Erin & Glenn

This wedding is as stripped back and beautiful as they come. Focusing on all the love and sentiment and bringing together friends and family from all over the globe for a jaw dropping celebration at the grooms grandparents boat house on the island on Stolem, Norway. Benjamin Wheeler Photography has worked his magic to captured all the unspoilt landscapes, the emotion and the understated but fabulous decor in what I can only describe as pure perfection. If you're looking for escapism and Friday feels, then you've come to the right place.

Wedding

Erin the Bride: For our wedding we wanted something unique, simple, stylish and fun. I've never really dreamt of a white dress or church wedding and the more I looked into wedding traditions, the more I wanted something totally different. So many wedding traditions are outdated and brides tend to follow the "rules" without really thinking about the meaning. For us, this was a chance for meaningful moments, a perfect excuse for a big party, and to have our friends and family from all across the world to meet in one place.

Venue

When Glenn proposed, he already had a location in mind. The house is a 190 year old home on the small island of Stolmen in Norway. About 2 hours from Bergen (where Glenn is from). The property is managed by Glenn's grandparents as a sailing club, and Glenn has been going there for summer holidays since he was a child. We knew this would be such a beautiful location and an experience to remember for all of our guests who would travel from abroad to Norway. I am from Australia, Glenn from Norway and we live together in Hong Kong, so this really was a once in a lifetime chance to have everyone we love together in one place to celebrate.

Rings

My first step was choosing the rings. The ring Glenn proposed with was a plain gold band, the same ring that his father proposed to his mother with. Norwegian tradition was that a plain gold band was used for the engagement and reused for the wedding; the men would also wear an engagement band. I wanted something simple but unique to match with the engagement ring and eventually settled on a black diamond band from Satomi Kawakita. I love that it's irregular and imperfect. Glenn wanted something classic and smooth so we chose the gold band from Tom Wood, which also happens to be a brand from Norway.

Dress

I knew that I didn't want to wear a traditional wedding dress. To begin with, I wanted to wear trousers, then a coat, then something printed, but nothing seemed right, and the more I looked the more I felt like I should look at least a little like a bride. Eventually as I was looking back at a collection by The Row (SS15) and thinking how perfect this look would be, I Googled, and there it was, in my size, on theoutnet.com. The style was perfect for me, I felt comfortable and not overly bridal. The shoes had to be something wearable (I don't do heels) and something I would wear again. I chose a pair of black suede sandals by Gianvito Rossi (from matchesfashion.com) and kept it minimal with no accessories.

Grooms Attire

Glenn also wanted something that was more his style than a traditional suit, we went straight to Delstore, a boutique in Hong Kong selling Japanese brands and the first suit he tried on was it. A relaxed style with a beautiful linen fabric. His shoes were Valentino, a derby style with blue stripe sole, from Mrporter.com, again something that was more unique and could be worn again.

Photographer

Our photographer was Benjamin Wheeler, a recommendation from a friend that turned out to be perfect for us, he really has a great eye for detail and we loved his less formal approach. The photos are so beautiful and something we will cherish forever. I would highly recommend to not skimp on your photographer, I always joked from the beginning that no matter what happened with the planning, Ben would be able to make anything look good. Glenn's uncle, a filmmaker, filmed the ceremony on a super 8 camera, we have yet to develop the film, so something to look forward to!

Wedding Party

We didn't have bridesmaids or groomsmen, it just wasn't something we really considered, we had our two best friends as "best men" who passed us our rings, signed the formal documents and just naturally helped with the preparations and gave amazing speeches.

Ceremony

For the ceremony we read our own vowes and exchanged rings. I said, "I do" at the wrong time… It was casual and relaxed. We got ready together and walked together to the ceremony, we have been together ever since the first day we met, and so for us this felt like a natural choice.

Catering

For food we had to go all DIY, due to the location and lack of nice catering options everything was planned and executed by family and friends. Pre-ceremony we served charcuterie boards, and dinner was a help-yourself selection of salads, with Lamb or Salmon (of course!). Our friend Sturle (little brother of Glenn's best man) was our savior to cook up a feast for 70 (with the help of friends) in a tiny kitchen and outside grill. For dessert we asked family & friends to bring along different cakes and we also had a coffee and chocolate made especially for us from Glenn's uncles café in Bergen.

Decor

All of the flowers, décor and styling was planned myself, I had to keep it simple due to the location and lack of suppliers in the area, we hired as much as possible and bought in the finishing touches. We didn't want to be too wasteful as we live in Hong Kong so couldn't keep much afterwards, it was a lot of work but the result was simple and clean. Our invitations were from Deliver Studio and place cards were beautifully handmade by the amazing Extraction in Hong Kong.

Entertainment

We ended the night with a bang, fireworks to get the party started and our friend @robothenrik as DJ into the early hours. No traditional wedding music here, we danced into the morning to soul/funk/house/disco tunes, drinking Hendricks and a midnight dim-sum snack prepared by our friends.

Day After

The day after we woke early with a lot of DIY cleaning to be done, a quick swim for those who were brave enough and a Norweigan brunch in the sunshine before heading back into Bergen to farewell our guests with a causal drink.