Will you marry “moi” ?

With the Swedish Ice Hotel wedding rapidly approaching (only 1 week until the big day!)…the wedding jitters are starting to set in. In this, our fourth interview with Caroline Berthe, our very own senior wedding coordinator, we learn more about the fun stuff, including Caroline’s wedding dress, her hair and make-up, table decorations, gift bags and wedding photographer…

CVW Blog: Tell us EVERTHING about your wedding dress!

Like all brides2B, I visited numerous wedding dress boutiques with my girlfriends and had fun trying on lots of dresses. This helped me to find the style that suited me, the material I liked, the shape and cut that was most flattering for me and of course the best color to suit my olive complexion.

In the end (as I knew I would), I decided to have my wedding dress designed for me by a great Parisian designer called Olivier Petigny http://www.olivierpetigny.com/. My last fitting was on February 13 and the result is breathtaking! A few of my former brides have had their dress made by him. He is great for matching your dream to your budget (within reason of course).

The dress will be off white, all lace, not too puffy and without a long trail as I didn’t want to have to deal with that in the snow in Sweden. For the Swedish ceremony, I will be wearing a coat that the designer is also designing for me. Something quite warm made out of silver silk. I will also have long, full length, silk gloves. A little “diamond” belt will finish it all off.

I will be wearing the same dress for the summer Pyrenees wedding, but without the coat of course and the diamond belt. Instead the designer offered to store my dress until July (that is very practical) and also customize it to fit the Catalan/Spanish theme we will be having in the south of France. A colorful large belt will be added to the dress in the colors of red, fuchsia pink and orange, with little beads of color.

I’m looking to tone down the dress for the summer wedding as I have asked guests to not come in a formal suit and tie for the wedding. The wedding and banquet will be taking place outdoors, so it will get hot and I don’t want to feel uncomfortable.

CVW Blog: Will you be using a local hair and make-up artist for your Sweden wedding?

I couldn’t find a hairdresser and make-up artist on-site in Kiruna, so I asked my favorite hair and make-up artists here in Paris to teach me how to do my own make-up (I have been practicing for a few months and the result is quite impressive, even if I do say so myself). My hair stylist is preparing a hair piece using real hair to match the color of mine. This means that on the day of the wedding I will simply put my own hair in a ponytail and attach the hair piece to the back of my head. Simple yet beautiful! I think it will look as if I have a real hairstyle in the end and is probably the best solution in my case as I couldn’t find anyone to help me on-site. My Maid of Honor will also be helping me to get ready of course.

CVW Blog: Will a professional photographer be there to capture the highlights of your wedding in Sweden? Was the choice of photographer a difficult one to make?

We decided to invite a professional wedding photographer that I often recommend to my couples. He is also a good friend and it was important for us to have him there with us. The photographer on-site that the Ice Hotel recommended wasn’t the style we had in mind and as I do have easy access to wonderful service providers here in France I thought that it would be more fun and meaningful to have someone come along with us.

CVW Blog: Are you planning to provide any gift bags for the wedding in Sweden?

Yes! And I finally found the gift bags to put them in! It wasn’t easy here in France as it isn’t something common at all. It is more an American tradition the gift bag idea.

I have bought silver gift bags to match our color theme. I will finish them off by attaching a ribbon and a snowflake cutout onto them. Inside the bags, I will be putting some hand-made gloves made out of white fake fur for the men and a matching muff for the women.
This will be for the wedding day so we will have great pictures of everyone with their matching gloves and muffs.

I will include some florescent, light-up bracelets to wear while we are on the snow mobile trip to see the Northern Lights so we can see each other in the dark! I will also include some Nivea special snowflake cream for the cold and some heart shaped pocket hand heaters you snap to start warming and put in your pockets. I’m also planning to get some DAIM chocolates that are typically Swedish at the airport while waiting for our connecting flight to add to the gift bag.

Finally, I have planned to bring some giant sparklers for our guests to hold as we exit the ceremony, it will look fantastic on the photos! These are too big to put in the bags though so I’ll hand them out just before the ceremony.

CVW Blog: What special touches are you adding to the dinner tables?

I will choose and order the floral dinner table decorations when I arrive in Sweden. In addition to that, I will provide some of my own personal touches which will include printed menus matching the programs I have prepared, some snowflakes to sprinkle on the table cloth made out of paper and some matching ribbons to put around the napkins). I am keeping it pretty and low-key as we can’t really do much more in a restaurant where there will be other guests dining.

CVW Blog: How do you feel just one week from your big day?

I can’t wait to jump on the plane! Stress has given way to excitement. We already have our suitcases packed and I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about the trip. Everything we are about to experience, including all the activities we have planned, are as important to us as the wedding day itself. It is going to be such a fantastic experience with our close friends and family. I know the time is going to fly by. I wish I could live every moment in slow motion and engrave it all in my mind. I’m already anticipating the fact of being back home and the trip being over but having great memories and pictures to look back at in time…

With the dates and venues for the Swedish Ice Hotel wedding and informal garden party wedding in the south of France now confirmed, in our third interview with Caroline Berthe, our very own senior wedding coordinator, we delve into the more intricate details of the wedding preparations. Read on to discover the latest developments and decisions…

CVW Blog : What are the legal requirements associated with having a civil wedding in Sweden? What paperwork must be provided?

The legal requirements are quite simple actually. I’m even wondering if it isn’t simpler than actually getting legally married in France, even as a French citizen. No translations were needed for any of the documents. We had to send over to the French Consulate in Stockholm:

• our full birth certificates,
  
• copy of our passports,
  
• a document proving our address of residency like an electricity bill for example with both our names on it,
  
• a form that we downloaded from the Consulate website and that we each individually filled out
  
• a large envelope for them to return the documents to us after the ceremony
  

Before the ceremony, on the morning of the wedding, we need to go to the Registrar’s office to legalize the documents they will have prepared. The documents will, of course, be in Swedish so we will be accompanied by our Swedish wedding planner (WP) and translator.

After the wedding, the WP will take care of sending the signed certificate to the French Consulate in Stockholm. They will legalize the wedding here in France automatically. A few weeks later we will receive all French documents justifying that we are now married.

CVW Blog: How does this compare to Italy and France?

It is quite similar to the documents and procedure for foreigners to get legally married in Italy. There is just one extra step in Italy, this is especially true for non-European citizens. Couples must also go to the Embassy of their home country upon their arrival in Italy. Depending on the city where the bride and groom choose to get married, they will need to arrive 2 to 5 days before the wedding to go to the Embassy and then to the Prefeturra which is the equivalent of the Registrar’s office.

In France, foreign citizens are not allowed to get married legally except if they hold a French passport or long term residency visa. However, it is interesting to note that the Swedish and Norwegian consulates in Paris do agree to civil legally binding ceremonies to be held within the consulate/embassy here in Paris only. The interior of the Norwegian consulate is beautiful. One of my Norwegian couples got married there a few years ago. They then had their religious wedding ceremony and reception at the Romantic Royal Family Chateau!

CVW Blog: What is the progam for your Swedish wedding day?

I just spent several hours putting together the program for the wedding weekend. It will be printed on silver paper with shiny glitter decorations and a pretty ribbon securing it to one paper snowflake cutout! I will be handing these to my guests at the airport in Stockholm while we wait for our connecting flight to Kiruna where the Ice Hotel is located.

On the day of the wedding, after going to the registrar’s office in the morning, we will have breakfast with all our guests and then probably start getting ready.

Once we are ready, we will have an intimate photo session in a romantic location in the village, just Tony, me and our photographer. This is the moment we will discover each other in our wedding attire for the first time. I want it to be very private and will ask our guests not to be present.

Afterwards, the bus will come pick us up at our hotel to take us to the Ice Chapel at the Ice Hotel. The ceremony is scheduled at 4pm.

After the ceremony, we will go for a tour of the Ice Hotel and take some fun pictures in the different Ice Suites of the hotel, on the beds or the Ice Sofas and chairs. We will finish off the afternoon with an Ice Drink at the Ice Bar of course.

The bus will then take us back to Kiruna where we will have some champagne and appetizers followed by dinner in a cozy local restaurant alongside a warm, open fire.

CVW Blog: We are intrigued to know what you have chosen for your Swedish wedding menu? Does the venue provide a wedding cake?

I have tried to keep the menu as “local” as possible. There will be a reindeer mousse with a berry chutney on dark bread as a starter followed by pepper baked salmon with garlic roasted potatoes and a herb sauce.

I have chosen a typically Swedish dessert called Sapmi Laffsa. We have no idea what this is, only that it is served with an orange sorbet and vanilla cream! If you know what it is, then please drop me a line! J In any case, we prefer having an authentic Swedish dessert rather than choosing one of their “international” desserts.

After dinner, we will be going back to our hotel that has kindly offered to lend us a private room with a bar. They will be making a nice chocolate cake for us. They don’t really do the usual wedding cakes in Sweden, so we haven’t been too fussy and are just expecting it to taste really good. I have planned to bring little figurines to place on the top of the cake.

CVW Blog: What fun activities do you have lined up for your guests while in Sweden?

We will be arriving in Kiruna on Friday evening, a bit late, so we will probably all just want to go to bed.

On Saturday we haven’t planned much. I want to go to the restaurant where our wedding dinner will be held to order some flower decorations for the table and give them the table decorations I have purchased (you’ll have to wait for a later episode to discover what these are)!

On Saturday evening, we are leaving for a snowmobile tour during which we hope to see the Northern lights (those greenish lights in the sky that look so amazing). Hopefully we will see some. We will be stopping halfway for a Sami dinner in an authentic wooden cabin.

On Sunday, we have to get up early to be ready to leave for a full day of snow fun! We will learn how to make an igloo, walk around in the fresh snow with racket shoes, and most of all learn to drive a sled with the so cute Husky dogs.

Monday is the big day and we return home on Tuesday (boo hoo).

That’s all for this episode, stay tuned for the next installment when you will find out all about Caroline’s dress, her hair and make-up trials, table decorations, gift bags and wedding photographer! Don’t miss it!

Here is the second in our series of interviews with Caroline Berthe, our very own senior wedding coordinator, who is experiencing for herself the joys and deceptions of organizing her own wedding in France…or will it be in France? Read on to discover the latest twists and turns…

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