shoots. What I meant by that was the pay-to-play setups where photographers crowd into the same scene and leave with nearly identical images and you rarely get more than a few seconds to direct the models. Those experiences rarely reflect how I work as a wedding photographer, and they, at this stage off my journey, don’t add much value for me or for couples viewing the work.

This collaboration was different because it didn't feel like consuming something pre-built, but about actively shaping the outcome. Saying yes meant adding a fully indoor wedding venue in Hoofddorp to my portfolio — one that reflects real options for couples getting married in the Haarlemmermeer area. And I know how to photograph a wedding here confidently, calmly, and with intention.