“I did my own hair and make-up": Josephine Bredsted on her laid-back beachside wedding

Josephine Bredsted, influencer and founder of self-care company LeGue describes herself as a 'casual bride.' While most brides would break into a sweat on Josephine’s behalf, the 33-year-old entrepreneur embraces her no-fuss, go with the flow attitude in life as she does in wedding planning.

“I did my own hair and make-up, and I found my outfits for the wedding randomly. It was very important that I felt comfortable and true to my everyday self. The fact that I ended up wearing two dresses wasn’t planned either,” she says. Needless to say, Josephine isn’t one for rigid planning – there are no clipboards and headsets in this story. Meeting her future husband, Christen, was not only unexpected, it was also marred with bad timing.

“I’d known my husband for many years before we got together,” says Josephine. “I knew he was into me as he’d asked me out on the same day I was moving in with my then-boyfriend. One day, I decided I wanted to go on a surf/yoga adventure. Christen was the only person I knew that has any experience with surfing. The same week I just happened to see an article with him talking about being the coach of the national surf team. I must admit, he looked amazing, so, I did what any sensible woman would have done: I slid into his DM’s asking for tips as to where I should go surfing.”

Christen replied with a long list of surfing recommendations and the couple ended up meeting for a drink that same evening and have been together ever since. “From that moment we just knew that we were meant to be,” says Josephine.

Christen proposed in the summer of 2021 when the couple were driving around Denmark in an auto camper. Christen was living in Klitmøller or ‘Cold Hawaii,’ a little surf town on the west coast of Jutland when the couple met, so it seemed only fitting that Christen proposed here.

“One evening he took me to the most beautiful beach, Bøgsted Rende, where you can overlook the dunes and beach,” says Josephine. “Christen wanted us to take an evening stroll; I wasn’t really in the mood, but he insisted that we’d go for a walk. The whole time I was complaining, and I could feel Christen was anxious and nervous.

"We walked up a trail to a very high dune. There was a weird fog everywhere, so the landscape looked as if we were overlooking the clouds – it was the most beautiful view. I turned to Christen to tell him how beautiful it was, and suddenly he was down on one knee. He was laughing and crying at the same time, it was the most imperfect perfect moment of my life.”

Christen told Josephine that he had been waiting for the perfect moment to propose, where everything would be just right, only to realise that it was not about that. “It was just about asking me to spend the rest of my life with him because from the moment we met, he knew I was the one,” she says.

Josephine made sure that, like her two unplanned – yet still perfect – wedding outfits (more on them later), the vision for the wedding was a true representation of herself and Christen, with a little help from friends and family.

The couple held their ceremony in May in Copenhagen, while wedding celebrations were held in June at venue Agger Darling, near their new home in Klitmøller. “We wanted to keep the wedding for our closest friends and family, and the venue, which is owned by local couple, Nicholas and Iben, really reflected our surf wedding styles with a Hawaiian palette of colours. It has an eclectic surf style, so I didn’t feel the need to over decorate it,” she says.

Josephine drew and painted the table setting cards with different sea creatures and handpicked scented candles to decorate the tables.

“I love to draw, and this was my way to give things a personal touch,” she says. “The scent of the wedding was wood sage and sea salt. I’d also gifted my wedding party a personalised perfume with the same scent. Every time I wear that perfume it reminds me of the happiest day of my life.”

Christen’s sister sang and played the guitar as Josephine walked down the aisle – a natural path carved out in the sand – unaware of the song she planned to sing; it was River by Leon Bridges. “When I heard the song, I immediately broke into tears,” she says. “Many describe their walk down the aisle as too quick but at that moment I felt like time stopped, and we were the only two people there – it was everything I imagined and more.”

The couple’s friend, Line, officiated the ceremony. “She’s one of the most loving, present, and caring people I know, and she managed to make the ceremony feel intimate and beautiful. She made individual vows for both of us, and it just made us felt very spot on for us individually.”

Josephine’s ceremony dress was by REMAIN Birger Christensen which she found by chance on a shopping trip with her mother a week after Christen proposed. “My mum instinctively said, “That’s the one” and it took me a minute to realise she was completely right,” she says. “My second dress is from Nadine Merabi, and it came about by coincidence too. I wasn’t planning to wear a second dress, but the beading, perfect fit, and long slit made it perfect for the dinner and party. My veil was a gift by my mother-in-law who found it at vintage shop in Copenhagen.”

The wedding cake was made by the couple’s friend, Mia, who made one for Josephine (carrot cake with a lemon frosting), and one for Christen (his favourite cheesecake).

The menu was a celebration of the area’s in-season produce: locally caught fish and fresh greens from neighbourhood farms. The first course consisted of a local burrata with wild tomatoes, lightly steamed cod with prawns and buttermilk sauce, fresh asparagus with tahini dressing, and sourdough bread, while the main dish was boneless chicken with fresh herbs, local potatoes in a cheese sauce with greens and rhubarb relish, for dessert pavlova with seasonal berries and rose petals.

After the wedding, the couple set up home in Klitmøller, leaving Copenhagen for good. “We were having city fatigue and wanted to live in a community where your job isn’t who you are,” she says. “Klitmøller is one of the only real surfer towns in Denmark – it’s all about living close to nature and how you spend your free time, not about how you make your money or what your job is. Moving to the west coast has given us the opportunity to experience real slow living, and to find a holistic approach to our present and future.”