Every year in December Jessica and Devin travel to a new spot in the world to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Instead of giving gifts to each other, they book a local photographer, pick a new theme and take their wedding anniversary photos. This time they traveled from USA to Alta in Northern Norway and captured their viking style wedding anniversary among beautiful winter scenery and under the northern lights.
New photo theme every year
It all started with their wedding in Las Vegas in December 2015. Ever since then they’ve been adventuring around for a while. Jessica and Devin document their trips and adventures in a personal blog, and it’s so fun to see how they bring their new roles to life every year!
For their 7th wedding anniversary they decided to go to Norway. But before they picked the exact place, they made sure everything would align: nice lodging, cool activities to do and a photographer who can capture their adventures. For Jessica and Devin it’s important to hire a local photographer who is there not only to capture great photos, but the one who knows the area and will be a good local guide.
Photo session theme is usually inspired by the place they’re going to. Norway and vikings go hand in hand, and this is how their viking style wedding anniversary plans were born. Typically, they wouldn’t go too crazy when planning and purchasing their props and outfits. But this time Jessica and Devin went all in! Every detail of their viking attire was so neat and authentic!
Viking style wedding anniversary
We decided to include a few locations that would give us a real nordic vibe! And of course, one of the goals was to capture some portraits under the northern lights! When you are in Northern Norway in wintertime, you just have to give it a go! Believe it or not, but we were lucky enough to both see and capture Aurora borealis during the first night! Viking couple portraits under the northern lights! How cool is that?
Since the photoshoot happened at the end of december in Alta (north of the arctic circle), it was basically the darkest time of the year. The tiny “light window” during the day is about 1-2 hours before the polar night kicks in again. Both lack of light and cold temperatures forced us to be efficient while shooting. And it was a very good idea to spread the shooting time throughout three days instead of having one long shoot within one day.
First night we spent hunting Aurora Borealis. The day after we drove to locations with a fjord view and some frozen waterfalls. We wrapped up day two at Holmen Husky where I took some portraits with huskies before the vikings went on a dogsledding tour.
The last day was fun as well! We borrowed a couple of horses and got to take some photos with them. Vikings need horses, right?! And since it was the very day of their wedding anniversary, we took some viking wedding inspired photos. Overall, this winter viking adventure was such a blast!
Timeline for viking style wedding photo session
- Day 1: ca. 20.00 – ca. 23.00 o’clock – Portrait session under the northern lights
- Day 2: ca. 11.00 – ca. 13.00 – Photos with fjord views, frozen waterfalls and huskies
- Day 3: ca.10.30 – ca. 13.30 – Photos with horses, wedding ceremony style photos and photoshoot at igloo hotel
Are you planning your own arctic adventure in Norway and want it to be captured? Contact me for more information!