A little more than a week ago, dear husband and I finally held our Swedish wedding party. It was a party held for the Sjöberg clan and husband's closest friends. It would have been wonderful to have my family and friends there but for one reason or another they couldn't make it so one can say it was a purely white party except for the lone Asian who happened to be the VIP. Yay! hee hee...
We decided to make it into a garden party held in the in laws vast backyard so that people could use thier vast front yard as a parking lot. That just shows you how big the area surrounding the modest country house is. Anyway, we managed to secure a large BBQ pit, a tent in case of rain, a young uncle who would serve as the enterainment of the day and most importantly, a chef who also happened to be the husband's 2nd cousin. One can say it was a truly family affair.
The Tent
We borrowed a pretty blue tent that really made the party look something special and of cos with my wonderful decorating skills, we made the inside of the tent just as special looking. Surprisingly, the tent managed to fit almost 40 people in it. Didn't look that big when we were building it up. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us setting up the tent since I was too busy trying to be helpful. But it was funny setting it up with 2 halfnaked white men (father in law and grandfather in law) who occasionally scream and shout for no apparent reason except cos they think it's funy.
View of the tent from above. That's my sister in law right in the middle looking like she's ready to join fight club. Can you imagie how big the back yard is? This is just part of it!
The inside of the tent tastefully decorated by paper tablecloth, plastic tablerunner (which is actually platic covers for books but necessity is the mother of all inventions right?) and wildflowers that I picked the day before from the nearby woods.
What I really like about the tent is that there are windows on both sides of the tent. Even though they are 'drawn' in and not really windows that one can open and shut, it adds a touch of elegance and light into the tent. All in all it all looked very garden party and very summery which I loved.
We had grilled beef, chicken, crayfish, prawns, asparagus, mozarella and other vegetables. And just for the kids, we had burgers and hotdogs.
This was what I called Jimmy's office for the day. Look at all the food just waiting to be grilled. One actually goes to Jimmy to let him know what you wanted and he would start grilling it for you then. Food was sooo excellent!! I'm still dreaming of it sometimes.
The father in law was the self appointed bartender of the day. He made sure that nobody went thirsty. Even though in our invites we had stated that we would not be serving alcohol, we made it into a BYOB party, bring your own beer which people did! And so the love was shared by those who brought their own spirits and dad in law had beer so people stll got drunk at our party. Just the way the Swedes do it!
Dad in law may look innocent here serving just soft drinks but right next to him was a beer keg that he refilled 3 times which meant that 15 litres of beer was served that day. Very very little for a Swedish party.
The only people who actually danced at our wedding party. My sister in law, Jessica and her 2nd son, Isak managed a twirl around the tent entrance. Jessica says that she's gotten the boys side of the Sjöberg clan now it's our turn to produce the girls for the family.
I just wanted to show off the kids that came since they were so cute. If you notice, there were no girls because it appears that everyone close to Mathias' heart have produced nothing but sons. So I guess it is up to us to produce the girls. Yeah right...
The Wonderful people who helped make it into a Success.
A huge thank you must be said to Jimmy, our wonderful chef and grillmaster for the day without whom the party would not have been as successful as it was.
I still cannot rave enough about just how good the
food was. And how nice Jimmy was throughout the whole thing and especially his great philosophy of no one shal go home hungry cos not a singe guest left dissatisfied. How can they with over 10kg of potatoes, salad, animals and grilled vegetables?
Next in line is our entertainment man, Jonny.
He's around the same age as Mathias but he is really my father in law's cousin. He had his own little corner in the tent set up to the nines with speakers, mics, guitar and mixer. And even though he started the day singing, it ended with many others, drunk and ridiculously happy, joining him in song and dance.
And where would we be without my in laws? Thanks to them, we had our event venue, a wonderful site out in the countryside. And with their help we managed to set up the tent pretty quick, not to mention all the before and after party help with set up and clean up.
I must say that I am lucky that my in laws are really nice and geerally unassuming people. They don't have preconceived ideas of the roles that a husband and a wife plays and even if they do, they don't pressure or even expect us to be ike that. They just accept us the way we are and for that I am really glad. Lady next to my father in law is his mum and lady next to tiny mum in law is his sister. So now you finally meet the members of my new family, the Sjöberg clan.
*If you notice, there is not a single picture of me during the party. Reason is that dear husband is very very bad at remembering to take pictures. So yup, he FORGOT to take pictures of me during the wedding party...grumble grumble....*
What I really like about the tent is that there are windows on both sides of the tent. Even though they are 'drawn' in and not really windows that one can open and shut, it adds a touch of elegance and light into the tent. All in all it all looked very garden party and very summery which I loved.The Food
Most of the food we served would be grilled so our dear chef, Jimmy (who really is an executive chef at some high end restaurant in Örebro, the big town nearby) made a lot of different sauces including hummus and salsa. He then made potato salad, gratinated potatoes which we sooooo good and basically made sure everyone was well fed. Even till today, we still get calls from our guests who rave about how good the food was. Thank you Jimmy!!
Our buffet table that was absolutely filled and it didn't even include the barbecued food yet. The famous gratinated potato is at the foreground of the above picture and it is famous cos it is Jimmy's signature dish. It was also the signature dish of a known high end restaurant that Jimmy had worked in before and was very popular and sought after. So I guess one can say that we had restaurant food at our modest little party.
Most of the food we served would be grilled so our dear chef, Jimmy (who really is an executive chef at some high end restaurant in Örebro, the big town nearby) made a lot of different sauces including hummus and salsa. He then made potato salad, gratinated potatoes which we sooooo good and basically made sure everyone was well fed. Even till today, we still get calls from our guests who rave about how good the food was. Thank you Jimmy!!
Our buffet table that was absolutely filled and it didn't even include the barbecued food yet. The famous gratinated potato is at the foreground of the above picture and it is famous cos it is Jimmy's signature dish. It was also the signature dish of a known high end restaurant that Jimmy had worked in before and was very popular and sought after. So I guess one can say that we had restaurant food at our modest little party.
We had grilled beef, chicken, crayfish, prawns, asparagus, mozarella and other vegetables. And just for the kids, we had burgers and hotdogs.
This was what I called Jimmy's office for the day. Look at all the food just waiting to be grilled. One actually goes to Jimmy to let him know what you wanted and he would start grilling it for you then. Food was sooo excellent!! I'm still dreaming of it sometimes.
The father in law was the self appointed bartender of the day. He made sure that nobody went thirsty. Even though in our invites we had stated that we would not be serving alcohol, we made it into a BYOB party, bring your own beer which people did! And so the love was shared by those who brought their own spirits and dad in law had beer so people stll got drunk at our party. Just the way the Swedes do it!
Dad in law may look innocent here serving just soft drinks but right next to him was a beer keg that he refilled 3 times which meant that 15 litres of beer was served that day. Very very little for a Swedish party.The Guests
I knew and had met most of the guests from our engagement party some 2 years ago but it was fun to see them again after so long and especially to see the kids who have grown up since.
Here stand 2 lovely boys, Noel my nephew in law (the dark haired one) and Eskil, one of Mathias' best friend's sons. The last time I saw Eskil, he was only 2 and just as shy. But oh so smart that boy!! I guess that happens when one's dad is a genius.
And this is Leon Georg Viking Gullberg...the very small cute boy with a very big bombastic name. But such a good natured baby, smiling and laughing all the time. And soooo cute! Look at the little pug nose.
I knew and had met most of the guests from our engagement party some 2 years ago but it was fun to see them again after so long and especially to see the kids who have grown up since.
Here stand 2 lovely boys, Noel my nephew in law (the dark haired one) and Eskil, one of Mathias' best friend's sons. The last time I saw Eskil, he was only 2 and just as shy. But oh so smart that boy!! I guess that happens when one's dad is a genius.
And this is Leon Georg Viking Gullberg...the very small cute boy with a very big bombastic name. But such a good natured baby, smiling and laughing all the time. And soooo cute! Look at the little pug nose.
The only people who actually danced at our wedding party. My sister in law, Jessica and her 2nd son, Isak managed a twirl around the tent entrance. Jessica says that she's gotten the boys side of the Sjöberg clan now it's our turn to produce the girls for the family.
I just wanted to show off the kids that came since they were so cute. If you notice, there were no girls because it appears that everyone close to Mathias' heart have produced nothing but sons. So I guess it is up to us to produce the girls. Yeah right...
The Wonderful people who helped make it into a Success.
A huge thank you must be said to Jimmy, our wonderful chef and grillmaster for the day without whom the party would not have been as successful as it was.
I still cannot rave enough about just how good the
food was. And how nice Jimmy was throughout the whole thing and especially his great philosophy of no one shal go home hungry cos not a singe guest left dissatisfied. How can they with over 10kg of potatoes, salad, animals and grilled vegetables?Next in line is our entertainment man, Jonny.
He's around the same age as Mathias but he is really my father in law's cousin. He had his own little corner in the tent set up to the nines with speakers, mics, guitar and mixer. And even though he started the day singing, it ended with many others, drunk and ridiculously happy, joining him in song and dance.
And where would we be without my in laws? Thanks to them, we had our event venue, a wonderful site out in the countryside. And with their help we managed to set up the tent pretty quick, not to mention all the before and after party help with set up and clean up.I must say that I am lucky that my in laws are really nice and geerally unassuming people. They don't have preconceived ideas of the roles that a husband and a wife plays and even if they do, they don't pressure or even expect us to be ike that. They just accept us the way we are and for that I am really glad. Lady next to my father in law is his mum and lady next to tiny mum in law is his sister. So now you finally meet the members of my new family, the Sjöberg clan.
*If you notice, there is not a single picture of me during the party. Reason is that dear husband is very very bad at remembering to take pictures. So yup, he FORGOT to take pictures of me during the wedding party...grumble grumble....*
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