26 February 2013, Icehotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden, 200km north of the Arctic Circle

Australian couple Kylie and Simon got married at Icehotel, located almost as far away from Sydney as you can go. It’s quite a contrast from Australian summer to the Artic winter. In fact, the sun doesn’t rise at all for two weeks in winter but the sun shine both day and night during summer.

I’m so excited to share this wedding with you as I greatly enjoyed photographing this small and relaxed wedding. The place is fantastic, and so is this couple.

Kylie says “The venue and location were very special to us. We knew we wanted to get married overseas and we wanted to have a small wedding so we could relax and enjoy the day. In 2009 we had a great time visiting friends and travelling through northern Sweden and we had always wanted to go back in winter to visit the Icehotel. We thought the Icehotel was the ultimate setting for a winter wedding!

People travelled a long way to come to our wedding, with the bride’s father, the groom’s brother and sister in law and two friends travelling from Sydney, Australia and three friends travelling from Luleå in northern Sweden. We are so lucky that our family and friends were able to join us. We had 8 guests so it was a very small wedding. It was special that my father was able to be at the wedding to walk me down the aisle. ”

Kylie wore a pale blue tulle and silk floor length dress, she had designed herself. The skirt was created using lots of layers of different colours of blue and ivory tulle. It was the perfect colour for the Icehotel and the blue stood out against the white of the snow. “With thermals underneath, snow boots, a cape and wrap I felt surprisingly warm”, Kylie said.

Fresh flowers don’t last in the cold of the Icehotel so Kylie had an acrylic/crystal snowflake bouquet instead.

Different artists make the Icehotel each year and the artists are credited throughout the text.

Artwork credit: Icehotel Reception – Unfold by Susan Christianen & Lena Kriström

Kylie and Simon were very lucky with the weather. The week before the wedding the weather report predicted -20°C (-4F) and gale force winds. On the day it actually reached 2°C (36F), which is unusually warm for Jukkasjärvi and it was actually colder inside the Icehotel (-5°C/23F) than outside.

The ceremony was held in the Icehotel Ice Church. The Ice Church is completely made of ice and is re-built every year with a new design. This year the church is a modern cathedral style, with a high ceiling. Guests sit on ice pews covered in reindeer skins for insulation.

Artwork credit: Ice Church by Javier Opazo, Ethan Friedman & Rob Harding

The priest sang a hymn in Sami language as the bride’s father walked Kylie down the aisle. As they were leaving the church the song Warm by Swedish Sami singer Sofia Jannok was playing.

Kylie and Simon met 5 years ago when they were working at the same company. Kylie says “we soon learned that we shared the same sense of humour and love of all things silly. This is why we decided to have a reading of the children’s book I Like You by Sandol Stoddard Warburg for our ceremony because it’s about liking someone for being silly.”

Simon’s brother read the poem and Simon’s sister in law was videographer for the day.

The Icehotel is built of huge ice blocks from the Torne River. The river is naturally frozen in winter and the portraits below are taken on the river.

After the ceremony we went to the Icebar to celebrate. All the guests had drinks in ice glasses.

Artwork credit: Icebar – Unique by Sofi Ruotsalainen, Mikael “Nille” Nilsson & Viktor Tsarski

You are given gloves to wear so your hands don’t stick to the ice glass.

“After a while everyone was feeling quite cold so we moved to the warm bar before heading to dinner.”

Artwork credit: Nest by Maurizio Perron

Artwork credit: Main Hall – Navigating the Unknown by Marjolein Vonk, Marinus Vroom & Jens Thoms Ivarsson

Reception was held at the restaurant at the Icehotel

“The dinner at the Icehotel was amazing. We had our own private room and it was a lovely surprise to have an ice sculpture on the table!”

“We’re having a wedding reception back in Sydney so we can celebrate with family and friends who weren’t at the wedding. We’re having modern Scandinavian canapés and desserts and we’ll have a slideshow of photos of the wedding so our guests can experience a bit of Sweden!”

There are so many amazing ice shuits at the Icehotel. Here are a few:

Artwork credit: Blue Marine by William Bloomstrand, Andrew Winch & Alex Hutchison

Artwork credit: The Flower by Natsuki Saito & Shingo Saito

Artwork credit: Virgin In Space by Monica Popescu & Petros Dermatas

Artwork credit: Beam Me Up by Karl-Johan Ekeroth & Christian Strömqvist

Simon and Kylie had booked the Dragon Residence for their wedding night.
Artwork credit – Dragon Residence by Bayarsaikhah Bazarsad

Bride’s Dress: Monique Martinez-Sandoval, (Ouma)
Bride’s Cape: Cape & Crown Creations
Bride’s Shrug: Wrapor
Bride’s Jewellery: Georg Jensen
Groom’s Suit: Montaggio
Groom’s Shoes: Julius Marlow
Wedding rings: Hardy Brothers (bride), father’s wedding ring (groom)
Hair stylist and makeup artist: Nina Alariesto, Salong Vinter Kiruna
Flowers: Acrylic snowflake bouquet, Bridal Bouquets by Ky
Stationery & paper goods: Cleartouch
Ceremony Venue- Ice Church, Icehotel
Reception Venue- Icehotel Restaurant
Wedding planner: Eva Lundquist, Icehotel
Ceremony Music – Warm by Sofia Jannok

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