Paper Day!! December 21, 2012

Wow! What a whirlwind these past two days have been! Yesterday was our "Paper Day:" the day Svein Arild and I were legally wed! We had selected December 21, 2012 because it was supposed to be the "end of the world" but we are viewing it as the beginning of our world together.

We started out our day with a hearty egg breakfast and left the house at 10am in order to make the 10:30am ferry across the fjord. I, of course, fell asleep for most of the drive but during the times I was awake I was in awe at the beauty of this country.

A mystical sunrise was peeking through the mountains.

Driving around a bend and, VOILA! A gorgeous Norwegian sunrise (10:45am).

The mountain, called Skjorta, also glowed in the sunshine.

We arrived in Førde in plenty of time - so early, in fact, that they placed us in a conference room so we could test out the internet connections for video chatting. My mom, dad and grandmother were in Branson, Missouri and my sister and her fiance were in Colorado all waiting to watch the ceremony via Google Hangouts. We were so thrilled they were willing to wake up early just to join us! The connections worked and I was chatting with them when Svein Arild's parents and sisters arrived! Gunnhild and Kari were our witnesses for the civil ceremony. We were so honored they made the two and a half hour drive with his parents to join us as well!

Mom, Dad and Grams calling in from Branson, MO!

Pete and Lauren calling in from Colorado Springs, CO!

The ceremony was short and sweet and we all got very emotional. Here are some pictures with captions describing what the ceremony entailed.

Waiting in gorgeous carved wood chairs for the judge to enter.

She seemed nervous to perform the ceremony in English but she did a great job! Short and sweet and too the point!

Svein Arild signing the marriage certificate.

Me signing the marriage certificate.

Svein Arild giving his mom, Agnete, a bamseklem! (bear hug)

The newlyweds posing with Svein Arild's parents, Alv and Agnete!

We said goodbye to my family and packed everything up. His parents invited us to have a light lunch at a restaurant around the corner because it was going to be another two and half hour drive back. We knew we were going to be having dinner at Gunnhild's house but we all needed some nourishment. So we went to Pikant for some delicious fiskesuppe (fish soup) and they surprised us with a sparkler while we had some coffee and cookies!

Pikant, Førde

Kari, Agnete, Alv, Gunnhild, and Svein Arild awaiting some fiskesuppe!

Mmmm delicious fiskesuppe!

The whole party!

The waitress brought us a huge sparkler to celebrate!

Coffee and cookies: best way to end a meal!

Of course, I fell asleep on the way back home but we stopped to take a couple pictures of the sunset around 4:30pm.

We loved the mist in the back of the picture.

We stopped in Stryn on the way to Gunnhild's to pick up some orange juice and Mozell (my favorite sparkling apple juice) for the party. I also grabbed some white roses for the hosts to thank them for throwing us a dinner. Well, I had no idea just what they had in store for us!

As I will be referring to GOBU a lot from now on I'll explain what it means. GOBU stands for Gunnhild Ottar B U because Gunnhild B. and Ottar U. are married. The B's name most of their homes. For example: Svein Arild and my home is called Nylendene which means "the new land." 

Okay, so when we walked into GOBU I, first, saw a lovely table setting and when I looked up I saw an entire room full of Bergsets! I knew some people were going to be there but I had no idea just how many! Immediately I was overcome with emotion and *then* dear Miriam came from the kitchen playing a traditional wedding song on her violin! Yep, here come the waterworks! I was crying and smiling and just overwhelmed with the love in the room! Part of me was crying because I wished my own family could be there as well. I knew they were there in spirit.

The lovely table setting!

Gunnhild and Agnete bought us this beautiful moss heart with two red roses! It will dry to be a nice memento of our day!

The dinner of roasted deer meat, kjøtkaker (meatballs), hjortekaker (deer meatballs), carrots, brussels sprouts, selleristapper (mashed celery root), and two gravies was delicious!! All of the dinner was prepared by various family members and, I must say, Ane's selleristapper is to die for! Not that the rest wasn't amazing too!

GOBU always looks beautiful for family gatherings! And they make it seem so effortless!

My wonderful in-laws relaxing before enjoying some cake and coffee.

Sister-in-laws Gunnhild and Åse chat.

After dinner but before dessert, I pulled out my computer again to call my dad and sister because they wanted to participate in the dinner as well. Unfortunately Mom was at work. But we were able to talk to them shortly and they got to see us open our first wedding gifts! Once again, I cried upon opening the first gift: a "kjøkkenmaskin" (kitchen machine)! It is a mixer and WOAH IS IT A MIXER!

They don't lie when they call it a major machine! And the hurricane glows so beautifully on our breakfast table!

Not only is it a traditional mixer but it has attachments for a meat grinder and a tempered glass blender! What an amazing gift from Gunnhild, Ottar, Kari, and Jørgen!! You have no idea how excited I was to see that we had received such an amazing gift! 

Svein Arild sporting some flare!

Oddvar and Åse surprised us with a beautiful hurricane candle holder (which we used at breakfast this morning!

And his parents gave us some summer cotton duvet covers for the bed! Everyone is just so welcoming and warm. My face hurt at the end of the night from smiling so much! 

Olai (in Ane's lap) wanted to join in the fun of opening gifts!

We were surprised, yet again, by two lovely cakes in the kitchen! One was Svein Arild's favorite "bestemor" cake which is made by his mother and the other was a marzipan covered cake with gorgeous decorations! The family requested that we cut the cake together and feed each other a bite so we obliged!

A delicious layered cake surrounded by the traditional marzipan "icing." (The only way I have ever enjoyed marzipan has been on Norwegian cakes!)

Cutting the cake! The bestemor cake is in the left of the picture.

Alv and Agnete watch on as we exchange bites of cake!

A sweet kiss for the newlyweds!

At the end, only the bit along the bottom of the decoration was eaten so they saved the cake for today (which will be the next post).

Svein Arild and I graciously said goodnight to everyone around 11pm and came home to start a fire and open the mixer to explore all its gadgets!

Trust me, I'm much happier than I look in this picture. I was exhausted but was, according to Svein Arild, "like a child on Christmas morning opening her new toys!"

It was an exhausting but exciting and wonderful day surrounded by a loving and warm family. We cannot thank the Bergset family enough for all they did for us yesterday. It was an amazing surprise and made me feel so welcomed! I missed my family a lot but I know they were there with me at heart and I can't wait to celebrate with them in April when they come to Maryland!

I hope you enjoyed reading about our day. If you have questions about the traditions or any other part of the day please feel free to ask them in the comments section below! We will answer them as best we can!

Hadet bra!