The first boat carries the groom, tipping his hat, and the bride, in her bridal crown and traditional red costume of the Hardanger region.

They are accompanied by some wedding guests: one person is pouring a drink from a jug, a musician is playing a fiddle, and a man is standing to fire a gun in celebration.

[10][11] In the background is a stave church, under a blue summer sky with bright sunlight catching small clouds and snow on the mountains and a glacier.

[13] The soirée at the Christiania Theatre in March 1849 included a theatrical group dressed in traditional costumes aboard a boat who performed a song "Brudefærden" ("The Wedding Procession") by Andreas Munch with music by Halfdan Kjerulf, with the painting itself serving as scenery.

[16][17] Parallels have been drawn between these paintings by Gude and Tidemand, and the first version of Washington Crossing the Delaware made by fellow Düsseldorf artist Emanuel Leutze from 1848 to 1850.