Good evening everyone. First off, I want to again congratulate Yulia and Bram on this blissful occasion and thank them for being naïve enough to think it was a good idea to give me time for a speech!

For those of you who do not know me yet, my name is Erik Elfrink. I am an American, but please don’t hold that against me since I was born that way!

Joking aside - I am, truly, honored that Yulia and Bram trusted me to share a little bit of my experience with them leading up to today’s festivities. I hope it gives you some new insight into the couple’s relationship.

Yulia and I met not long after we each moved to the Netherlands. We actually met on Forteiland IJmuiden, where we were taken to experience KPMG’s new hire onboarding. Yes, we are both accountants, please also don’t hold that against us!

Like most strong friendships, ours began at the bar. After a day of teambuilding we found ourselves near each other at the hotel bar chatting about how cool accountants are (really, we’re all just like the Ben Affleck movie. The sequel comes out soon!).

After a late night of drinking and solving the world's accounting problems, the next day we found out that we were randomly assigned to the same group. The last challenge of the teambuilding exercise, the challenge to win it all – was an escape room. Obviously, since Yulia and I were on the same team – we came in first!

I was very fortunate when I moved to the Netherlands as my partner, Barbie, moved with me. She is my best friend and was a solid foundation as we struggled to make friends and adapt to our new home.

Yulia, unfortunately, was not as lucky as I was in this regard. She had some friends that she made at KPMG, but no true solid foundation on which she could rely through thick and thin.

At this time, Yulia and I continued hanging out, never missing each other at KPMG’s Friday borrel, and also checking out wine bars or restaurants or breweries and generally just enjoying life.

During these earlier interactions, I never pried too much into Yulia’s love life, but I knew she had not yet found her best friend, her partner, her foundation.

Now – I will admit, my memory isn’t perfect, but I believe the first time I ever encountered Bram was a chance encounter at Schiphol as Yulia was returning from a ski trip.

Barbie and I arrived back from a weekend trip in Prague at the same time as Yulia’s flight landed and we happened to all see each other.

When the three of us walked out of Schiphol together, Bram was already showing himself to be a great partner by coming to pick Yulia up from the airport! There we first met Bram, just outside of Schiphol. It was a fairly quick interaction that I didn’t think too much of at the time.

However, upon reflection, I find a really cool parallel that Bram and Yulia met on an airplane (flying back to Amsterdam) and we first met Bram at Schipol. It’s almost like it was meant to be for two adventurous couples to meet this way, at the gateway for their travels.

The next few times Yulia and I grabbed drinks, I could tell something had changed. She actually wanted to talk to me about a guy! And the great news was – he wasn’t even an accountant. Wayyy cooler – he’s a composer!

Over the next few months, as I continued meeting with Yulia our discussions moved past just the usual riveting debits and credits and onto life and relationships.

It took a little while, but then it hit me and I realized how quickly Bram and Yulia were able to develop a deep and meaningful relationship.

Then it also hit me – Bram might be the real deal. And that means he’s probably not going anywhere anytime soon (especially not after today!)

I like to think our collective friendship really started to take off when Bram made the mistake of joining Yulia for our annual Thanksgiving party! Of course we had the traditional turkey, mac and cheese, and way too much beer, wine, and whisky.

But in addition to our normal global group of friends, we had our crazy American friend Steve (and his friend Mike) – who were literally trying to sell fish (like, in an aquarium, not to eat) to people at the table.

And at the end of it, even though he refused to buy any fish for his apartment, Bram came back and somehow told Yulia “yeah, I like those people.”

From there it really was just a great natural progression of our collective friendship and continuing to watch Bram and Yulia’s relationship blossom.

There were deep conversations about family, relationships, cultural differences, even politics almost always over great food and better drinks. Bram and I especially connected over politics.

I have pressed on him that in the U.S., we have recently descended into real life game show like ‘The Apprentice’ but with an even more obnoxious host (who is somehow the same guy...) while he assures me that Dutch politics do not make for a much better show.

As we continued to hang out, Bram introduced us to what would be the key to our collective relationship: board games. Not just any board game, but Brandi dog.

We would eat dinner, pop open some wine, beer, or whisky, and play for hours and hours. Eventually, we realized that Bram and Erik were the best team, beating out the couples and the accountants consistently.

I think this is because Bram plays the game very selflessly, Barbie plays the game ruthlessly, and Yulia and I both play very analytically.

Somehow, Bram’s and my connection seemed to just work out best! I would like to add – he is smart, so sometimes he made sure to let Barbie and Yulia win.

Because of that brilliant decision we are still here today to celebrate this relationship. While at the time these may have just seemed like fun game nights (including some that broke Covid curfew rules!), throughout all of it we witnessed firsthand as Bram and Yulia started to let their guard down around each other and grow into this amazing relationship that we are celebrating today!

I would like to end with a quick toast: from a chance encounter on a plane Yulia and Bram have bought a house, built a life, and brought all of us here together today to celebrate their love.

I am very appreciative and honored that they not only introduced us to Brandi Dog, but also gave me time today to share a few thoughts and stories about their relationship.

In closing, I’d like to request you all raise your glass and give Bram and Yulia’s new adventure together a great start with a “proost” / “vashe zdorov’ye” and “cheers" !