This summer we spent a day in Murmansk, on Russia’s White Sea while on a cruise to Norway and Russia in search of the midnight sun. Not only did we see the midnight sun, along with the milky white waters around the Solovetski Islands on some of the hottest days of the summer, we were able to visit Arkangelsk and Murmansk for a chance to look around two industrial cities largely unbtouched by the tourist industry.

Murmansk itself  – the world’s biggest Arctic city with a port kept ice free by the gulf stream – features a good number of monuments and museums set in an urban landscape of Soviet era architecture rising above the bleak port area.

While our excursion group were visiting the memorial complex – home to an Orthodox church, a memorial lighthouse, and a memorial to the Kursk submarine – a bride and groom arrived for some post-wedding photography at this fine vantage point looking across the city and the post, closely followed by a second couple. Naturally I – along with several of our excursion party – took the chance to capture a few photographs of them.  Here are some of my favourites.