The Wedding Party

Ever since she was a baby, Celine Hoes-Hummel and her family have spent Christmas and New Year at Badrutt’s Palace Hotel – a home-away-from-home that played a key role in her life including her romantic engagement and stunning August 2022 wedding to husband, Tijmen Hoes.

One year later and speaking from their beautiful Amsterdam home, the couple are delighted with how their breathtaking five-day wedding played out. Indeed, judging by the way their eyes light up when recalling their favourite moments, it is clear they enjoyed every magical minute in a place that Celine, and now Tijmen, hold so close to their hearts, and a relationship that started with her parents, who are long-standing guests at the hotel.

THE ENGAGEMENT

Celine, who oversees the global partnerships for fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger, and Tijmen, who works for a private equity firm, both grew up in Zeist in The Netherlands. They both attended the same high school, but were not aware of each other until Tijmen’s last year. “I didn’t notice her, but I’m sure she noticed me,” he jokes. Some years later in 2010, the pair met by chance in a popular local bar in Zeist. As Celine says: “That was 13 years ago and that’s how our love story began.”

Fast forward to their engagement. The couple spent the summer of 2020 in Florence. “It would have been nice to propose on our 10-year anniversary, especially as I had organised for a hot air balloon to land in our hotel garden and then fly us over the Tuscan countryside.” Celine interjects:

“I thought you were going to ask me then and was shocked when you didn’t!”

‘Will you join me or a date day today?’

Wedding day preparations soon began with the help of the hotel’s events team, which included Gian Müller, Executive Assistant Manager at Badrutt’s Palace. “We like to be in control and did a lot of the planning ourselves, but it was so nice to have a partner who you fully trust,” says Tijmen. “We knew that everything they organised would be done flawlessly, and they were really good at thinking of things that we hadn’t considered, without having to discuss all the details with us.”

As for the look and feel of the wedding, the pair wanted to create a setting that was luxurious but not flashy, and which felt classy and intimate. This was the only destination where they felt they could achieve this thanks to the hotel’s philosophy and their wonderful relationship with all the staff. For instance, Celine can remember as a child baking cookies with her sisters in the kitchen with Stefan Gerber, Executive Pastry Chef. And he made a delicious lactose-free cake especially for Celine.

Celine’s beautiful dress was by Elie Saab in Paris, and she made frequent trips to the French capital for fittings in the run-up to the big day. The bride even had the same dried flowers as in the boxed wedding invites stitched into her veil. Suits for the groom, his father and groomsmen were designed by Cifonelli, also in its Paris atelier. Little touches of grey from the groom’s waistcoat and tie were reflected in sartorial details throughout. Elsewhere, spectacular floral arrangements were created by Vincenzo Dascanio, one of the world’s leading flower designers. “I had Vincenzo saved for ever as I always knew I wanted him to work on my wedding,” says Celine. “He did the most incredible job of creating our wedding flowers, which were magical.”

Celine recalls the emotional moment she and her father walked down a white rose-lined garden aisle only to discover that he and Tijmen had arranged to have their dear friend, the Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden, conduct the music during the ceremony. Afterwards, guests enjoyed a Champagne reception under blue skies followed by the wedding dinner in the hotel’s magnificent Le Restaurant and a spectacular party at the King’s Social House, famed for being Switzerland’s oldest nightclub.

Finally, as the wedding came to a close on the Sunday, guests had a goodbye brunch at Paradiso, taken there and back on old post buses.