Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK
For members

MY SWEDISH CAREER

My Swedish Career: How I became Swedish Lapland’s first local wedding planner

Lisa Tousignant’s Swedish journey began with her taking a teaching job with IES in Stockholm. This month, she launched Arctic Lapland’s first wedding planning company.

Published: 14 July 2022 16:58 CEST
My Swedish Career: How I became Swedish Lapland's first local wedding planner
Lisa Tousignant celebrates as English couple, Yvonne and Colin, renew their vows at the Ice Hotel. Photo. Rebecca Lundh

Tousignant’s new company, Arctic Weddings of Lapland, opened for bookings on July 1st, and she is now focusing on arranging weddings for the coming winter season. You can see some images of weddings Tousignant has done on the company’s Instagram account. 

The idea came to her after colleagues she worked with while employed as the wedding coordinator at Icehotel, in Jukkasjärvi outside Kiruna, told her they often got weddings queries from both abroad and within Sweden.

“The photographers and the florist that I work with said they got calls all the time from people wanting to plan  weddings, but who had no idea where to start,” she said. “There’s no one doing destination wedding planning for Swedish Lapland who actually lives here and this area has so much to offer.”

Icehotel, the big international tourist draw in Jukkasjärvi, hosts dozen of weddings each year and Tousignant is set to continue her relationship with the hotel next year by doing wedding day coordinating. She hopes that Arctic Weddings of Lapland can build on the success that Icehotel has had with their customisable packages by offering different options for adventure within the whole region for winter and summer as well.

“I just had all this support from local people encouraging me to do it, because there’s so many options up here for beautiful weddings and adventure elopements. It’s hard to know where to start and how to navigate all the possibilities.” she says “The overwhelming support made me realise I have been building this idea in my heart for so long and wedding planning is what it is.”

 

A wedding at the Björkliden Mountain resort near Kiruna. Photo: Rebecca Lundh

She wants to what she calls “adventure weddings”. This week she was visiting the Nutti Sámi Siida offices to discuss collaborations. She plans to work with Fjellborg Arctic Journeys, who arrange dogsled trips and have a beautiful lodge camp that could accommodate large wedding parties. With her connection to Tornedalen, she plans to work with Huuva Hideaway, who specialize in Sami food, culture and history, and is also hoping to collaborate on events at Lapland View Lodge and Art Hotel. “i’m going to work my way down Norrbotten from Kiruna to Luleå connecting with all the venues and suppliers, “ she laughs.

 Tousignant’s journey towards being an Arctic wedding planner began 15 years ago when she left what she describes as “a successful career” doing public relations for CBC Television in Canada. 

“It just felt like life was supposed to be more than going back and forth to a job I didn’t love anymore,” she remembers, “I quit…sold all my stuff and went to Central and South America where I worked in hostels and roamed around for nearly two years getting to know myself in my mid-30’s.”

After her two years of travelling, she applied for teacher training college in Canada, got hired by Internationella Engelska Skolan (IES), and moved to their school in Nacka outside Stockholm. She thens taught at IES, and then at Futura Skolan International, for nearly 6 years, before following her sambo Martin Eriksson to the far-North of Sweden. 

“My sambo and I decided to have kids, “ she explains. “Making this decision really pushed him into wanting to change careers and follow his dream of becoming a shoe maker. We really try to support each other in following our dreams, so he moved up to Övertorneå in August while I stayed to complete my teaching contract.”

She moved up to Övertorneå in December, a week before their daughter was born. 
 
For her, moving to the far North of Sweden felt like coming home. “I immediately loved the North! People up here are chatty and friendly and very open.”
 
They lived in Övertorneå for almost three years, while Eriksson built up a successful bespoke boot business. But the Covid-19 pandemic reduced custom, and Eriksson took a job in Malmö shooting videos for the local police. But Malmö did not suit them. 
 
“After living in such a sleepy town, having two kids in the city was overwhelming and everyone missed the snow, so we took the first job opportunities we could in Norrbotten, my sambo [shooting video]for IRF (The Swedish Institute of Space physics) and me for Icehotel,” she says. 
 
 

An image from the website of Arctic Weddings of Lapland. Photo: Arctic Weddings of Lapland.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

INDIANS IN SWEDEN

My Swedish Career: ‘People in Sweden are warm and welcoming’

IT consultant Debjyoti Paul tells The Local of the Indian society he co-founded in Helsingborg, and why local Swedes' reputation as closed off and reserved may not be true.

Published: 12 April 2024 06:49 CEST
My Swedish Career: 'People in Sweden are warm and welcoming'

Working as an IT consultant for Sogeti, Debjyoti was moved around to various countries as part of different projects throughout his career. In 2014, he finished a job in England, after which he was sent to Sweden to work with companies such as Ikea in designing new systems and upgrading their old systems.

However, once he arrived in Helsingborg he missed the Indian culture.

“Once you are away from home, you want your culture, your tradition, you want to remain in touch with your roots and you want your family, especially the younger generations, to also have some kind of attachment with the traditional stuff,” he tells The Local.

As a result, Debjyoti helped set up Sambandh, a society to connect the more than 2,000 Indians based in Helsingborg, many drawn there, as Debjyoti, by Ikea’s IT development hub in the city.

The society aims to help Indian newcomers have a smooth integration process in Sweden, by providing information and translation assistance.

“We also focus on helping them with basic stuff like how to open an account in the bank, guidance on getting a driving licence in Sweden, so that it is easier for them to seamlessly integrate locally. We also help with information about the school system and the healthcare system,” says Debjyoti.

“It is not easy for a new person coming in here and knowing all this, especially as most of the things are written in Swedish.”

More than 2,000 Indians live in Helsingborg. Photo: Sambandh

The society also regularly collaborates with the Indian embassy to organise an “Indian Embassy Consular Camp” which allows Indians in Helsingborg to use the embassy’s services without having to travel for five to six hours to Stockholm.

The name of the community comes from the Hindi word sambandh, meaning relationship, which is similar to samband, the Swedish word for connection. Sambandh has grown to over 400 members, welcoming everyone no matter their background.

“We only have one event which is specific to our members, that is our members’ picnic, which happens every summer. Other than that, all our events are open to all and we invite all other communities. We advertise locally and try to get people from different backgrounds into our events,” says Debjyoti.

“We even have certain religious events, but even those events are open to all, open to people from all religions. We love the attention that we get from different communities, from people from different backgrounds, different countries, different religions, speaking different languages,” he says. “So if you are at any of our events, you will see so many different kinds of people.”

Holi or Indisk Fiesta is another event that is celebrated by the society with the aim of welcoming springtime. Along with that they celebrate World Environment Day to inspire their younger members to care for their surroundings.

“We encourage our kids to participate in World Environment Day. They make small projects, they plant trees, they talk about and learn about recycling stuff. We make them aware of the environment and everything that day,” he says.

Sambandh organises, among other things, an event called Indisk Fiesta. Photo: Sambandh

Sambandh’s sports club also plays an important role, keeping the society’s members fit and healthy.

“There is a typical habit within the Indians. Once we have families, we get more focused on our kids and we spend all our energy on our kids’ education, kids’ sports activities, kids’ cultural activities. We forget about ourselves. So, we encourage our members to participate in sports. In India, sports like cricket and badminton are very popular, but with the help of local sports bodies, we encourage our members to participate in sports like padel, which is more popular in Sweden.”

When Debjyoti and his family moved to Sweden in 2014, their son was just one year old, and he got a place in a local preschool. Both Debjyoti and his wife thought it would be best to settle down since it would be difficult for their son to be moved around from country to country due to their work. He also says that Sweden is a great country to raise a child in.

“Gradually we liked Sweden because of the work-life balance, the equality, and several other good stuff. Especially when you are a family with a kid, Sweden is like a paradise. So then gradually we made Sweden our home and we continued staying here.”

When they bought their home in Helsingborg, they received a warm welcome from their neighbours, and he said that they continue to do so.

“I bought a house outside Helsingborg in a village, and a lot of people advised me not to, because they felt local Swedish people are not very open. They don’t become friends very easily. But I had a completely different experience and I was so well supported by my neighbours,” says Debjyoti.

“They even mowed my garden when I was away for a month to India. And I returned the favour. When they were on their way to the recycling centre, they used to knock on my door: ‘Do you have anything to throw away? Then I can help you,’ and I was like, OK, what I heard is probably not true. People are warm, they are welcoming. So I actually have a very, very positive view of Swedes.”

As president of Sambandh, Debjyoti is tasked with keeping the society’s aim in the forefront.

“My main objective is to keep our objective in mind and make sure the organisation is driven in a way so that we become a melting pot for all the different communities, the local Swedish community, the other immigrant communities. And of course, so that our kids, our future generations, remain rooted to their traditions,” he says.

He hopes to see the younger generations take over Sambandh so that it keeps going and growing.

“We would love to have our younger generation to manage and drive these events because they are more exposed to the local culture because they are in the local schools and all, which is of course good. It is easier for them to integrate completely.”

SHOW COMMENTS