planning a bike-themed wedding

[iFKA]

Hi, girls...
Next year I'm gettin' married, and although I have the whole year until the big day arrives I already started with planning.

Once I saw pictures from one of you who had a bike-themed wedding and I liked it so much. Luckily my fiancee (how I like saying that :D ) likes biking more than me so we'll try to do something similar.

I know for sure we'll drive white tandem cruiser bike, and we'll have small "blind" print of it on our invitations, but I need your ideas of what else can we do. That's gonna be a big wedding, for about 250 - 300 people as we both have a big family, and everybody tells me it'll be stupid to do more biking-thing than that since only minority loves biking. What do you think?

[DirtDiva]

It's your wedding. Do what you want. :)

[SheFly]

Congratulations! I think if you want to do a bike-themed wedding, that you should. It is your day!

A friend here had watter bottles made with cartoon bride and groom, and the wedding date on them as something to give to the guests - I thought that was really cute.

And if you search the forum here, you can find lots of other good wedding ideas as well!

Have fun with the planning!

SheFly

[han-grrl]

We had a few bike related things on our big day -

our seating arrangement was done up on an old mtb wheel and fork - spray painted gold and we attached pie shaped lists of tables...

table names were the trails in the park where we live near (gah is that proper english??)

we got bike shaped chocolate molds for the "loot bags" (ok i know its favors but i think loot bags are funnier!)

invitations had a penny farthing image, and we used that image on pretty much everything....

[Kimmyt]

I think there was a thread on here about bike cake toppers.

On indiebride.com there was a girl who her and her husband rode off into the sunset on their fixie city bikes, complete with just married signs on the back.

if your a mtn biker you can have a reception at a ski resort if you've got any local ones, they usually have lift-served dh and you can get a picture of your bikes together on a lift with 'just married' on the back of it... bike marriage... aaw

cycling tour honeymoon

register at rei

do the whole table name thing, but have your table names be: a) local races or rides you have completed in b) bike brands or models, with pictures

get some chains (clean and shiny) and glue them into a heart form and have that set up next to your guestbook or sumthin

etc etc etc

(ps the thing i'm beginning to understand is that people are gonna complain about your wedding no matter what you choose to do, so why not do something that gives you a big grin??)

congrats,

k.

[Running Mommy]

THE WEDDING SHOULD BE A REFLECTION OF YOU!!!! - Yes I felt the need to shout that.
Too many times we do things for others. But the wedding is about YOU! I can't tell you how many times I've seen brides plan a wedding that everyone ELSE likes, but they are just ho hum about it. SILLY! Weddings are expensive enough! Do what YOU like!!!

There were some great suggestions. I'll have to ponder it some more to see if I can think of any more for ya.
I'm an "amatuer" wedding planner. I LOVE to do it, so I have done it for friends and family for years. They all tell me I should do it for a living, but I don't think I want to deal with the bridezillas of the world. I'd rather do it for people who appreciate it.
Soooo.... hmmmm... give me a day or so.. :D

[Beane]

I got married a couple weeks ago and we had this great cake topper.. I had seen it on theknot.com and then spent an entire evening tracking it down online. Only available from a toy store in Paris!

... only problem was that it is ceramic and after a while, fell into the cake. We turned the cake around and put it back on! :D

[HappyAnika]

Congratulations! I'm sorry I don't have any ideas. However I read something when I was planning my wedding that I really liked: Guests should come away from your wedding saying "That was so them!". If biking is important to you, definitely make a theme of it.

Oh, here's one idea, maybe kind of lame, your "entrance" song could be the biclycle song by Queen.

[han-grrl]

...so what?? this is YOUR wedding, and like many have said is a reflection of your personalities and lives. If you are into biking or rock climbing or skiing, then WHY NOT attach it to your wedding.

My husband and i met mtb and much of our income is well, spent on mtb, so it only seemed OBVIOUS to make it part of our wedding.

Some suggestions on budgeting for the wedding - the knot has an EXCELLENT budget planner thing that was awesome. the dollar store for candles and what not, and Michaels always has coupons and specials on various wedding and decorating things...

A friend did our wedding photos (that was a MAJOR savings for us!!) and we didn't bother with an official videographer. All i have ever heard (sorry if i offend!!) is that it isn't worth it. a friend taped the ceremony and walked around talking to people, so we have a little video memory of the day that was free (free is good!).

set your budget FIRST. food and reception is going to be the biggest expense, but there are other options to save money.

i can go on and on and on.

:)

congrats!!
Han

[Pedal Wench]

I got married a couple weeks ago and we had this great cake topper.. I had seen it on theknot.com and then spent an entire evening tracking it down online. Only available from a toy store in Paris!

... only problem was that it is ceramic and after a while, fell into the cake. We turned the cake around and put it back on! :D

That's beautiful!!!

[Bad JuJu]

I know for sure we'll drive white tandem cruiser bike, and we'll have small "blind" print of it on our invitations

A month ago we went to a motorcycle-themed wedding, and the invitations were cream-colored, with a slightly darker cream-colored motorcycle embossed at the top. It was actually very elegant-looking. If that's what you meant by "blind" print, never mind.

Some other great ideas offered already, and yes, definitely do it YOUR way. Everyone who loves you will be happy to see you having the wedding that suits you best, and everyone who doesn't love you so much...well, who cares what they think?;)

[iFKA]

(ps the thing i'm beginning to understand is that people are gonna complain about your wedding no matter what you choose to do, so why not do something that gives you a big grin??)

congrats,

k.

:D Well said :D

[iFKA]

wow, I knew brain -storming will help... thank you all

Cake topper is great idea, but the one I saw with postage costs over 50$ it's too expensive for my taste, we we can buy normal one for 2$ , if you have some link about other cheaper please sent... Beany, you cake was great

The problem with a budget is that we don't have one... In Croatia is the custom for the guests to give money instead of gift (we don't have the gift book thing cause people that come are from all over Croatia and Europe and they don't have the time to go to that specific one shop) So we'll earn some money on the wedding, but we don't know exactly how much. If we have some money left after paying all the bills we'll go to honeymoon in Africa, and it not we'll go somewhere in Croatia. But of course, I don't wanna spend all money just on the wedding no mater how nice will it will look.

...I have to go to work now, so I don't have the time comment all, but please continue with your suggestions.

[velogirl]

one of my teammates met her husband (who manages a bike shop) as a customer where he works. they were married on January 1st on Mt. Hamilton. it's a New Year's Day tradition to climb Mt. Hamilton. they rode up on their individual road bikes (along with the wedding party and guests), said their vows, and they rode down on a tandem. and they had custom printed water bottles as their gift to the guests.

[Hub]

It's your wedding. Do what you want. :)

Ditto!!!