Together with their families

Sofie AasdalMarkus Nyholm

For years we have chased the northern lights across winter skies. This winter, we get married under them — and you are invited north to watch the sky with us.

Two travellers

Sofie Aasdal

Bride

A marine biologist who reads the sea like a forecast, and has never once packed light enough for her own standards.

Markus Nyholm

Groom

An astrophotographer who owns more tripods than chairs, and still calls every clear night a coincidence worth celebrating.

Chasing the light

Some people fall in love over dinner. We fell in love at minus eighteen, on a frozen lake, waiting for a sky that refused to perform — until it did. We have been chasing that light ever since, and now the chase becomes a marriage.

The night the sky caught fire

Two strangers on the same aurora tour, sharing the last working thermos on the shore of a frozen lake. The guide apologized for the clouds. Then the clouds broke, the sky went green, and neither of us remembers the drive back.

One knee in the snow

He insisted the forecast was terrible and the hilltop pointless. She went anyway, mostly out of spite. He was already kneeling when the lights came out, which he claims was timing and she claims was luck.

Until the sky dances

4 days 07:50:40 to go

The night itself

Vows under the polar sky

The Arctic Cathedral

Hans Nilsens veg 41, Tromsø, Norway

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Dress code Dark winter formal, warm layers underneath

The cathedral lights its glass mosaic at dusk, and the polar night does the rest. Please be seated by half past three — the light show outside waits for no one, but the ceremony will.

Dinner and the aurora watch

Ersfjordbotn Fjord Lodge

Ersfjordvegen 55, Kvaløya, Norway

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Dress code Dark winter formal, boots you trust on snow

A long dinner by the fjord, then out onto the terrace whenever the sky calls. Blankets, fire pits, and hot chocolate stand ready; the aurora forecast is on the lodge board, updated by Markus hourly and argued about freely.

Coming north with us

Ingrid Aasdal

Maid of honor

Sofie

Sister, chief aurora forecaster, and the reason anyone in this family owns proper mittens.

Aleksander Nyholm

Best man

Markus

Brother, driver of the support van, and keeper of the very large thermos — a hereditary role.

Priya Raman

Witness

Family

The friend who taught the couple to read a Kp index, and has never let them forget it.

Nights we kept

Curtains of green and violet aurora over a still fjord, with a small red cabin on the shore
The fjord on a good night, which is most nights we bother to check
A couple walking arm in arm down a snowy path at night, lit by a brass lantern
Walking out after dinner, one lantern between us
A small timber cabin with warm lit windows deep in snow beneath the northern lights
Where the honeymoon begins, if the sky cooperates
A couple wrapped in hides on a dog sled crossing a frozen plain under the aurora
Six huskies, two passengers, no regrets
Two wedding rings resting on sparkling snow, lit green and violet by the aurora
Two bands, photographed at minus twelve for no sensible reason
A winter bouquet of white flowers and pine held against a starry night sky
White ranunculus and pine, held up to the sky it matches

Field notes

Will we actually see the northern lights?

Nobody can promise the sky, and anyone who does is selling something. What we can promise: a dark fjord, a clear-horizon terrace, fire pits, and a groom who will absolutely wake the whole lodge if the Kp index spikes.

How cold will it be?

Properly cold — expect minus five to minus fifteen after dark. Wear the warm layers under the formal wear, and choose boots over heels. The lodge keeps blankets and hot drinks on the terrace all evening.

Is it really dark all day?

Almost. In late winter Tromsø gets a few hours of blue twilight around midday — enough for a fjord walk before the ceremony, and dark enough for stars by four.

Scandic Ishavshotel, Tromsø

A block of rooms is held under Aasdal and Nyholm, on the harbor ten minutes from the cathedral. Book before the winter season fills it.

More information

Shuttle to the fjord lodge

A coach leaves the hotel at six in the evening and returns after the last dance. The road to Kvaløya is beautiful and icy, so please let the driver handle it.

The honeymoon fund

We are spending our first married week in a glass-roofed cabin in Finnish Lapland, hoping the sky performs. If you would like to give something, a night of aurora watching is the only gift on our list.

View The honeymoon fund

Write back under the same sky

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