“You dream of this European proposal,” starts Jess, her eyes lit up more than usual, “but when it happens, and it’s personalised to you—well, that’s exactly what I wanted without knowing it.” The engagement ring itself is everything Jess could have ever hoped for: a platinum eternity band with a round-cut solitaire diamond. “When he proposed, I asked, ‘How did you know?!’ And he said, ‘You told me! You showed me photos!’” She pauses to giggle then adds, tongue in cheek, “I have no recollection of this.” 

During this two-day cover shoot, the future Mrs. Gastl was soaking it all in, relishing every second of the experimentation. “I’ve always had this one silhouette in mind and it was a taffeta spaghetti strap gown, similar to what I tried at Vania [Romoff]’s with a thin strap in the back and just a simple, clean cut. For the longest time that was my dream silhouette and I don’t know how I came up with that but I just knew that was the shape I wanted.”

While Jess wasn’t entirely certain about what she wanted in terms of bridal, she did, however, know what she liked and didn’t like. “For the ceremony, I didn’t want anything like an over-the-top cupcake shape. I knew somehow I wanted stark white, not off-white, blush or peachy. I knew I wanted lace. And I knew I wanted something romantic and timeless. I knew I didn’t want fitted or beaded or any fancy silhouette.”

When designer Monique Lhuillier posted a photo online of a bride in one of her confections, that was that. “I thought…that’s it! That’s my dress…I remember I was flying from Copenhagen back to Manila and I took a screenshot of it before boarding and I just kept staring at it the whole flight. It was nine hours of agony…I was just obsessed with this dress!” 

Later, Jess would then book an appointment at Lhuillier’s LA atelier with her sister to authenticate said obsession. “When I tried it on I thought, ‘Oh my God…this is my dress. It was even better in real life.’ My sister was crying and she said it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever worn.” To cover all bases, more styles were brought out, but in the end, everyone agreed her initial choice was the one. While Jess is all set with her Monique Lhuillier choice, other than that she says, “I only need my dream team make-up artist and hair stylist!” 

Following all the glamorous destination weddings of her sister, cousins, and even friends, it’s a curiousity whether the couple feels any pressure to go big. Not so. “Our cousins’ weddings were big in the sense that they were destination weddings and no details were overlooked, but we all have relatively the same size of about 150 guests. So in that sense, it still feels intimate on the day of the wedding. We just love destination weddings because we all love to travel together.” 

 real family girl at heart, she is, more than anything, excited to get together with everyone from around the world who are dear to her and Moritz. The pair originally wanted to get married in Maastricht, but the venue she was eyeing (an opulent three-storey heritage opera house where the couple had attended parties in the past) wasn’t available due to renovations. “I went through a depression for two days but I picked myself up and let it go.” 

She then messaged her friend who goes to beautiful weddings all the time in Europe for some big-ask requirements: “I wanted a small town that still excites with good hotels and good restaurants, and an amazing venue; I didn’t want everyone to travel all the way to nowhere; and I wanted it to be a destination wedding and new to everyone. But it has to be somewhere that had meaning to both of us.

Clearly, the friend delivered and recommended Schloss Leopoldskron, the iconic setting to the Sound of Music in Salzburg. “I researched everything in minutes and hardly anyone has been!” Everyone speaks German there so it will still have that German touch. “Everyone,” she says, referring to their 140-strong guest list, “will be wearing traditional lederhosen and dirndls for the welcome party and then formal for the reception.

Things are going to get hectic over the next several months, but looking to the calm after the storm, as partners in life, having lived and travelled together for some time now, Jess and Mortiz have laid a solid foundation. “It’s so cliché, but really the mutual trust and respect is the most important thing for us. I think it’s from that foundation that we were [and are] able to experience all the love, happiness and fun together.” And what of adding to the Moritz brood? “I’m so excited to build a family with Moritz and see him as a dad. He’s really good with kids.