Fun & Famous

CAROLIEN’S WEDDING DIARY

The search for the dress

Okay, don't panic. Stay calm. Breathe. Where on earth do you even begin when you're organizing a full wedding abroad? When I daydream, I immediately see the dream picture in front of me: Jon in a beautifully tailored suit, with an idyllic view in the background, waiting for his bride who is wearing the most beautiful dress ever...

Whoa, stop. Exactly, this picture must first be fulfilled. Point 1 on the big wedding agenda is: finding the perfect wedding dress. What you might expect from me is that I've been sketching my perfect wedding dress since I was little and have collected huge Pinterest boards with my dream gowns. That's not the case.

In the meantime, I've had the opportunity to try on three wedding dresses for my work, which at least gives me an idea of what I absolutely do not want. But I mainly need to look for a boutique that has many different bold dresses and where they can give me good advice. So I quickly ended up at Bloomfeld Bridal. They used to have a store on Haarlemmerdijk, where I once went with my best friend to help her choose her dream dress by Jenny Packham.

Now they have a real mansion in Middenbeemster, which made the trip there even more exciting. Normally, people take one, at most two people with them to their fitting. But of course, I couldn't keep it to that, so before I knew it, we were standing with my mother, sister, three best friends, and gay best friend on the doorstep for the first fitting.

Fortunately, the couch was big enough, and in no time the whole committee was sitting there with a cup of coffee waiting for dress number one. Together with Petra from Bloomfeld, I went through my wishes. “I have no idea what I want, so let's try on as many different models as possible.” Her eyes started to sparkle, and before I knew it, one after another dress-to-die-for was pulled from the atelier. We quickly concluded that I was looking for a dress that could be quite extravagant: I wouldn't get away with a simple gown.

So the choice was soon made for the brand Berta Bridal: an Israeli bridal couture designer who truly creates works of art. Another nice bonus: Bloomfeld is the only one in the entire Benelux that is allowed to sell this couturier, so the label ‘exclusive’ can definitely be used. After trying on a number of dresses, my mother's eye fell on a beautiful Berta Bridal with a lot of lace, and a very special ‘back’ (I won't reveal more yet...). And yes, when I walked into the room, all mouths dropped open at once. I turned to the mirror, let out a cry of joy, and felt a small tear welling up. This was it. My dream dress. The dress in which I will walk down the aisle to become his wife forever. Chosen by the one who knows me the longest and best of everyone.

Carolien's tip:

Try on as many different types of dresses as possible to determine which model suits you best. Don't get too fixated on the picture you have in your head beforehand: many brides-to-be end up walking down the aisle in a completely different ‘gown’ than they pinned on Pinterest.