ICEHOTEL Wedding // Yining & Aloysius

ICEHOTEL wedding

An ICEHOTEL wedding has been on our wish list for many years. The legendary hotel in northern Sweden is renowned as a luxury destination built entirely from ice and snow. So when Yining and Aloysius booked us for their icy adventure, we were obviously excited.

Yining and Aloysius came first and of course were the reason this all happened. However, Fujifilm asked us if we were able to make a film for an exciting new lens for the GFX system – the new Fujinon GF 45-100mm f/4.

So we pieced together the details, made sure Yining and Aloysius were fine with the film, and a new layer to the adventure was added.

ICEHOTEL in Jukkasjärvi, Swedish Lapland

ICEHOTEL is rebuilt every winter from ice harvested from the Torne River. The hotel sits in Jukkasjärvi, a small village near Kiruna in Swedish Lapland, roughly 200 kilometres above the Arctic Circle. Each year, artists from around the world are invited to design individual suites carved entirely from ice, and the result is a building that exists only for a few months before it melts back into the river. For a wedding, the setting is unlike anything else in the world. The ceremony space is a chapel made of ice, lit by candles and natural light filtered through translucent walls. The temperature inside hovers around minus five degrees, which adds a physical intensity to the experience that guests never forget.

Outside the hotel, the Lapland landscape in winter is vast and still. The birch forests are heavy with snow, the river is frozen, and during the darkest weeks the only natural light comes from a few hours of blue twilight around midday. For an ICEHOTEL wedding photographer, the challenge is working in extreme cold while making the most of the limited but extraordinary light. The Arctic conditions shaped every aspect of how we approached this shoot, from the gear we chose to the timing of each part of the day.

Team & Gear

This is the third movie we’ve made with Fujifilm, and the second time we worked with Remi from Maru Films. The first film with him was done in Rome a few years ago.

Initially, Monika Frias was going to do the film, but due to an unfortunate ankle problem had to pull out. However, she did the final edit using Remi’s footage and we love the work they did together.

For those into gear, both the stills and the film for this were made with the GFX 100 body, which is basically the most insane camera imaginable. Using it was outrageous – it really is that good.

All the images were edited using Mastin Labs presets. We’ve only used Mastin Labs for many years now, and they compliment Fujifilm files perfectly.

Finally, Lundhags and Crud are Swedish companies who appear throughout the video. Crud makes incredibly stylish leather gloves and the last camera strap you’ll ever want to own. Lundhags the boots, jacket and pants which basically stopped some serious cold from happening while up in Kiruna.

Planning an ICEHOTEL Wedding

ICEHOTEL accepts a limited number of weddings each winter season, and the logistics require careful planning. Couples need to coordinate with the hotel’s event team well in advance, and the ceremony itself is shaped by the ice chapel’s availability and the seasonal conditions. For photographers, the cold demands batteries kept warm in inside pockets and lenses that can handle rapid temperature changes when moving between the heated areas and the ice structures. Despite the challenges, an ICEHOTEL wedding is one of the most visually and emotionally powerful events we have ever been part of. If you are considering it, get in touch and we can share what we have learned from this experience. For more Arctic and Scandinavian wedding photography, see our Lofoten elopement, South Iceland elopement, Hótel Búðir wedding, and Dalarna wedding.