Perry Linhart Holen knew his fiancée, Natasha Anna Barrow, had picked the perfect wedding dress well before they were married this month.
He hadn’t yet laid eyes on the Vivienne Westwood satin gown, but that didn’t matter. “I knew it made her feel special,” he said. “That was more important than what the millions of people who were weighing in on the internet thought.”
The hordes Mr. Holen was referring to were TikTok commenters. In September, Ms. Barrow posted a video outlining her doubts about the dress she had ordered last spring from a Denver bridal boutique.
“I think my wedding dress is ugly,” she said in the video. Then she clarified: “I think society thinks it’s ugly.”
Ms. Barrow and Mr. Holen met on Hinge in March 2022, when both were living in Denver. Their first date, on March 6, was supposed to be at New Belgium Brewing, a pub within Denver International Airport. Each had been traveling and expected to reach Terminal B at roughly the same time.
Then Ms. Barrow’s flight got delayed. Repeatedly. “I was ultimately going to get in four hours later than him,” she said. “So I said, ‘Hey, look, I’m going to go home, put on some sweats and order Thai food. You can either join me for that or we’ll have to reschedule.”
Hours later, they were sitting on her couch, eating stir-fried noodles and watching a Wes Anderson film. (Both said they were very tired from their travels.)
Ms. Barrow, 32, works for the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company as a lead designer of clinical trials in neuroscience. She grew up in Madison, Conn., with a younger brother and sister and their parents, James and Laura Barrow. She has a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Connecticut, and she holds a doctor of pharmacy degree from the University of Illinois Chicago.
The night of the botched airport date, she had been returning from a ski trip with friends in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Mr. Holen was coming from a wedding in Fresno, Calif. Like Ms. Barrow, he is an avid skier. He wouldn’t have been as eager to meet her in person otherwise.
“She was obviously beautiful,” he said, based on her Hinge photos. “But a lot of her profile was about skiing. We had chatted about how much of a passion that was for both of us.”
Mr. Holen, 32, is a senior manager of finance at the data platform company Snowflake. He and his younger brother grew up in Seattle with Norwegian parents, Endre and Marnie Holen. Both boys were in cross-country skis before they could walk. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
He didn’t mind regrouping in 2022 when Ms. Barrow suggested meeting at her place instead of the airport. “I was a little bit tired, but I can always find the right energy for the right person,” he said. He arrived at her door holding a bottle of red wine. “Natasha seemed too great to pass up.”
By the end of the Wes Anderson movie, “The French Dispatch,” they felt a connection but had different takes on Ms. Barrow’s affection level. Mr. Holen thought she was snuggling up to him on the sofa. But, she said, “I had just leaned into him, shoulder to shoulder, because it was more comfortable for my neck.”
Still, a little more than a week later, when he kissed her at the end of their second date at Denver’s the Block Distilling Co., she was ready. “I smooched back,” she said.
A third and fourth date reinforced their compatibility, especially when it came to outdoor pursuits, including the thrill of the slopes.
Their fifth date didn’t go as well. Mr. Holen, convinced their connection ran deep, asked if she would be his girlfriend. Ms. Barrow felt it was too soon.
“I got a little gun shy,” she said. “Perry seemed like the guy you marry, not the guy you date. I said, ‘I’m so sorry, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that.’”
For Mr. Holen, the moment was deflating. And bewildering. “I was pretty crushed, but more confused,” he said. “I had told all my friends, ‘This is a lock. She really likes me.’” But he had a feeling they would reconnect one day.
And they did — months later at Bartaco, a Mexican restaurant in Denver, where both were coincidentally grabbing lunch. By fall, they were seeing each other again. By January 2023, they were a couple.
Soon, it was Ms. Barrow who was ready for more. In the early weeks of 2024, “I said, ‘When are you going to propose to me?’” she said. He told her it would happen by the end of the year. On Dec. 4, he made good on that promise when he asked her to marry him over rum drinks on vacation in the British Virgin Islands.
The viral “ugly dress” TikTok that came about nine months later was the result of misguided self doubt, Ms. Barrow said. Because the designer Vivienne Westwood had discontinued the design soon after she ordered it, and because reactions among her friends and family (and her hometown pizza server) were mixed, she let uncertainty fester while she waited for its arrival at the Little White Dress Bridal Shop in Denver.
“You spend all this money on this dress, and then you wait six or eight months for it to come in, and in the meantime, a lot of other things come on the market and you start to think, did I get the right dress?” she said.
The million-plus responses to the video couldn’t answer that question (in the video, she never shows the dress). But it did forge what felt like a sisterhood in the comments section. “What I think made it blow up was the overwhelming relatability,” she said. “So many people had been backed into a corner to wear their mother’s dress, or their dress didn’t fit when the day came. There’s an insecurity I think we all feel as brides.”
Ms. Barrow and Mr. Holen moved to Seattle for his career and to be closer to family in June 2025. On March 14, they were legally married there at Lake Union Park by Lindsay Murphy, Mr. Holen’s childhood pastor at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church. Their five guests, including his mother and stepfather and her cousin, joined them after for an oyster and Champagne lunch at the White Swan Public House, a nearby restaurant. (Ms. Barrow wore a vintage ivory satin pair of pants and a beaded top.)
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The bride waited until their ceremonial wedding a week later to don the Vivienne Westwood gown. On March 21, a friend, Dallas Cullen, led a black-tie celebration for 105 guests at Gail Severn Gallery, a contemporary art space in Ketchum, Idaho, where Mr. Holen’s mother grew up.
Mr. Holen wore a custom tuxedo made by his tailor in Seattle, Bellevue Alterations. Ms. Barrow accentuated her much-discussed satin gown, which was nipped at the hip and featured a mermaid train and embroidered tulle, with her grandmother’s pearls and diamond earrings Mr. Holen had given her for Christmas.
Their regrets about the day, and the dress, are few.
“There was a magical feeling when I put it on,” Ms. Barrow said of the gown. “Even if it’s not everyone’s cup of tea, it was perfect for me.”
On This Day
When March 21
Where Gail Severn Gallery, Ketchum, Idaho
Love Is in the (Snowy) Air At the celebration, the couple read handwritten vows. Ms. Barrow told Mr. Holen, “Magic is love, snowfall and the twinkle in your eye when you laugh.” She vowed to chase all three with him. Mr. Holen’s vows also hinted at their active lifestyle: “When you’re running toward all of the joys in life, I promise to always be running by your side,” he said.
Standing Solo The couple chose not to have a wedding party. “All my friends are married with kids,” Ms. Barrow said. “I thought, let them sit with their husbands. I don’t need to make them buy matching dresses.” The ceremony Mr. Cullen led included the lighting of a unity candle by their mothers and readings and prayers that blended elements of their religious backgrounds. Ms. Barrow is Catholic; Mr. Holen is Presbyterian.
Heating the Slopes Several guests, including members of Mr. Holen’s extended family from Norway, flew to Idaho early to take advantage of pre-wedding skiing at nearby Baldy Mountain. The couple joined them throughout a warmer than expected weekend in Idaho. Some hit the slopes in shorts and tank tops.
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