We had a goal: we wanted to have a fun relaxing party with friends and family in a beautiful setting with lots of nice food and drinks. We really tried to not get stressed out about stupid details that many weddings often become tangled up in: what will the bridesmaids wear, which colour scheme shall we have, which band shall play, which car shall drive us from the ceremony?...Stuff that!! Simple is good. We tried to focus on the things that meant a lot to us..like food and nice drinks. In Sweden, you have to order all booze through a state-run monopoly called Systembolaget. Their wine and beer selection was pretty good, but it was a challenge to find drinks that we were able to try out in NZ first as well. We have bought numerous kinds of beer and bottles of wines to find a good mix. Unfortunately, Charlie had to give up his dream of having Sheffield brewed hand-pull beer.
It was a very busy week leading up to our departure from NZ. I remember Charlie not being able to sleep one night as he had too many things to do. That is very rare for a guy who usually falls asleep before his head has hit the pillow.
We had a lovely few days in Oxford first with Charlie’s family. Charlie's dad, John, had his big birthday (21 again) and we had a chance to meet all their closest friends.
The week leading up to the BIG day
I departed to Sweden (to get ready for the big party the following weekend) and Charlie visited his friend Nick, who sadly couldn’t make it to our wedding with his family. He has been fighting cancer for a while and unfortunately wasn't well enough to be able to make the big trip. Charlie at least had a chance to see him, have some good laughs and a pint or two. At the same time I was in Uppsala for the Swedish Hen’s do that Åsa had organised for that evening. It involved nice food in great company with friends who I had not seen for many years, followed by some hilarious photo shooting (photos might be published at some stage in return of big $$$).
Picture above: Torsten, Me, Sara, Per-Oskar, Asa and Kerstin with Nina behind the camera.I had 5 days in my hometown Örnsköldsvik before the wedding and these days were pretty hectic. Nina had kindly designed wedding programmes that needed printing, cutting and tying. I got everyone involved; Åsa and her dad and my poor parents. Charlie arrived on the Wednesday evening before the wedding weekend and we had a quick but meeting with our wedding celebrant. We managed to complete two tasks during the following day: we sorted out the papers to be able to legally get married (just a tiny detail) and we picked up all the booze from Systembolaget.
In Sweden you have to buy all alcoholic beverages stronger than 3.8% alcohol from the state-run monopoly called Systembolaget. It wasn't not as expensive as we first feared, but it took ages to sort out and pick up. It was a challenge to get all the booze to fit in the car, but with dad's magic powers, it all made it to the island.
The weather forecast for the wedding day looked bad throughout the week, but when we got to the Friday, it turned out to great sunny day and it was meant to stay nice til after the wedding! I didn't need to do my sun dance in the end.The Wedding Weekend
I sometimes find it hard to comprehend what is actually happening in life. It felt surreal to talk about this ONE day and plan this special day for so long, when it finally came. For me, reality was fully sinking in when we finally met most of our guests at the ferry. The wedding weekend had come at last! I almost missed the boat together with Phil since I felt obliged to help him read the Swedish instructions of how to pay the parking ticket. The ferry crew didn't look impressed when we made the departure a few minutes late (Swedes are famous for being punctual..kiwis like Phil are not).
Clare and I (with Aaron's back side on the left)The ferry journey out to the island was stunning and the mingling fest started off in a beautiful setting. The wedding island is located along the High Coast of Sweden, which is a World Heritage Site. I have spent many many weekends and summers sailing with my family around these islands.
It was full on when we arrived to the island. We managed to revamp the wedding venue into a party venue. Lots of friends helped out which made it all feel pretty painless. 
Nina and Trish (Charlie's sister in law) and little Rosie helped out with all the table decorations. We had picked lots of blue berries in the forest to go with the roses (and to provide a little table snack).
There was a "Gistvall" outside the wedding venue that showed how fish nets were hung up to dry in the old days. Remember that this is officially the fermented herring capital of the world. The big question was...would we offer some of this delicacy during dinner?
We had a big gathering at the island pub the night before the wedding. Almost everyone had arrived at this point and it was great to see so many familiar faces from NZ, Sweden, Germany, Finland, England and Scotland. Since Charlie didn't give his friends the opportunity to embarrass him at a Stag night, his English crowd was therefore pretty determined to get him drunk the night before the wedding. I managed to drag him away when they started feeding him with top shelf selections (stark sprit) and things could have been going very nasty.
The Wedding Day
We somehow had a vision that we would have a very relaxing day with a long run in the company of a big groups of friends followed by a swim in the sunshine, a nice lunch, etc..
In reality it was a bit of a mad rush...getting ice, chilling booze, helping to prepare some of the food, fixing up the last things in the venue, getting my hair done (My friend wanted 3 hrs to fix it..I only gave her 1.5hrs). I think my mum knew that there was a bit more to do than I was hoping for, since when I told her in the morning that we were planning to go for a run, her jaw dropped and a heart attack was close. I thought my mum was stressing out too much and I ordered her to have a nap. My dad thought that was an impossible request:- She would only lie down if I whacked her in the head with something!
We never went for that run, but we managed to escape for a 2 minute dip in the sea in front of the hotel. Five minutes later, Jenny came to fix my hair.
Things were working out thanks to everyone so kindly helping out. Rune and Ingrid, old family friends had taken on the task of sorting out the food and booze, which we were ever thankful for. My god mother, Gunnevi, was happy (?) to take the lead in the kitchen for a big part of the day.
Time flew that day and Charlie got shuttled by his mate Mark on a scooter to make it to the ferry terminal to meet our wedding celebrant, Elvy. As I walked to the wedding venue along the main gravel road, I saw a very handsome man sticking out from the crowd that was approaching me from the direction of the ferry terminal. I must say that this was almost the most special moment of the whole day. I saw Charlie and he saw me for the first time in my wedding dress! It was very exciting.
We all made our way up to Lotsberget, which we had chosen to have the wedding ceremony. This is the hills from where they guided in ships into the harbour back in the day. All of the 60+ guests made it up all the steps in the heat. We had a pretty social and slow pace that even my beer bellied God-father, Mati, could cope with.
My bother played the opening song: Depeche Mode's "Somebody". It was so beautiful! Our wedding celebrant, Elvy, was also utterly brilliant. She is an old family friend and neighbour, who has known me since I was two years old. She is a great speaker, that is partly why she has been the mayor of my hometown for 10+ years. I was a bit nervous about how it work out with the whole English-Swedish language thing. Elvy was very skilled at switching between the languages.
When it was time for the rings, we had Charlie's niece (Rosie) and nephew (Wilf) delivering these. The terrain was slightly challenging for their little feet and Wilf was very close to losing my ring down the hill as he tripped. Fortunately, Charlie's brother, Gavin, had taught his son prior to the ceremony that whatever happened he had to hold onto the ring as if it was "his last M&M" (en slags godis). I love Gavin's smile on this picture revealing that 'shit, that was close!'
Åsa and Gavin were the first ones to congratulate us as they were our wedding witnesses.
..and then it was done.. Mr and Mrs Bartlett: 
Group photo with Ulvo harbour in the background
After lots of hugging and kisses we all made our way back down the hill to the reception where we had a couple of hours of mingling, drinking and game time.
Charlie's oldest friend Chris:
Kiwi friends, Nick and Clare, visited Sweden for the first time from London, where they are currently living. Jana and Julian had hitchedhiked their way up north from Germany (and discovered that Swedes don't 'get' hitchhiking, as they only got picked up my Dutch tourists in Sweden).
My old NZ friend (and flat mate) Phil made it to Ulvon with Nina (and the cute boys):
We gave our dear mothers a token gift for being so supportive and for not getting heart attacks during the organisational phase of the wedding.
My friend Erika and I sang "Nu gronskar det" and raised our glasses of NZ bubblie:
Charlie's old flatmate, Chris, magically made it to the wedding after an epic 28 hr journey from England. He deserved a few drinks for that:
A happy day for Kris and John too..their little son had got married:
Arne showed how to play the game Molli/Molki which is a Finnish game:
Dinner time with more tasty drinks. Mark seems to be enjoying himself as much as we were:
First dance to the Flight of the Conchords' song: The most beautiful girl 
Scary things happened as the clock passed midnight. Sara, Torsten and Åsa from the left:
Charlie's friends must have some weird tradition of dancing around with a beer box on their heads. I never heard the full story and don't know if I want to either.
The party went on til 3 am and I didn't want it too stop. We had such a fantastic time! The wedding turned out to the most amazing day in my life that I will never forget. We both had so much fun. Of course we didn't feel like we had enough time to speak to everyone, but that is unavoidable. As most guests arrived on the Friday and left on the Sunday, we had a few more opportunities for good conversations compared to a simple party-in-one-night-deal. All our friends and family made the wedding into such a unforgettable day. Ulvon turned out to be a perfect spot for us. I think everyone really enjoyed seeing this little "pearl of the High Coast". 
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