Hans, the brother of Mies came to pick Arie up. They went to the house of Mies , where she and a close friend of Mies would be waiting for them. Together with the (professional) photographer we would drive through Amsterdam to make some nice pictures. Here Arie arrives at the house of Mies.

These are not the final pictures, just some small 'thumbnails' which we got from the photographer to make our choice for a wedding album. This is just to give you an idea of our wedding. This we took in front of an old Grachtenhouse in Amsterdam.

In the famous Vondelpark we made some pictures, then we made some in a characteristic part of Amsterdam .

After the photo-shoot we went to the City Hall of Amsterdam for the official wedding. We (in the Netherlands ) have the public wedding done by the government official in the City Hall. Then you are free to have a church service in which you ask God's blessings over the wedding.

These pictures are from the ceremony in the City Hall:

The official wedding-booklet, stating that we are married according to the law of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The City Hall of Amsterdam is in the centre of the city, right beside the famous canals and the Amstel -river. We hired an old ship that used to be a classic freight carrier on the waterways in the Netherlands , before the second world war . Now it is an excellent way to see the city from the water.

We invited about 50 people to spend the whole day with us. On board they where served cake and something to drink and they had the opportunity to talk to each other, congratulate us and enjoy the view. The weather was not too great, but we only had a short rain.

Far left, beside Mies is her father, far right is Oeds, the brother of Mies who is a baptist reverend, and he married us in church.

After a couple of hours we went to the heart of Amsterdam , to dine with all the guests at a cosy Thai restaurant. We both like Asia and the Asian kitchen, and Mies ' sister with her husband and children came over from Thailand for the wedding. They are working with Birmese refugees in Thailand . Small difficulties in getting off the boat with the high walls of the canals.

We had a very good meal, meanwhile there where stories about our youth and childhood, speeches etc. etc. At 19.30hrs the church-service is about to start. We did choose a friendly old church is the east of Amsterdam. Arie used to go to this church the first years he was in Amsterdam as a student.

We asked family to help during the service, Oeds, an older brother of Mies was our minister, Ite (brother of Arie ) played the piano and Milja , a close friend of Mies played the Alt-flute. Erik (brother of Arie ) managed the powerpoint with which we projected the lyrics on the screen.

Besides, Hans and Hans (our brothers) where masters of ceremony during the day.

We did invest a lot of energy in this church-service. All the songs where especially selected, the words we would say to each other as a promise etc.We did pay special attention if the service would be easy accessible for friends and collegues who are non church-go- ers

The front row. The father of Mies , her mother, Mies, Arie, the father and mother of Arie. After the wedding vows and the exchange of rings we switched seats, Arie would sit beside the parents of Mies and she beside the parents of Arie.

Above: 'give each other the right hand'. We exchanged vows, the Minister blessed us in God's name, and Wietse - Mies ' little nephew- brought us the rings.

We kneeled and Oeds prayed. The third picture below is to show the rings.

After the church service we went to the Vondelpark . There's a lovely grand-café, with lampion-like lamps. The reception and the party was mixed. We did not want to send people away after two hours because we did not invite them to the feast. Everybody was invited to stay the whole evening. Apart from giving presents and talking, there where some sketches, performances of family and friends, again to joke about our childhood, and about our relationship. The whole thing started at 21.00hrs and we both left at about 2 o'clock at night, leaving people behind who stayed till 4! We left on foot, since this restaurant/grand-café is only 5 minutes away from our house. The end of a great day!