Romania sets the world record for the longest wedding dress train

The world’s longest bridal train was unveiled in Bucharest, Romania, this week.

To show off the two-mile gown, 17-year-old Romanian model Emma Dumitrescu took a ride in a hot air balloon as part of a promotion in the capital city of Bucharest, with the dress’ 1.85-mile-long train flowing dramatically under her.

The 2,823.8-meter long ivory train, which took 100 days to stitch, was showcased dramatically on the boulevard leading up to the giant palace built by late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, seen in background.

The gown, certified as the longest bridal train in history by the Guinness World Records, was designed by a local designer, Andree Salon fashion house.

The dress more than doubled a previous Romanian record of under a mile (1,492 meters) from April 2009 and broke the December 2009 record of 2,488 meters, which was held by a designer from the Netherlands.

The record was tinged with the taste of a sweet political victory for Romania, since the Netherlands campaigned against that country’s inclusion in the European Union’s Schengen zone, according to The Associated Press.

“If the Netherlands does not allow us into Europe, we’ll take them out of the world records book,” said Alin Caraman, an organizer of the wedding promotion.

The stats of this wedding-day wonder are impressive: It took 15,420 feet of taffeta, 18.04 feet of Chantilly lace, 147.64 feet of lining, 1,857 sewing needles and 150 spool threads to create the dress and train. Ten workers toiled for 100 days to complete the project.

The wedding dress cost is close to $8,000 in materials alone, the AP reported.