- Travel journal -

One of the biggest and wildest opportunities we stumbled on was being invited to photograph a sweet couple’s intimate wedding in SWEDEN. Colin and I hadn’t given Sweden too much thought before this. Our bucket-list destinations were filled with places like Italy, France, a UK tour, Germany…and many other “hot spots”. But when we met M & J in Los Angeles to shoot their engagement photos while they were visiting, we fell in love with them and could not wait to be a part of their wedding in Stockholm Sweden.

Colin and I aren’t the best planners and live our best lives on spontaneity. So we talked about mapping out every location we could fit into our Sweden trip. But that didn’t feel right to us. We decided that we’d wait until we met the locals in Stockholm and get their opinions on where we should go and what we should see. And this trip is hands down one of our best yet! We definitely credit that to the way we went about this whole trip. Our awesome Airbnb hosts gave us a list of Sweden’s best destinations and told us where all the locals summer and go for their own little vacays. This is one of those places, and just one of our stops on our tour de Sweden.

We were told Varberg is known as Sweden’s surf town. So obviously we had to check it out since we’re beach people and Colin lives on his surfboard as much as possible. We rode into town on the train and had our packs on our back. It was nearly dark the first night when we arrived. Since we’d been traveling pretty light, and fairly cheap, we felt like we were splurging when we booked a hotel in the city center.

The weather was a bit harsher than our 80 degree climate back home, and while we were out biking around this town in jackets, we met some surfers who were just heading into the water. Full body suits, hats and booties were necessary, and I was cold just watching them. But it was rad to see how they do it in Sweden and chat with the nice dude we met along the road.

As we were riding around this little town, we stumbled on the cutest little restaurant by the water. Sadly, it was closed, but all I could imagine was how perfect a venue this place would make for a wedding reception or event!

After a few hours outside soaking up the sun and wind, we stopped at a beautiful hotel along the water to thaw out with some hot chocolate. And I once again fell in love with the interiors and clean aesthetic of the Swede’s.

An old fort and stood on the hill in front of the town of Varberg. A few original homes still stood leading up to the stone tower, and it was so cool to walk the old streets and look out of the windows in the fort. Everything about this place was so picturesque.

Back in town, we ate at a little local cafe. I don’t usually photograph our meals, but I’m so glad I did on this trip because the food was epic! Each little diner or cafe felt like the best meal yet. And usually it wasn’t super fancy, but the flavors were always on point.

We loved Varberg and always talk of when we’ll be able to make it back to actually surf in this cool town. But for this trip, our next stop was Copenhagen. Keep on browsing to see Sweden through our eyes!