Wedding bells!!!

I jumped off the high speed train (when it stopped) and was greeted by an excited guy with a huge smile. “Great to see you. Glad you’re home. Come on! Let’s go an have a picnic by the lake.”

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down. My news first! I’ve just been in Denmark visiting a friend for a week. I saw the Little Mermaid and went inside a tv news studio and played with lego and we walked 15-20 km nearly every day! Actually, I’ve been on a train for 7 hours and I want to sleep. Can we do the picnic tomorrow?”

Another ice-cream with Marie in Copenhagen

With the Little Mermaid

In the international news studio of Denmark TV

The next afternoon, we arrived at Baldernäs. A lovely park on the edge of a lake with sprawling grounds, ancient trees and a stately old mansion. We sat with our backs to a derelict boat shed radiating heat from the sinking sun. Our picnic was duly set up and shared with the scavenging ducks, daring them to eat from our hands.

The mansion at Baldernäs

Sunset from our picnic viewpoint

Selfies by the boat shed

We’d been taking photos of the views, so when Kristian asked me to “stand over there facing away from me”, I didn’t think anything of it. Until he asked me to turn around. He was down on one knee holding a stunning heart shaped necklace and asked me to marry him. 

I couldn’t think. I was speechless (and that’s pretty rare!) I realised later that he had planned to do this the night I got home from Denmark, but I had thwarted his plans with my stories and sleepiness. Oops...

Despite NZ and Sweden both being pretty standard, western countries, we found out so many little cultural differences connected to weddings. All of which brought varying amounts of tears and laughter, arguments and acceptance. 

For example, both the man and women get an engagement ring in Sweden. The rings match, are engraved with something inside and are what Kiwi’s would call a normal wedding ring. Then, at the wedding ceremony, the bride gets another ring while the groom doesn’t, what Kiwi’s would call an engagement ring. We opted for a mixture of both cultures, getting matching, engraved wedding rings that we swapped during the ceremony. (When we got the rings back from the engravers, I nearly sent them back as I thought they’d mucked them up. The date was written 20/9-14, not a format I was accustomed to but apparently quite normal in Sweden!)

Another difference is that in NZ, the bride usually walks down the aisle with her father. While in Sweden, it is common for the bride and groom to walk down the aisle together. This was an easy decision as my parents were unable to make the long journey over from NZ. 

Walking up towards the church together

Which was also the part I struggled with the most. My parents and family are so important to me, as are Kristian’s family to him. But I knew wherever we got married, one family wouldn’t be present. I so missed having mum around to go and look at wedding dresses, to talk to about hair styles and help plan the food (all the little things that girls love to do!) But I am so grateful to my new girlfriends and family who went out of their way to help and made the planning and lead up to our wedding just as enjoyable. And the internet really is a wonderful invention. I chewed through our data allowance in those 2 months with more frequent skype chats to mum and dad, as well as sending photos and email updates every other day. 

There were only 2 conditions I was insistent on about getting married in Sweden. The first was that Kristian had to be there :), the second was having a wedding by wifi. A live video link allowed my parents, brothers and several other family members and friends to witness the ceremony - all with the best view at the front of the church.

Wedding by wifi screen shot

We wanted our wedding to be relaxed where the main focus was celebrating and enjoying the day with friends and family. And it was.

We set the tone for the day by sending out invitations via facebook, email and a blog post. Ties would be frowned upon. Jeans were allowed.  

Swedish version of the wedding invites

We woke on our wedding day to heavy mist settled in the trees and over the lakes. It was a surreal morning that became a stunning, warm, sunny day.

Heavy mist around Varviks church

Mist around the lakes in the morning for a few pre-wedding pics

The ceremony was simple, yet touching. We walked in to a live version of Fields of Gold by Sting (aka Ingemar - a musician from the church). A wave of emotions hit me and I almost burst into tears when I first entered the church. To see so many friends smiling back at us. Realisation hitting me about what we were doing. And yet feeling so comfortable with the setting, the day ahead and my soulmate next to me. 

Final touch-ups before heading into the church

Walking down the aisle

Henrik (the pastor) did a fabulous job of conducting the ceremony in English so I knew what I was promising Kristian! And everyone started clapping in time as we danced out to One Love by Bob Marley. 

"Congratulations, you are now married!"

Our 'first' kiss

Dancing back down the aisle

The rest of the day passed in a whirlwind of energy. There were games for guests to play while we had some photos taken after the ceremony. 

At the platform we swam from most mornings in summer

Photobomb by the fisherman!

A smorgasbord of fresh meats, salads, fruit, cheese, cakes chocolate and strong Swedish coffee kept everyone satisfied. Pavlova’s were our wedding cakes - some topped with kiwifruit, others with fresh Swedish wild berries. Lots of people gave speeches in a mixture of English, Swedish and Swenglish. And as there were no seating arrangements, the MC’s played musical chairs a couple of times to mix everyone up and keep the conversations changing. 

The reception venue...before everyone arrived and made it messy :)

We are slowly working our way south and will have a wedding ceremony of some sort when we get to NZ. Until then, more ocean depths blog posts will follow!

Laughing all day