Oh how we wish we were Swedish sometimes!

Have you ever met a Swedish person who wasn't totally cool? I don't think they exist.

So when we clapped eyes on Erika & Romain's summer barn wedding at Beckershof Country Estate in Katrineholm, Sweden, we just fell in love.

The long evening with glimmering light until late, quirky DIY decor (a serious amount of paper pom poms), and gorgeous attire that they brought home from Bangkok - Erika even designed her own wedding dress! - this wedding is cool, stylish and totally personal from start to finish.

And of course, with renowned Scandi-meets-Canadian wedding photographers, Nordica Photography behind the lens, it was always going to look beautiful too.

Taking their cue from the idyllic surroundings at Beckershof Herrgård, Erika & Romain kept things natural, with locally sourced eats and wildflowers from the estate.

Their intimate lakeside ceremony made the landscape central to their day, while their barn reception venue was the perfect alternative setting for their candlelit, pom pom clad dinner.

Cool table names (actually, table pictures!) tote bag favours, and brown bag menus - there are so many unique ideas to steal (or borrow!) from this big day.

Pin It Buttons at the ready, guys...

Wedding Day Snapshot

Our Love Story

We met at university, he was in senior year, soon graduating and I was in junior year.... After 8 years together we finally got married.

Our Wedding in Three Words

The Inspiration

We wanted something close to nature, simple and reflecting who we are. The venue by itself was very special, an old barn, that had never been used for weddings before. The style and colours felt obvious, we stayed with natural colours and white, added some more chic silver and glassware and lots of candles!

The Attire

We designed all the attire ourselves, and had them tailor-made. Let's say living in Bangkok helped us with this, and saved us quite an amount.

The Flowers

We kept the flower budget to the minimum, we just order the bouquet, which we wanted to be as close to a wild flower bouquet as possible. Regarding the flowers in the ceremony and dinner we picked wild flowers from the estate.

The Ceremony

The ceremony was really spiritual and special, we decided to have it in the birch wood, kept it very simple and close to nature. The priest was amazing, she made the whole ceremony very personal and special, and sang beautifully. Through our priest we managed as well to get two musicians who could play a very unique and rare Swedish instrument, nyckelharpa. For the ceremony entrance we had a very well-known Swedish childhood song, Idas Sommarvisa from one of the biggest Swedish authors, Astrid Lindgren. It is hard to choose a moment, the three days were amazing, the fact that all these people came from literally all over the world for us was incredible. If we need to pick a precise moment, it would be the ceremony, in the birch wood, a great priest, the nature, the music, the wind, it was very powerful.

Favourite Moments

The dinner menu was developed by Ida Erikson, we easily agreed on the fact that we wanted something refined but still simple and locally produced, as this is very close to our hearts. We had for instance, fish that had been fished on the lake, the main course wild boar had been hunted on the estate, and the cheese came from a local organic producer. Furthermore, we had wild edible flowers as decoration on many plates which gave a very nice summery touch. We had a huge dessert buffet; I did not do the calculations quite right, and ended up eating desserts a few days after the wedding. We had a wedding cake but we did not have any cake cutting moment, as we didn't feel it suited us.

The Refreshments

We knew we wanted to have great memories for life, beautiful wedding pictures but yet out of the ordinary, with a more artistic side and Nordica were our first choice! Their work is amazing! Nordica Photography, were just great since the first contact! Even though we both hate being taken in pictures, with Nordica it felt natural. For the wedding we agreed to have our photo shoot during the dinner, so the guests wouldn't t really notice we disappear and of course, being Sweden with the late sun, the light would be better the later we did it. We were pretty mean with Cole, our amazing photographer from Nordica Photography, we limited the time quite a lot as we didn't want to miss anything from the party. But actually the photo shoot was the perfect moment for us to look at each other, grasp and take in all the emotions and things happening, it felt like it was a moment for only the two of us. I am so happy about our choice of photographer, of course seeing the pictures now, and especially because the whole contact with Nordica Photography felt right and natural. After the three days, it was so sad to see the photographer leave. I am truly grateful we found them and all their work!

The Photography

We tried to save where it was possible, as weddings are quite costly, but especially with the décor, we bought lots of things in Bangkok, where we live, and then everything else from charity second hand shops in Stockholm and surroundings, and of course made everything DIY as much as possible. We saved on the attire too by having them tailor made in Bangkok. We saved a lot as well on our wedding website which we did ourselves. I would just recommend not to try saving on food, drinks and the photographer!

The Budget

The décor of the barn was a huge project, everything needed to be done. The handyman from the estate made a small ramp at the entrance, put up security planks where needed, and changed floor planks. With the help of family and friends staying with us we decorated the whole barn. We had already measured and bought everything that we thought we would need. We made loads of pompons in advance, we spent a month of evenings cutting pompons! We ordered tote bags with our 'wedding logo' on them, as favours. We had printed the menus in advance, on old-style paper bags, where we put the favours.

The Decor & Details

The barn was amazing by itself, when we first saw it was filled with boats and tractors, but still what captivated us was that light coming in through the wooden panels, that was it, we were sold. Still for us it was more than just a wedding venue, for dinner and party, we wanted a place where we could hold the ceremony and where some of our closest family and friends could stay with us. Beckershof had it all, close to nature, accommodation and a great venue. Furthermore, since the beginning we knew we wanted to do most of everything ourselves, and here we had access to the barn the previous week and we could decorate freely. We really got the DIY wedding we wanted.

The Venue

Don't underestimate the importance of the person that will celebrate the ceremony. We were so lucky, we got such an amazing ceremony and all thanks to the priest. Don't let small things get to you. There are always going to be small details that won't be exactly as you planned, don't worry, it ends up being just fine. Enjoy every single moment! For us it was such an amazing moment, gathering people from all over the world, there to share your special moment, it is just once in a lifetime experience.

Advice for Other Couples

Beautiful, cool, and so romantic! I just love those table pictures, and how gorgeous are everyone's clothes? Looks like that to-do-list on Erika's hand paid off!

Be inspired by more Unique + DIY Weddings.

Thanks so much to Nordica Photography, and of course, the wonderful Erika and Romain for sharing their amazing barn wedding with us.