Budir

Pia & Jamie's Wedding

Wedding Gallery

Posted on by jamie

Though we decided to keep our wedding ceremony just between the two of us, we also wanted to share our experience with everyone around us. As a part of that we made this blog. We also invited those close to us to write letters and send cards which would be opened on our wedding day. But most importantly, we decided to invest in hiring one of the best photographers in the world. That meant one thing: Nordica Photography.

Jakob handled our wedding perfectly, and now we are excited to share some of our favorite shots from the day.

Head over to the gallery for more!

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A bird taking flight as we departed Búðir

Après un Rêve

Posted on by jamie

It has almost been two weeks since the wedding. Pia and I have been together in Groningen half settling into married life, half trying to avoid the looming date of my departure.

Already as we were making our way back to Reykjavik we could feel the magic of Búðir begin to fade. As we wound our way along the coast and emerged from the tunnel, our wedding began to feel like a dream.

Awaiting us in Reykjavik were Daði, Sessa, Gunnhildur, Björn Þor, and Mary Frances who were among the first to welcome us as newlyweds. It was quite fitting to celebrate our marriage under the roof where we first came together and with the friends who brought us there. After wonderful food, many drinks, and very little sleep, our stop in Reykjavik ended as we carried on to catch our flight out of Keflavik. Again we were moving away from Búðir.

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Spyglass overlooking the bay at Búðir

Stillness After the Storm

Posted on by jamie

As we slowly woke the morning after the wedding, all was still. The rain had stopped and the clouds began to disappear, revealing the snow-topped mountains in the distance. Through the windows, fields of blue had begun to show in the skies over the bay.

This was the first day after our day. The party was over, the toasting all done. We were now a married couple. Still reveling in the afterglow of the wedding, we lingered in bed a little longer before starting the day.

By ten in the morning, we made our way downstairs for breakfast and to see Jakob off. The hotel was quiet as guests came and went. Birds flew against the wind outside the window, floating against the sea air with wings outstretched. This was peace. This was home.

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Budir Kirkja Door Handle

The Way

Posted on by jamie

Arriving to the hotel, Pia was already waiting for me in the lobby. My eyes took a moment to adjust to the figure draped in white as I walked in, as it dawned upon me that I was looking at Pia—that I was looking at my bride. The lobby of the hotel was filled with guests and staff, all smiling and watching as I took my bride, sharing with her a kiss and a firm hug. Pia was absolutely beautiful wearing the little chevron dress we had bought together a year earlier along with a white jacket and delicate Icelandic wool scarf. Pia seemed equally taken by me in my suit as she held me and looked at her groom.

Leaving the hotel, umbrella in hand, Pia and I proceeded arm-in-arm as we walked up the road from Hotel Búðir to Búðir Kirka. Arriving at the church, we opened its white wooden gate and crossed the grounds. Then we opened the church doors and peered into the little wooden church. Awaiting us in a white robe was Páll Ágúst, smiling as we proceeded down the aisle together. Though the church was empty and cold minutes before, we all could feel the warmth brought by our love and the love of all those who have been with us. And then, out of the silence and stillness of that little wooden church, our wedding began.

For the next forty minutes, the world was still. Inside that tiny church, the rain, which had been pouring down on the entire peninsula and all of Búðir, ceased its roar; the gray skies, which reached all the way down to the sea with lingering clouds, grew brighter. There were just four souls in the entire world for those forty minutes: Jamie, Pia, Páll, & Jakob.

We laughed and cried our way through the ceremony. Pia stared into my eyes as I gazed into hers. Páll read his blessings and shared with us his wisdom. Then a letter from Pia’s father, Marius, filled with sage advice, poetry, and colors as robust as any drawings he has made. Next came the vows written for each other. Pia and I had each filled a Moleskine postcard to read to each other. During those vows, everybody in the church just about lost it as the tears fell over our love for one another. A couple of ‘I do’s, two rings, and a tri-lingual ‘Our Father’ later the ceremony was complete. We kissed, turned, and walked out of the church exactly as we had entered: two souls bound together as one.

Pia & Jamie's Wedding

Páll Ágúst

Posted on by jamie

We were married by Reverend Páll Ágúst Olaffson at Búðir Kirka on 27 May 2014. Páll is a jolly man with a generous smile and a firm handshake. Our paths crossed about three months ago after we had settled upon having the ceremony at the Búðir Kirka. In our first email exchange, I had written that though neither of us are religious, we are both spiritual people; though we had not desired or planned on a religious ceremony, we were both open to the idea of making our wedding sacred in some way. Páll’s response: “The only thing that matters is that you love each other and that you are excited to get married!” Instantly we knew that we had the right person.

As we began organizing the ceremony, Páll forwarded us his typical ceremony format and asked if we would like anything special. We had two requests: that he leave room to read a letter written from Pia’s father, Marius; and that we have a chance to read our own vows to each other. Páll was happy to oblige.

Once all the arrangements were made and we had both travelled to Reykjavik, I got an email from Páll on Sunday night, wondering if we might be able to meet briefly the next morning. As it would turn out, Páll was living in Reykjavik, traveling the two hours’ distance out to Búðir and his other parishes. We arranged to meet him in the lobby of our hotel at 9:30 AM the next morning.

At 9:15 AM, our phone rang—so much for Michigan Time™. Páll was waiting. Jamie & I hurried to finish getting ready and jumped on the elevator. When the doors opened, there stood a man with a quiet, friendly face. We introduced ourselves, and Páll asked us a few questions about our travel and our plans for the next day. He gave us instructions about the paperwork due that afternoon in Stykkishólmur, wished us a safe trip to Snæfellsnes, and was soon on his way to a ‘9:30 emergency.’

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The drive up to Hotel Budir

Arriving at Búðir

Posted on by Pia Eva Greiner

After our adventure in the mountains and Stykkishólmur it was finally time to go to Búðir. For four months, this place with the tiny little black church was on our minds daily. Knowing that not only we would get married there, we would finally get to see each other, hold each other, fall asleep and wake up in each other’s arms. While our days in Reykjavik were wonderful, we finally settled into being ‘us’ on the road to Búðir. We listened to Bach, Beethoven, and finally Sigur Rós. We drove through mountains, clouds, rain storms, and coastlines. Though we had decided to use a map from now on, we didn’t look once. We knew it would come up and the suspense of every turn was filled with more and more love. More and more connectedness, until finally, while listening to Sigur Rós’s ‘Góðan daginn’ (an absolute favorite for the past couple months), the black church appeared. With teary eyes and held breath we quietly drove up. We came ‘home’ at last.

We walked into the hotel and were greeted the with friendliest smiles, amazing smells from dinner and the cutest dog named Nagli (nails). We walked up to room no. 23 and just fell in love. The views from our room: ‘moonland’, seaside, and the church. We hugged for a long time in the open window overlooking the church. When we finally were cold and damp from the wind and rain, we headed downstairs for dinner.

The whole hotel had turned into a sea of candles! Just when we thought it couldn’t get any better we ate freshly caught salmon and drank delicious wine. From the moment we drove up the road to Búðir, it finally started to all fall in place for me. After a hot bath in the middle of our room, we went our separate ways for a little while. Jamie rewrote his vows in a postcard moleskine. I went downstairs and sat on a couch by a window overlooking the sea. After chatting with the quiet hotel manager, I ended up just copying the vows I had already written a few days before, it felt right.

Not much sleep happened that night, the rain came down hard, adjusting to the midnight sun and the excitement for the next day were reasons to not close my eyes. I was so comfortable though, next to my love and in a huge, warm, and soft bed.