On 14 September 2024 the exhibition “Ja, ik wil!” (Yes, I do!) opened its doors at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands. The major exhibition shows around 60 Dutch wedding dresses from the 18th century to the present day. The oldest dress is from 1782, and comes from the collection of the museum itself.


While the wedding dress of beauty content creator and presenter Nikkie de Jager (NikkieTutorials) by Viktor&Rolf is the first dress one sees when opening the exhibition doors, there are many more dresses of known Dutch persons. Some were worn by noble ladies. Visitors will see homemade dresses to designer dresses by Dutch designers like Claes Iversen, Jan Taminiau, Iris van Herpen or Fong Leng. One of the rooms has been converted in a studio of designer Claes Iversen, where visitors can also draw and create their own wedding designs.
The exhibition ends with another highlight: the wedding dress of Queen Máxima of the Netherlands from 2002, designed by the Italian fashion house Valentino. It is an ivory mikado silk dress with three-quarter sleeves, a cowl neckline and a five-metre-long train. On the cake in the middle of the same room, one finds the wedding dress of Princess Carolina de Bourbon de Parme from 2012, a design of Addy van den Krommenacker.



In the hall of the museum, people can try on wedding dresses. The exhibition will end on 16 February 2025.
Fries Museum
Wilhelminaplein 92
8911 BS Leeuwarden
https://www.friesmuseum.nl/
Open: Tuesday – Sunday 11.00h – 17.00h.
The museum is on walking distance (about 5 minutes) from the main railway station of Leeuwarden.