During a recent scrolling-social-media-in-bed session, I saw a video for the upcoming Mirror Palais Bridal collection. I didn’t expect to feel so mesmerized by it. I must have watched it 100 times by now. I feel embarrassed to admit that because it’s the kind of media that does nothing to challenge the heteropatriarchal portrayal of marriage and weddings, even though I know I can just let myself enjoy things I enjoy and not go into analysis mode.
I couldn’t stop watching it. I can recite it from memory: on a bright morning a couple stands on a train platform with a basket of white roses and champagne in a wicker basket. The music is twinkly and ripe with yearning. The bride looks like Claudia Schiffer or maybe Camille from Emily in Paris. She’s wearing a coquettish two piece outfit that says I’m beautiful but also playful and my mom probably disapproves of this outfit which is why I am eloping :) The man—he feels like a man to me and not a “groom”—has sunglasses on and revels at the bride as she prances around him buoyantly. If you look closely in the clip of him on the train, he has one small hoop earring which is as much insight as we get into his personality. He seems like a quiet person who prefers letting her shine.
My eyes glaze over. Suddenly I want to get eloped just to wear that outfit and get it documented on film photos. It’s the kind of video that is charming yet simple enough for me to project onto.
The isn’t the first time I’ve been obsessed with a specific piece of wedding content.