What was expected to be a three-day wedding celebration with all friends and family on a private estate became a beautifully intimate garden wedding at the bride’s parents land.

The place is located right next to lake Mälaren south of Uppsala in Sweden and on the day of the wedding the sun was shining on a bright blue sky where not a cloud could be spotted. The lake was quiet and the whole garden was filled with the scent from fresh flowers, warm summer skin and anticipation. It couldn’t have been a better day to get married in Sweden mid-august.

The couple decided to tie the knot on a Monday as the bride herself, Karolina, is a wedding planner and knew if she avoided the weekend they would get the best vendors available. The other reason for the choice of the day was that their friends and family would get the chance to get to know each other before the day itself. Everything had been thoughtfully planned, and it all looked wonderful for being a backyard garden wedding. Each guest had been asked to dress according to the colour theme which was blue, green and neutrals, and that made the group photos fantastically harmonious! In the morning of the day, the bride, her bridesmaids and mother got ready at Hotel Hörnan in Uppsala. After some photos, makeup and a glass of bubbly they went to the venue where the groom and all their guests were waiting. As they were so few, the couple decided to skip the first look, and instead, the bride’s father led the bride to the altar where the groom was waiting.

During the ceremony, they had a singer performing their favourite songs, and they read their vows to each other out loud. It was the bride’s brother who performed the ceremony after the speech the couple had written themselves. Not an eye was dry and the feeling of love was definitely in the air the whole day! After the ceremony, all guests could mingle with an Italian Swedish deli buffet filled with charcuteries, cheese, olives, bread, salads and fruits. With one of their interests being food they opted for a cake made out of cheese together with the bridal toast. It proved to be a success! When the guests sat down they were served a five-course dinner with generous amounts of dry whites, prosecco and sublime reds. In the late evening, when the Swedish summer sun finally set the dance began under bistro lights out on the grass. It was a wedding to remember!

We met in November 2008 when we both worked at Burberry in London. Karolina walked in on her first day of work and saw this handsome man she was instantly drawn to. We hit it off and shared one kiss at the very beginning but instead of dating we developed a very strong friendship that lasted for years. All the way up until May 2017 we remained friends.
At that point Karolina went to England to meet up with Daniele and all of a sudden something just clicked. “When I saw him standing waiting for me, something happened inside me and it felt like I had found my place in the world”.

We were in Italy, by Lake Como, searching for our dream house as we were planning to relocate to the country Daniele is from. It was November 2019, on the date exactly 11 years since we had first laid eyes on each other at the shop floor in Burberry. Daniele surprised Karolina by taking her out for a fantastic dinner at a beautiful restaurant in Varenna. She expected nothing at all when he after dinner, suggested they take an evening walk along the lover’s promenade. There, in the light of a full moon and with fireworks going off at the other side of the Como lake, he went down on one knee. It was the most magical moment of our lives, it felt like time stood still!

Due to the wedding being arranged in the middle of the pandemic, many things had to be changed and our end result ended up completely different from what we had first envisioned. However, it turned out beautifully considering the circumstances.
We got married at Karolina’s parents’ place by a lake because it felt meaningful to gather our loved ones at such significant place.
We knew we wanted to go for a neutral colour scheme with lots of green and blue. Karolina loves nature so greenery is a constant in our lives while Daniele is a navy blue kind of man and we both love the sea – so it was obvious those colours were to be present.
Karolina works as a wedding planner and stylist so it was important to her that the small details were taken care of, like beautiful napkins and plenty of candles. We had golden cutlery that went perfectly together with the gold rimmed plates, garden flowers and long table cloths.
Both of us loves food and we wanted to focus on creating a relaxed, fun and homey dinner for our friends and family.

Karolina’s initial plan was to have a gown tailored but, once again, things got delayed due to the pandemic so Karolina bought the dress she ended up getting married in, just a week before the wedding. It was a tulle skirt with a lace off the shoulder bolero. After the ceremony she changed into a slim fitted silk skirt.
Daniele wore a navy blue tuxedo with black trousers.

The ceremony was the most important to us and we spent hours writing our own ceremony speech and the vows we read to one another.
It was a civil ceremony and Karolina’s brother acted as the officiant which made it so personal.
We also had a singer who performed our chosen songs which was beautiful!

There was never a question about not having a professional wedding photographer, we are so happy Maria was there to capture our day even though we went for less hours due to budget cuts.
We also had a polaroid camera and those photos are priceless!!

There are so many great memories!
We had not spent the night together and as we were so few people we decided to skip a first look. It was at the ceremony when Karolina walked down the aisle with her dad that we saw each other for the first time and it was just amazing! That feeling of having met the one and feeling so happy and excited was inexpressable.
Both of us loved the ceremony because it was just ours – we had written every word and we were so present.
It was fun how all our guests helped out during dinner and made it a very memorable experience, yet, the best part must have been the late night barefoot dancing on the lawn under the starry sky. It felt like one of those nights that will never end!

Strangely, we decided to skip having professionally done flowers because it was either all or nothing. Karolina is in the wedding industry and flowers are usually a very important part in the job she does but we didn’t want it to be half-half. Instead, Karolina’s mother helped putting together beautiful arrangements and bouquets with what was to be found in the garden. We are so happy with the outcome.

Our cake was made of cheese. None of us are sweet fans so it was an obvious choice to cut the cake after our first toast and that is was going to be a savoury affair.
It was the biggest success and everyone still talks about it!

Listen to yourselves and plan a wedding you will be happy thinking back at. If you have a great time, so will your guests!