Couples tie the knot during a festival on an Amsterdam ring road

Securing a coveted slot to exchange wedding rings on Amsterdam 's usually traffic-choked ring road seemed like a good omen for Zuzanna Lisowska and Yuri Iozzelli's future life together.
'It just seemed like super fun idea," Lisowska said. "And, you know, statistics were on our side. There were 400 couples who wanted to do it, so we feel really lucky to have been chosen.'
Friends and total strangers cheered and clapped as they told each other 'I do!' as part of a day-long festival on parts of the A10 highway that circles the Dutch capital closed to traffic for the day.
'It's a nice party we didn't have to organize,' said Iozzelli.
Their only regret was not being able to bring their pet rabbit. 'It was too hot,' Lisowska said after exchanging rings with Iozzelli.
The city that is known for partying said that some 600,000 people tried to get access to the ring road festival last month when more than 200,000 free tickets were made available.
Curious city folk, from parents pushing strollers to students and grandparents, stopped to watch the weddings and enjoyed the one-off opportunity to see the road without the usual cacophony of cars.
Among them was communications student Kyra Smit.
'It's really fun because it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing," she said. "It's so fun that you can say to people, wow, I'm married on the rings, so I really like this.'
The day was packed with events from music performances to readings, meetups and a fun run, shortened because of the heat. Organizers even placed a temporary forest of more than 8,000 trees on the blacktop.
The municipality laid on extra water taps and places where revellers could slap on sun block as temperatures soared to 30 degrees Celsius (86F) and upwards on the road surface.
The city's official birthday is Oct. 27, reflecting the first time a variant of its name was used in an official document, and is staging celebratory events in the year leading up to that date. The festival on the ring road is the biggest so far and gave Amsterdam residents a new view of their ring road.
'It's quite strange because normally you drive here and now you're walking, so that's a totally different situation,' said Marjolein de Bruijne, who works close to the A10.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Independent

an hour ago

• The Independent

Dolce & Gabbana embrace wrinkled romance for spring-summer 2026

Dolce & Gabbana beckoned the warm weather with crumpled, take-me-anywhere comfort in their menswear collection for spring-summer 2026, previewed during Milan Fashion Week on Saturday. The show opened and closed with a relaxed pajama silhouette — deliberately rumpled and effortless — in a clash of stripes, with both shorts and long trousers. The Beethoven soundtrack belied designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana's more deliberate intent, underscoring the designers' structured approach to soft tailoring. A broad shoulder double-breasted suit jacket and tie worn with pink pinstriped PJ pants encapsulated the classic summer dilemma: work vs. pleasure. Raw knitwear, or furry overcoats, added texture. Boxers peeked out of waistbands, and big shirt cuffs out of jacket sleeves, challenging formal and casual codes. Nothing was cleaner on the runway than a crisp striped pajama top in sky-blue and white stripes tucked into white leather Bermuda shorts — good for work and for play. The designers' finale featured pajama suits, shorts and pants, with beaded floral patterned embroidery for an evening seaside shimmer, worn with fuzzy sliders. Twin cameo brooches gave an antique accent. The crowd outside got to share in the fun when the finale models took the looks onto the streets, taking a full lap outside the designers' Metropol theater. Front-row guests included actors Zane Phillips, Theo James, Lucien Laviscount and Michele Morrone.

North Wales Chronicle

2 hours ago

• North Wales Chronicle

Couples tie the knot during a festival on an Amsterdam ring road

'It just seemed like super fun idea,' Ms Lisowska said. 'And, you know, statistics were on our side. There were 400 couples who wanted to do it, so we feel really lucky to have been chosen.' Friends and total strangers cheered and clapped as they told each other 'I do' as part of a day-long festival on parts of the A10 highway that circles the Dutch capital closed to traffic for the day. 'It's a nice party we didn't have to organise,' said Mr Iozzelli. Their only regret was not being able to bring their pet rabbit. 'It was too hot,' Ms Lisowska said after exchanging rings with Mr Iozzelli. The city that is known for partying said that some 600,000 people tried to get access to the ring road festival last month when more than 200,000 free tickets were made available. Curious city folk, from parents pushing prams to students and grandparents, stopped to watch the weddings and enjoyed the one-off opportunity to see the road without the usual cacophony of cars. Among them was communications student Kyra Smit. 'It's really fun because it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing,' she said. 'It's so fun that you can say to people, wow, I'm married on the rings, so I really like this.' The day was packed with events from music performances to readings, meet-ups and a fun run, shortened because of the heat. Organisers even placed a temporary forest of more than 8,000 trees on the tarmac. The municipality laid on extra water taps and places where revellers could slap on sun block as temperatures soared to 30C and upwards on the road surface. The city's official birthday is October 27, reflecting the first time a variant of its name was used in an official document, and is staging celebratory events in the year leading up to that date. The festival on the ring road is the biggest so far and gave Amsterdam residents a new view of their ring road. 'It's quite strange because normally you drive here and now you're walking, so that's a totally different situation,' said Marjolein de Bruijne, who works close to the A10.

The Sun

2 hours ago

• The Sun

Zara McDermott says she's ‘taking a step back' from ‘negative' social media amid Sam Thompson online abuse

ZARA McDermott is taking a hiatus from social media to focus on making a new documentary about family violence. The former Love Island star announced her break from socials just days after ex Sam Thompson came face to face with her new boyfriend, Louis Tomlinson. 3 3 She split from Made In Chelsea star, Sam, earlier this year after five years together and was spotted with the One Direction singer in March. Zara took to her Instagram stories to update her fans and explain why she was stepping away from social media for a short while. "I also just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who messaged me with regards to the story I posted the other day," she began. "If you didn't see it; I spoke about developing my next documentary and how I've been thinking of how to create a project about domestic abuse, coercive control and tech abuse." Zara revealed she had received thousands of message from people who had stories to share and she was still going through them. "But I wanted to say the biggest thank you ever. It's so nice speaking to you all because I've definitely taken a bit of a step back from socials to focus on my documentaries and other work just focusing on being more present recently," she explained. The TV star added: "Social media feels quite heavy and a negative space sometimes... so to be able to feel like we can work together to do something super positive is a great feeling. thank you again. forever grateful to all of you who continue to support the work i do. it really means SO much." Her post comes just days after Sam and Louis came face to face while representing England in the charity football match, Soccer Aid. The pair had already crossed paths on the training pitch last week, prior to Sam pulling out of the gam e due to injury and later attended the same pre-game dinner. Both men looked relaxed this evening as they milled around their hotel with fellow squad members. Zara has already ruled herself out of attending the star-studded match. Sam presented a video of his charity work in Guatemala to both sets of players, something he found much more nerve-racking than meeting Louis. He said: 'I did a small talk in front of everyone, which was terrifying, and I maintain I think it's the most important thing I've done in my 32 years of life. 'I really do believe that. Getting to go to Guatemala to see what UNICEF do on the ground is just life-changing.' 3