Dear Bram and Yulia, dear guests, very happy to see you all, and a special welcome to those who travelled far to be here today.

Bram and I became friends in high school, where our English teachers brought us together in, and unfortunately cannot make this sound any less nerdy, a debating club where we pretended to be European parliamentarians: the European Youth Parliament. I can see some more alumni in this room.

I would like to say we bonded over discussing the future of Europe, which is true, but even more so we bonded over copious amounts of vodka and discussing the meaning of life, which basically meant who we had a crush on at any given time. We even developed guidelines for navigating unanswered love interests, something we called Bram and Sophie’s ‘love doctrine’.

I wish I remember what was in it, but the one thing I do know is that like most doctrines, it worked better in theory than in practice. And yet, today, it seems you have cracked the code.

The debating tournament took us to Kyiv, Ukraine, where Bram probably made a lasting impression as the best debater in his team but most of all we will never forget his Ajax pajamas (for those interested, there are pictures).

Bram is an incredibly smart, funny, kind and good friend. In the period of our lives when we spent our days working, writing, studying, drinking coffee, drinking beer, and watching football in the cafes of Amsterdam, Bram, and I think there is no bigger favor someone can do for you, proofread my entire PhD thesis not once but multiple times and versions.

I mean, my partner and father of my child hasn’t even read the whole thing.

When Bram and Yulia met seated next to each other on an airplane from Copenhagen to Amsterdam, I think he was completely smitten from the get go. He reported this meeting in a few Whatsapp messages, which I will share with you, now. “After a lot of air travel, I finally was seated next to the beautiful girl! And we also talked the whole time. About opera.” And here we are today.

The first time I met Yulia, was after a dinner with the aforementioned debating team at Bar Joost. I thought: Bram must really like her if he’s introducing her to this group, which included our slightly intimidating former vice-principal, Margriet. In the months that followed, I got to know Yulia as a caring, clever, funny and genuine person, and I would like to say she became my friend as well.

And it turned out she paid attention during that first meeting with old school friends, because when the government cancelled all in person events of the summer of 2020, which meant the school reunion that our former vice-principal Margriet was planning would have to be cancelled, the first thing she apparently said to Bram was:

‘But did Mark Rutte consult Margriet because I don’t think she’ll agree to this.’

You are great at supporting each other, which is lovely to watch. At the same time, Yulia is not afraid to make fun of Bram, which I appreciate. You are thoughtful towards each other.

When you came to visit me and my parents in France and it was Bram’s birthday, Yulia decorated everywhere at night as a surprise for Bram the next day, and that’s only one example of loving and considerate gifts, surprise trips, or hair dryers that you organize for each other.

And you’re not only thoughtful towards each other, but also towards your friends. You invited me, together with Piet and Janneke, to spend Christmas with you when covid meant I couldn’t spend it with my family.

I also remember when I applied for a job that I really wanted, and I ended up not getting it and being very disappointed, a bouquet of flowers was on my doorstep the next day with a note that read “it’s their loss”. This gesture truly touched me.

Last Christmas we were having friends’ Christmas dinner and we were talking about the wedding. And you know, it’s very common in the Netherlands for people to plan to get married, and to say about it: I don’t really care about the institution, but I would like to have the party! But Yulia said to me: You know, I don’t really care about the party, but I really care about the marriage to Bram.

And I thought that was so beautiful and sincere.

Yulia and I share a love for a book series written by Richard Osman called The Thursday Murder Club about a group of eighty-year-old friends solving crimes. I hope that, just like them, we will also still be having adventures together in our eighties.

Two of the characters in the book are very happily married to each other for a long time, and let me leave you with a description of their marriage, the marriage of Stephen and Elizabeth. I quote: “The real secret was that when they looked at each other, they each thought they had the better deal.”

I would like to invite you to join me in a toast to the beautiful couple, proost, za lyubov, to the better deal.