35mm film and a Forest Wedding

The wilderness in Sweden isn’t hard to find and having a Forest Wedding in the Swedish countryside is no farther away than a 2 hour drive from the nation’s Capitol city.

I travelled to a beautiful but isolated part of the Swedish forest early because rain had been forecast for the day. it concerned The Winters that their forest wedding portraits might be hampered by the bad weather so we started off a little earlier than planned.

Not so long ago The Winters decided that buying a tiny house in the forest was something they desired. They purchased a lovely Swedish country house and spent a couple of years renovating it to perfection. In the typical Swedish red, the house stands on it’s own gorgeous block of land in a tiny town and seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It’s the kind of town that has barely more than a few residents and whom all know each other.

Before the rain

Heading deeper into the forest, the three of us found a secluded spot where The Winters could have their Portrait photos taken in privacy. If you were silent enough, you could hear all the birds and forest animals going about their day and the wind making the trees whisper. It’s the perfect place for a couple in love to bare their souls in front of the camera lens.

With the impending weather closing in, we headed back to the tiny town with just a few sprinkles of rain following us. It looked liked it might hold out and the guests were slowly arriving at the house in preparation for the walk to the Church.

The Ceremony

Their forest wedding took place in the town’s own Church, which is only just down the little dirt road from their house. The guests walked together to the church while The Winters signed their wedding certificate inside and talked with the Priest who was to marry them. Just after they arrived, the sky opened up and unleashed a fantastic rain storm! Rain pelted the church windows like it was trying to break in and the sound of it on the roof was like a song! It was gorgeous. Luckily for The Winters, the rain didn’t last long and the sun came out, filling the church with light, like it had just cleansed the whole place.

A do it yourself style

Everything that was put together for this forest wedding was done so by The Winters themselves. They celebrated at their own country house and decorated with bunting flags and flowers in mason jars that had been picked from the surrounding garden. A relatively private affair, only family and very close friends attended the day. The Winters chose to throw a bigger party for their larger circle of friends the following month. This made their wedding day quite intimate and unique and it was a success despite the rain. But what’s a forest without some rain, right?

I photographed The Winters’ forest wedding using both 35mm film and digital for this amazing day and what you see below is 98% film images.

Film developed and scanned by Carmencita Film Lab