On a recent rainy Sunday afternoon in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, the ground was wet and soggy, covered with what remained of the fallen autumn leaves. It was all a rather dreary scene, save for a spot of proverbial sunlight in a small clearing marked Cleft Ridge Span. There, underneath a stony overpass, were 26-year-olds Peter Kim and Bella Im, dressed to the wedding-bell nines — she in her bridal gown by Viktor & Rolf for H&M and he in the matching $299 tux.
It was not a wedding, however — that won’t come until June 16, 2007. Instead, they were decked out for their engagement photo shoot. Their roommate, freelance photographer Nodeth Vang, clicked away as the duo posed in their wallet-friendly designer duds. Not far away, a man played the saxophone underneath a gazebo. “Hey, how romantic. We’ve even got a soundtrack!” Im said.
After a few shots, the trio trekked over to an even more idyllic backdrop: the park’s turn-of-the-century Beaux Arts Boathouse. Im’s strappy silver Enzo Angiolini heels sunk into the ground as she walked along the smaller paths, the long ruffled train of her dress — the hem of which was slightly muddied — wrapped high in a bundle around her waist. It was then off to the carousel (it was closed) and eventually a small roofed rest area nearby.
Just 72 hours ago, though, it was quite a different — and far from peaceful — experience for the pair, who braved the crowds at H&M in search of the nuptial wear. “If you go on theknot.com, you see postings of engagement photos and people are just in regular, normal clothes,” Im said. “We wanted to do something different.”
So on a mission, the spouses-to-be ventured into the Fifth Avenue flagship. “I was in and out of there in 15 minutes,” recalled Kim. His fiancée, meanwhile, didn’t even bother trying on the dress. “I knew I was going to buy it, regardless,” said the petite-framed Im, who nabbed a size 6.
Weeks after the engagement shoot, the dress still hangs on Im’s bedroom wall, dirty train and all. “I look at it every day,” she said. “It’s a gorgeous dress. I would wear it as my wedding gown, but I already put down $3,000 on one [from Kleinfeld Bridal] a while ago.” Ditto for Kim and his suit, if not for the $4,000 he already shelled out for a Giorgio Armani tux. Still, there will be many reasons — “social events and friends’ weddings” — for him to pull out his three-figure H&M outfit in the future. Im’s silk duchesse confection, on the other hand, is too conspicuous for regular outings. Its fate? She jokes that eBay, where the dress is currently going for upward of $800, is an option. But she’s also thinking about a more inventive alternative: lopping off the bottom and turning it into “a really cute cocktail dress.” But first, Im said, its next stop is at the dry cleaner.