In 2015, Sophia Lindekugel’s best friend, Mimi, set up a dating profile for her and made her promise she would go on seven dates before she deleted it. After six bad ones, she messaged Peter Hankla her number, told him she was deleting her profile, and that he could be in touch after she finished medical school interviews if he was interested. A few weeks later, on January 27, 2016, the two met at a coffee shop and hit it off. Sophia was surprised to find that lucky number seven wound up to be her future husband. On December 22, 2018, Peter took Sophia on a snowy walk to see the Christmas lights in their dream neighborhood of St. Paul, Minnesota, and took the opportunity to propose. “We were both so excited!” Sophia says.

They invited 88 guests to their ceremony at Historic Chapel at Lakewood and their reception at  American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on April 23, 2022. They were drawn to the chapel’s 40-foot dome and Byzantine mosaic interior. At the American Swedish Institute, Sophia and Peter appreciated the venue’s multiple spaces, which allowed them to host their cocktail hour and dinner in separate rooms; they actually rented out the museum in its entirety so guests could wander and explore. “We loved the beauty, architecture, and intimacy of both spaces,” Sophia says.

At the time, Sophia was a medical student without time for wedding planning, so she and Peter put their trust in her mom, Laura Lindekugel, and their day-of coordinator and stylist, Camryn Brook Events, to bring their big day—which was inspired by High Society starring Grace Kelly—to life. “In the end, the wedding was filled with surprises, big and small,” Sophia says. “And because my mom did the planning, we could arrive for the weekend and just enjoy.” Read on to discover all of the details of the couple’s spring-themed wedding day in photos by Molly Carr Photography.

Sophia and Peter’s invitation suite by Champagne Press featured a neutral color palette and spring-themed motifs including flowers and four bird species that mate for life. The envelopes were finished with calligraphy and a custom wax seal featuring the couple’s first initials. “Every detail was imbued with meaning, from every element of the wedding invitation and paper goods to the music to the details of the ceremony and reception,” Sophia’s mom, Laura, says. “I incorporated elements from Sophia and Peter’s backgrounds (Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, and Irish), too.”

Sophia loved Rebecca Rittenhouse’s bridal makeup in Mindy Kaling’s reboot of Four Weddings and a Funeral, so she asked her makeup artist to recreate it. “I wanted a timeless, elegant, rosy glow,” she says. She went with a classic high bun hairstyle for a timeless look and wore a scent from Chloe for her wedding-day fragrance.

Sophia found her wedding dress while shopping with her mom right away, but she kept trying on more gowns to be sure. She ultimately chose the original A-line Legends Romona Keveza, which had a strapless neckline and a sash. “When I put on the dress, I knew,” Sophia says. “I felt like the most beautiful version of myself. That silk just glowed.”

For a personal touch, she wore her maternal great-grandmother’s wedding ring and her paternal great-grandmother’s lace-trimmed handkerchief pinned to her bouquet. “I felt like they were both with me,” she says. She held a bouquet of delicate white spring blooms that were chosen for their meaning and fragrance, including lily of the valley, lilac, miniature daffodil, sweet pea, hellebore, muscari, and fritillaria. The bride also accessorized with lace Bella Belle shoes, a Lena Rom crown of hand-made porcelain flowers, and diamond earrings that were a gift from her parents after graduating medical school.

Sophia’s bridesmaids wore tulle gowns from Monique Lhuillier in winter white, paired with flower crowns of gardenia, fringed tulip, lily of the valley, lilac, sweet pea, and muscari. Her maid of honor wore a silk and tulle gown in a pale Scandinavian blue shade and held a bouquet of lilies of the valley. 

Peter wore a black suit from Suit Supply with Tiffany cufflinks engraved with birds that Sophia gave him as a wedding present.

After a long engagement, the couple knew they would want to soak in every moment of their wedding day, so they planned to have a first look. “When the day finally arrived, it had been 1,222 days since we had gotten engaged, and we both had to pinch ourselves that it was really here—and that I had kept the dress a secret,” Sophia says. “We were overjoyed.” The couple took off in a vintage Rolls Royce to head to their ceremony together.

The couple kept their ceremony décor minimal; the chapel is considered a work of art itself. “Its entire interior is covered in 10 million tiny tesserae, cut from marble, stone, and glass fused with gold and silver, all hand set by artists,” Sophia says. They added simple floral arrangements for the nave to frame the couple during the vow exchange; hand hand-painted candelabras from the 1980s also suited the space.

Sophia chose to walk down the aisle by herself as a string quartet played “The Lark Ascending” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which was a nod to her early childhood spent in England. “When Sophia was eight, she heard 'Highland Cathedral' by Michael Korb and Ulrich Roever and declared she would walk down the aisle one day to that piece,” her mom says. “She had been dreaming of it since. The piece was arranged for the occasion of Sophia and Peter’s wedding by John Burr for Celtic pipes, drums, violins, viola, cello, horn, flugelhorn, organ, and glockenspiel, and incredible musicians played each part.”

Sophia and Peter exchanged traditional vows from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. “These commitments were important to us,” Sophia says, “And we had a handfasting ceremony, during which our hands were bound together as a symbol of our commitment to each other.”

After the service, Sophia took the sash off her gown and put on a Chantilly lace overlay by Sassi Holford to create a second look for her recessional and cocktail hour. “The rose motif was meaningful, as rose is and has always been my favorite scent. I often sat in the climbing cottage roses in summer when we lived in the Cotswolds,” Sophia says.

Guests headed over to the American Swedish Institute’s Turnblad Mansion for the couple’s cocktail hour and reception, where they enjoyed trays of passed Champagne, Scandinavian canapés, and signature cocktails while wandering throughout the museum. Sophia’s drink of choice, the Springtime 75, was a twist on the classic French 75 with orange blossom liqueur, gin, and cava. Peter’s sip, called the P.S. I Love You, was a fresh lemon thyme shrub with sparkling water. They also had a coffee cart as a nod to their first date.

For the escort card display, Laura painted a desk and hutch a pale blue and the couple’s florist, Ashley Fox, filled the drawers with blooms. The desk and hutch held some escort cards, while tables beside them held others; Laura threaded silk cord and tiny silver birds onto tassels with table assignments that were designed to hang from guests’ wrists. The cards themselves were custom designed by Shasta Belle Calligraphy, and featured floral and bird motifs and the couple’s initials.

The couple's reception space was designed beneath a massive white apple blossom tree (Sophia’s dad had the idea of incorporating the symbol of the tree of life in Scandinavian lore.) Laura designed the table setup to reflect the roots of the tree with six guests per table; each station was dressed with dupioni silk and natural linen napkins. “I rented simple Scandinavian stoneware and modern glassware for each element of the libation flights,” Laura says.

Tablescapes incorporated overflowing spring centerpieces that gave off a pleasant scent and tons of taper and votive candles for ambience. Table numbers were displayed inside glass cloches on the table, as well as on linen scroll banners featuring the event's signature birds.

During cocktail hour, guests enjoyed music by Swedish fiddlers in traditional dress followed by classical music by The Four Voices string quartet; they were later guided by Celtic pipes and drums into the dinner space. “Being led by the bagpipes and drums and walking into the dinner space completely transformed from when we first viewed it—taking in the surprise, the tree, and all of the details—was overwhelming and emotional,” the bride says.

Sophia and Peter shared their first dance to Frank Sinatra’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” “It’s a vibe: romantic, classic, and cheeky. It suited us as a couple,” Sophia says. “Looking around at all our guests and realizing they were all smiling was magic. The music was amazing, and twirling in my dress was surreal.”

For dinner, the couple served some of their favorite family meals. The third course, for example, featured a Juniper-laced Swedish meatball dish with potato puree, candied carrots, pickled cucumber, and fresh lingonberries—a meal that Sophia’s family has been enjoying for Little Christmas since 1998. As guests enjoyed their dinner with wine and non-alcoholic drink pairings, a Celtic harpist provided musical entertainment and they danced between courses to the orchestra. Later that night, a DJ played music Peter selected.

Sophia and Peter served an elegant three-tier white wedding cake with flower and bird motifs on the top two layers; they chose an apricot and vanilla cake with honey Swiss meringue buttercream and apricot jam, along with a dark chocolate cake with hazelnut praline Swiss meringue buttercream and chocolate ganache. “According to Scandinavian tradition, it is bad luck if every wedding guest does not eat a piece of the wedding cake!” Sophia says.

They also served a Norwegian Kransekake, which is a traditional almond ring wedding cake. “We carry on this tradition from Sophia’s grandparents, Jim and Sandy Lindekugel, who were married in Norway,” Laura says.

The couple’s guests took home hand carved butter spreaders that were hand painted with rosemaling, which is traditional Norwegian decorative folk painting; these paintings were designed exclusively for the wedding. The favors were wrapped in custom tissue paper and paper that included one design for each of the four bird species see throughout the event. Boxes were finished with a custom wax seal with the couple’s crest, calligraphed with each guest’s name, and topped with hand-made porcelain flowers as a nod to the blooms in Sophia’s bridal headpiece.

Sophia and Peter spent their honeymoon at an 18th-century castle in Ireland. To couples planning their own celebrations, Sophia has these words of wisdom: “Honor your relationships and think about what experiences you truly want to remember." The mother of the bride has some advice of her own: “Avoid trends and choose things that are meaningful to you as a couple, that make you happy, and that consider your guests’ experience.”