The bride rewore her grandmother’s wedding dress from 1950 to marry in her hometown of Reykjavík

“I always loved trying on my grandmother’s wedding dress,” says Dóra Júlía Agnarsdóttir, an Icelandic DJ, cultural journalist, and pilates trainer. “I would walk around dragging the dress through the floor and pose. My mother’s mother Dóra, whom I am named after, was a fashion icon and her very chic, plain, off-white, elegant wedding dress was always my favourite.”

Dóra Júlía admits she never thought seriously about marriage – until she met her wife, Bára Guðmundsdóttir. “I wasn’t the kind of girl that had dreams about what my perfect wedding would look like,” she says. Dóra Júlía first connected with Bára when she hosted a weekly karaoke night downtown Reykjavik. “Bára would sometimes go there on dates – which is kind of funny and cute,” says Dóra Júlía. “We always talked when we ran into each other and we have a really funny photo of us at that karaoke night months before we started dating.”

After talking all night at a party, the two clicked and “just really fell for each other.” She adds, “We met at the beginning of Covid, so Bára kind of just moved in after a few weeks of dating. Here we are five years later!”

The couple got engaged on a trip to Paris in 2022 – but they weren’t initially planning on it. “We drank some Champagne – as you do when in Paris, of course – and just talked about how we wanted to live our lives together and agreed that we should get married,” says Dóra Júlía. “We bought two identical rings in Vivienne Westwood and put them on outside the Louvre during sunset. Then a year later, we bought real engagement rings.”

With plans for a “fabulous party with our favorite people” underway, it was time for the couple to think of their wedding wardrobes. Dóra Júlía quickly decided she would wear her grandmother’s 1950s long-sleeve wedding dress that she tried on constantly as a child. “When we decided to get married, I instantly knew I wanted to wear it and I didn’t even look at other wedding dresses,” she shares. “I have always adored that dress and I have such beautiful photos of her on her wedding day.” She adds, “My grandmother passed away in 2019 and we were very close. It was so incredibly precious and such an honour to be able to wear her dress.”

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As an avid thrifter, Dóra Júlía understood that working with a vintage piece usually requires giving the garment a little love. Luckily, her grandmother’s gown barely needed any work. “It was literally like it had been customised for me and fit perfectly – wild really,” she shares. The bride also loved the timeless shape and button detailing so much, she didn’t feel as if she needed to modernise it at all. The only alterations? “My favourite Icelandic designer Sif Benedicta steamed and pressed it for hours and fixed two buttons,” she says.

To accessorise, Dóra Júlía purchased a white Jacquemus bag and a Staud faux fur jacket in the same palette. She also wore Gucci pearl earrings, shoes by Icelandic designer Kalda, and a veil borrowed from Sif Benedicta, who designed Bára’s wedding suit. “We always knew we wanted to work with Icelandic artists and designers for the wedding. We have such an amazing variety of talented people here,” says Dóra Júlía. “It was really easy to choose Sif. We are both obsessed with her iconic suits and she did not disappoint with these amazing wedding looks.”

It was only natural, then, for Dóra Júlía to also have Sif Benedicta design her second outfit – a shortened, dress version of her wife-to-be’s suit. “I was super excited about her look and I am so inspired by her style,” she explains. “We are so different and she would never ever wear a dress. She was the most beautiful bride in her white, customised suit. Even though our personal styles are so different, we love to find a connection, some similar theme, and like our outfits to speak the same language, if that makes sense.”

While some couples might keep their wedding looks under wraps from each other, these brides were side by side throughout the planning process. “There were no secrets and no surprises – we wanted to do the whole thing together,” says Dóra Júlía. “We went together to fittings with our best friends and drank champagne. When your wife is your best friend, you don’t really want to do any of it without her.”

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Dóra Júlía describes getting ready for her Reykjavík wedding as “a beautiful morning with the love of my life and our amazing mothers.” She adds, “My mom helped me button my dress up – I have never ever been as happy about a look as I was on my wedding day.” A favourite moment was when the shared a moment of calm together at the hotel, watching as their guests arrived at the church just across the street. “Neither of us had our phones with us so we just watched the time from the church tower, waiting for it to turn 4PM to jump out and get married,” she says. “It was so beautiful.”

Another special moment was having the bishop of Iceland, Guðrún Karls Helgudóttir, marry them. “She is a big LGBTQI+ ally and before same-sex marriage was legal in Iceland in 2010, she raised her voice and fought for the queer community, which she still does,” explains Dóra Júlía. “I think that was powerful.”

The newlywed describes the wedding as an epic party. “We had amazing artists perform and Bára did around 10 stage dives,” shares Dóra Júlía. “Before our first dance I had changed to my matchy suit dress and people made a circle around us while Emmsjé Gauti, one of Iceland’s biggest artists, sang our favorite love song by him. It was so cute. I get teary every time I hear it!”

Reflecting on choosing her wedding fashion, Dóra Júlía advises other to-be-weds to remember there are no rules when it comes to wedding fashion. “You have to be able to be yourself and—for the love of god—don’t wear something uncomfortable when you are getting married,” she says. "You have to be able to eat, breathe, enjoy every moment, and feel like your truest self, which is fashion to me.

See all the snapshots below.