Absolutely brilliant & personal

Sanna and Adam’s first meeting

Sanna felt a tingle run through her body when she and Adam locked eyes at a student party just over eight years ago. They’d seen each other many times before at various family gatherings and parties, but this time there was something special when their eyes met. After the party, Sanna got in touch with Adam on Facebook; they went for a coffee and, two weeks later, they were a couple.

“We spent nearly two years planning our wedding, ha ha. I took care of most of the planning – I was so interested and thought it was such fun, but we always discussed things together before making any decisions,” says Sanna. We often had wine evenings where we brainstormed and went through what still needed doing. We both wanted a traditional wedding, but we wanted it to reflect us one hundred per cent and for there to be a meaning behind every

part of the day.

What was the best thing about the wedding?

Sanna:

– Getting to experience such a wonderful and fantastic day with the person you love most in the whole world, and having your whole family and all your friends there too. It’s such a privilege! All the speeches were absolutely brilliant, our mums sang a song together… it was magic!

Adam:

– Getting to share that day with the person you love is absolutely fantastic, unbeatable. The church was beautiful and lovely in its own way, whilst the dinner and the evening’s entertainment were absolutely brilliant fun! But I’d have to say the dinner was the ‘best’ part.

Tell us about something special about your wedding

– As I (Sanna) am vegan, we decided to have a completely vegan wedding. Having said that, we still wanted the food and wines to be of a high standard. Hällsnäs, where we held our wedding reception, sorted this out brilliantly and we’re really grateful for that. Some guests said the cake was so delicious that it simply couldn’t be vegan. But it was!

What are your wedding tips?

Sanna:

– Dare to be personal and incorporate as much of yourselves as you can and want into your wedding. For high-achievers (like myself), I’d advise ‘consuming’ inspiration in a sensible way. There’s an insane amount of inspiration out there these days, which is brilliant, but do consume it in moderation. I feel like I looked at an enormous number of ‘perfect’ wedding photos where the budget was surely several million. This made me feel stressed about everything we couldn’t afford, rather than seeing how much we could actually afford. We had quite a large budget, but that didn’t really matter to me – I still felt that stress. That’s why I want to emphasise this: keep coming back to your love, the core reason why you want to get married, and what’s important to you specifically on your big day!

Adam:

– Don’t stress over the little things. It’s been a good counterbalance to my wife’s fear that it wouldn’t turn out as well as we’d imagined. Make sure you turn the planning days into something cosy and fun. Finally, film your wedding if you can. It’s absolutely brilliant to have all those emotions captured on film!

Where can you find tips and advice?

– You can find tips and advice in lots of different places. Wedding magazines, Instagram and Pinterest, to name a few. We enjoyed talking to people close to us who’d recently got married and asking for tips, which was really helpful. We also had a meeting with a wedding planner (we also had a wedding day coordinator from the same company) and got lots of great tips from both of them.

How can you use social media and new technology at your wedding?

– In many different ways, no doubt. We chose to set up a wedding website containing all the essential information, where guests could RSVP. It was handy as guests could tick any food allergies and indicate whether they required transport between the ceremony and the reception venue, etc. We also found our photographer and videographer on social media. Filming your wedding is, in itself, a ‘new technology’, or at least a new phenomenon.

Sanna & Adam’s fully vegan wedding menu with vegan wines

Sanna and Adam are connoisseurs and wanted high-quality food. As Sanna has been vegan for five years, they decided to go for a delicious plant-based wedding menu. To their great delight, Hällsnäs was keen to take on this vegan challenge. They put together the menu and selected vegan wines to complement the food. And it was a huge success – everyone thought the food was absolutely fantastic! Below is a description of all the food and drink they served throughout the day. Let yourself be inspired!

Reception

Cake and sparkling wine were served during the pre-dinner drinks. The cake consisted of a raspberry and passion fruit mousse on an almond base with a thin chocolate coating.

Dinner

White asparagus baked with elderflower, served with deep-fried courgette flowers, crispy potatoes and a vinaigrette made from cold-pressed rapeseed oil and lemon.

Wine: Organic Chardonnay, Chardonnay, Yalumba, Australia

Cauliflower variations with broad beans, roasted rapeseed oil and summer truffle.

Wine: Mas Petit, Cabernet Sauvignon & Garnatxa, Parés Baltà, Spain

Vegan chocolate cake with salt-roasted almonds and rhubarb sorbet.

Wine: Tawny Port 10y, T. Roriz & T. Amarela et al., Quinta Do Vallado, Portugal

Snacks

Vegan pizza with various toppings. Vegan raspberry shots and vegan sweets in the evening and at night. Cow’s milk in the coffee (oh no, ha ha, says Sanna) – it was the parents who said, ‘You really ought to have that’, so it ended up being a compromise.

Wedding facts

Bride: Sanna Wickerts

Groom: Adam Wickerts

Ceremony: Gothenburg Cathedral,

Invitation cards: Elin’s Art Studio www.elinsartstudio.se

Wedding dress, bridesmaids’ and page girls’ dresses: Hjofsweden www.hjofsweden.se, Instagram: hjofsweden.

Shoes: Tiamo, purchased at Scorett in Gothenburg.

Groom’s outfit & shoes: Hired from Remanns in Gothenburg www.remanns.se

Rings & jewellery: Rings – the engagement ring and Adam’s engagement/wedding ring were purchased in Australia. Sanna’s wedding ring was bought from an American company that uses ‘lab-grown diamonds’. Sanna chose such a diamond so that she could be one thousand per cent sure it wasn’t a conflict diamond (it is, in other words, a real diamond) www.miadonna.com

Hair styling & make-up: Endorfin Hair Care, Gothenburg www.endorfinharvard.se

Flowers: Fröken Blomma, Gothenburg www.frokenblomma.se

Venue & dinner: Hällsnäs, Mölnlycke www.hallsnas.se

Wedding cake: Made by Kalle Bengtsson, who was named Pastry Chef of the Year in 2017, but the cake was included in the package price at Hällsnäs.

Music: The band Nyfiken gul www.nyfikengul.com

Wedding singers/music, ceremony: Julia Roempke (solo vocals), Johan Svanberg (guitar), Ellen Scott (violin).

Transport: Limousine to the church via Royal Limousine www.royallimo.se. Sanna’s brother-in-law’s Mustang from the church to Hällsnäs.

Wedding coordination: Fanny Staaf Events www.fannystaafevents.se

Photographer: Mii Belle Photo (Malin Richardsson) www.miibellephoto.se

Videographer: Josef Runsten www.josefrunsten.com

Honeymoon: Aruba.