A Nordic Wedding

Well, I am just letting you know that I wrote an article for Nordiske Bryllup about our wedding. It is basically a summary of our ideas and plans for the wedding, and a few tips for other wedding planners. The text is in Norwegian, but I am sure google can help you out if you need translation. Read the article here.

Our wedding on a real wedding blog!

Our wedding is featured on the Norwegian wedding blog Nordiske Bryllup! It is really fun that some of the photos by the amazing Michaela Nichole have found their way there. In addition, there will be a post where I share more about the wedding in a little while, so stay tuned for more.

Our American-Norwegian wedding reception

   

Welcome to our wedding! 

We can offer Norwegian farmers food and Southern Sweet tea.

Touching speeches from our dear ones. 

Quality coffee by Precious Beans Roasters.

(We are serious about cakes around here.)

Impersonations. Funny ones.

Drama by my childhood´s fantasy friends Hoggen, Birken and Agnes Kyrkjen.

So much laughter (and maybe a few happy tears) with the most amazing people.

In other words: The perfect wedding!

Photos: Sigve Ferstad

Wedding food fit for a farmer

 I always make sure to tell everyone that the wedding menu was not my decision. Not because I didn´t like it, but because everything was so completely Norwegian and traditional. Mike´s goal was that no one would leave hungry, and that goal was surely accomplished. Not only was the food scrumptious, it looked almost too beautiful to eat, and the amount of food was way more than we could consume. Even with a lunch for about 20 people the next day we had to send loads of food with our friends to take home. I am so happy we chose this unconventional wedding menu with foods we both love, and I think it is fun to have used both local recipes and ingredients.

THE MENU

- Potato dumplings (Ball, Potetball, Komle, Kompe)

- Local pork sausage (Svinemør frå Fausa slakteri)

- Mashed rutebege/swede (Kålrabistappe)

- Dried and cured meats (Mør, spekeskinke og anna spekemat)

- Green salads

- Potato salad

- Vegetable soup with meatball (Sodd) For this one we cheated and bought it from the store, so anyone from Trøndelag might not approve.

- Cheese

- Flatbread and rolls, all handmade

- Herb butter with ramsløk from Skodje

Main caterer: Liv Skårbrevik
Additional cooks: My aunt, mom, and friends!

Photos: Michaela Nichole Photography

Bachelorette party in Telemark

Bachelorette party. A scary term. I like to have control of what is going on, know my plans in advance and generally I plan a lot. So to put my life in someone elses hands for a whole day seemed a little scary. Not that my friends are mean, not at all, and there really wasn´t anything to be worried about.

I had some suspicions to when this would take place, since I know how busy my dear maid of honor is, but I still wasn´t sure until she let me know a couple of days ahead that I would have to pack my bags for an overnight trip, and make sure to bring a bikini. I also got to know that I would receive an overnight guest from Friday to Saturday, and was very curious to who that might be.

After some miscommunication about pick up point Friday night, I could finally welcome a friend from my home town. Since she is 8 months pregnant I really didnt expect her to come all the way, so that was a great start of the weekend.

Saturday morning some wonderful ladies came over with breakfast, and the next thing thing on the program was a relaxing time at the spa in Fritidsparken.

The weather was perfect, nice and warm, and it was a lovely sight to drive from Skien to Dalen, a small town that is known as the destination for the Telemark canal. We arrived at a gallery opening where I had to read from one of Ibsen´s plays, dressed in traditional stakk from Hallingdal. The audience was captivated, Im sure...

Welcome to Dalen Hotel! This amazing property is over 100 years old and has housed celebrities, royalty, and us... Well, we lounged around, had some tea on the terrace and did yoga in the park!

After watching "Henrik Ibsen" sailing in, we drove up on the mountain, to Anne Maris cabin at Rauland. We got to see a beautiful sunset, eat delicious food and just hang out and relax till the next morning.

Thank you so much girls, it was an amazing weekend! 

How to make a wedding budget

Heels or flats? Professional or DIY pedicure? Maybe a spray tan? All the decision...

Recently, a newly engaged girl asked me for tips for their wedding. I had no idea what to say to that, and in my mind I was thinking: Tips for what? Dresses? Flowers? Style? Colors?

There are a thousand tips to give and take, but after a few days it came to me that setting a budget might be my best tip so far. I love lists and budgets and saving, so luckily this comes quite easy to me. I can get quite excited for every time I am under budget,

Wedding budgeting in 5 steps

1. Figure out how much you can and want to spend. 
A wedding might be one of the costliest things you do, so be wise! Discuss who will pay (the couple, parents, others) and how much you can save before the big day. Even if you have a lot of money, you might not want to spend it all on a party. Are you saving for a house for example? Or perhaps you want a dream honeymoon?

2. Do some research
What are the prices for things like flowers and catering?? There is a lot of research to be done to be able to make a realistic budget, and it depends a lot on the style of celebration you want and where you live. This step will require research, take a long time and can be very frustrating, but also fun. I was surprised at how much things cost, and have revised our budget more than once.

Also, decide on the size of your guest list. Your budget can really depend on this factor, but a small wedding can still be an expensive affair.

3. Think of all the costs, down to the details.
Here are the most common categories for a Norwegian wedding, with an American twist. I don´t have all of these things, and you probably won´t either. It might not be natural to include the expenses of f.ex rings and honeymoon in your wedding budget, but it can help you get an idea of the total costs.