When Sophie Laframboise arrived in Hong Kong in 2014 for a university term abroad, her first few days didn’t go as planned. Having lost her credit card, she was on the phone to the bank during her first outing with her fellow exchange students. Feeling out of sorts, she was suddenly distracted by a tall blonde Dane with a massive smile who had just turned around to introduce himself: “Hi, I’m Nicklas.”
“I still remember what he was wearing,” recalls Sophie, musing that she may have fallen in love with Nicklas Rønning that very first moment. “I was blown away by his ease and his energy,” she says. Nicklas, who had spotted Sophie right away, didn’t waste any time; he wanted to meet the Canadian with a smile that lit up the room. “She had so much energy, so much positivity,” says Nicklas. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is my kind of girl - someone who likes adventures, someone who wants to explore.’”
“I still remember what he was wearing,” recalls Sophie, musing that she may have fallen in love with Nicklas Rønning that very first moment. “I was blown away by his ease and his energy,” she says. Nicklas, who had spotted Sophie right away, didn’t waste any time; he wanted to meet the Canadian with a smile that lit up the room. “She had so much energy, so much positivity,” says Nicklas. “I remember thinking to myself, ‘This is my kind of girl - someone who likes adventures, someone who wants to explore.’”
Sophie and Nicklas’ first date was at Aqua, a jazz bar across Hong Kong's harbour with panoramic views of the city's skyline. Instead of taking the metro, the couple opted for a boat to cross over. As they exited the ferry, Nicklas noticed a man busking. He wanted to impress Sophie and asked if he could join him. Borrowing the man's guitar, he started to play. Within minutes, Sophie discovered that her date was a bit of a music sensation back in Denmark (Nicklas has been playing in bands since he was 12 and recorded a hit song that topped the charts in Denmark in 2015). She watched as Nicklas began singing with the busker and the two quickly drew a crowd. Within 20 minutes, Nicklas had helped him gather a week’s worth of wages. Thinking the evening couldn’t get any better, Sophie soon discovered that Nicklas’ love of life, people and new experiences never ebbs. “We sure livened up that jazz bar,” she remembers. “He started twirling me around, we started dancing, then all of a sudden everyone at the bar started dancing.”
After the holidays, Sophie and Nicklas decided to meet in France for a ski trip. Before she knew it, Sophie had moved to Denmark after graduating to be with Nicklas, who had begun studying for his Masters. After three years in Copenhagen, where Sophie learned the language and fell in love with the country, its people and Danish culture, the couple moved to Montreal. Nicklas was opening the North American office of Signifly, a digital marketing agency. For Sophie, it allowed her to be closer to her family and to pursue her career in marketing.
Over the 2020 holidays, the couple was in Copenhagen prior to Christmas when Nicklas invited Sophie for a walk through Dyrehaven, Sophie’s favourite park and the location of their first Copenhagen date. As they reached the Hermitage, a castle in the middle of the park, Nicklas got down on one knee and asked for her hand in marriage. Right after, a horse-drawn carriage approached, and people nearby began shouting: “The Queen of Denmark is coming!” But it wasn’t the Queen; Nicklas had arranged for the carriage to take them through the park to the other side where they were then driven to Copenhagen's Hotel Sanders to spend the remainder of the weekend.
Sophie and Nicklas kicked off their wedding celebrations with an engagement party in July of 2022, hosting close friends and family from Canada and Denmark for a big family-style dinner in the courtyard of the Apollo Bar. Guests danced into the early hours of the morning listening to Nicklas and his band performing classic Canadian songs wearing toques and Montreal Canadiens jerseys. They chose Sophie’s family’s country house in Quebec’s Eastern Townships as their wedding venue, marrying in September of 2022. “We wanted our day to be casual yet sophisticated and most importantly, fun,” says Sophie. Surrounded by 200 friends and family, the couple exchanged vows at St. Paul’s Church in Knowlton. The day was filled with nods to Denmark and Canada, from a selection of Danish poems and English hymns at the church.
Guests dined on salmon carpaccio with caviar and miso sauce, Sicilian busiate with mushroom sauce and beef short ribs with gremolata. Danish wedding traditions prevailed throughout dinner, followed by a live performance by the Montreal singer Shahara. Nicklas later took to the stage with the band to serenade his bride, who joined him onstage to sing Bill Withers’ classic Just the Two of Us. Guests danced into the early hours of the morning, followed by a barbecue lunch the next day for nearly 100 out-of-town guests.
Recalling the more memorable moments of their wedding, Nicklas won’t forget the goosebumps he had watching Sophie walk down the aisle, and their post-ceremony Vespa ride was one of the day’s highlights. As always, nods to both Canada and Denmark were present with empty cans of maple syrup and Carlsberg beer tailing behind.
For their honeymoon, the couple toured the coast of Portugal followed by a George Scott horseback riding safari in Andalucia, where they explored the undeveloped part of Spain and slept under the stars. Back in Montreal, Sophie and Nicklas love hosting large dinners for friends and family in their Old Montreal loft, and spend their spare time skiing, horseback riding and travelling to Denmark as much as possible. The couple look forward to welcoming their first child later this year, as they embrace all that comes their way with their unstoppable life force.
