First Dutch gay bridal fair on Valentine's Day

By Gwen on Saturday, January 16, 2010 - 23:51

If you’re not one of those people who think Valentine’s Day is a bunch of capitalist nonsense, then you have probably had occasions on which you wanted to buy your girlfriend a nice card or something else on that day, only to find everything in the stores geared towards opposite-sex couples. Now you may have already found a little shop that sells gay-themed greeting cards, but what about if you decide to get married? Where will you buy the cute little wedding cake toppers?

Okay, so there’s more to a wedding than cute wedding cake toppers. But they are a start, and I doubt easy to come by with two women instead of a man and a woman in a regular wedding shop. Some people in Amsterdam came up with a solution to this problem and have organized the first gay bridal fair in the Westergasfabriek on Valentine’s Day.

The event, called The Gay Bride, has everything you could possibly want on your perfect day. There are stands that sell pairs of rings for two women or two men, matching dresses, cakes, flowers, and of course the cake toppers I’m such a huge fan of. The day before, a party will be thrown for all gay and lesbian couples in the Netherlands who are already married. They can enter for free when they show their marriage certificate.

And just in case you and your girlfriend want to make this year’s Valentine’s Day extra special, on this VIP party Henk Krol will perform a marriage between a lucky couple that registered on the homepage of the organization putting the event together. They will take care of everything, including styling and transportation. The only thing you need to do is prepare yourself for Marijke Helwegen, Dutch cosmetic surgery icon, who will be present with her “peace pidgeons”. She’s quite a nice lady, actually, but I can see her get on your nerve on your wedding day. Consider yourself lucky if you have no idea who I’m talking about.

Then there’s also the rest of us, who aren’t thinking of marriage yet, or who are single, for which a fair like this might seem like the farthest thing from our mind. But then again, who knows if we might be incredibly thankful for it in a few years.