Wedding Invitation ideas please!

[IFjane]

SO and I are tying the knot on April 26 & it is now time to get busy and start planning! I am wondering if any of you ladies who had cycling-themed weddings had invitations done with bicycles on the front? Or some type of cycling design? If so, where did you get them done?

I'm open for any and all ideas so please pass them along.

Thanks in advance!

[Grog]

Although our wedding had sort of a cycle theme (well, we used the bikes for transportation), the invitations did not.

But maybe that will give you an idea.

We had a few "engagement pictures" taken by our photographer, but basically any friend with minimal talent will do. I told the photographer I needed a picture that would work well in a 4X8 landscape, with us appearing on either the left or right side.

I then designed our own 4X8 invitation card using Adobe Photoshop Element. One side was the chosen photo with the text of the invitation ("Together with their parents, YoungMan and YoungWoman invite you to the celebration of their marriage, date, venue...") and, on the other side, were a few more details about the wedding (a map, the addresses of the ceremony and reception venues, how to RSVP, etc.). I have no design experience but it's not really hard, except for the "(%* map.

I got them printed by Vistaprint (online) but there are other printers out there that can do that sort of stuff.

I like to think that it was as good a keepsake (if not better) as regular invitations. Our thank-you cards after the wedding were similar, with a collage of photos from the wedding.

I will send you a PM with a link to see the results.

Enjoy the planning process! It's only as easy as you'll allow it to be....

[IFjane]

Thank you so much! I love your invitations & thank you cards. They have given me some ideas. Since this is a second marriage for both of us and since we are older, we are planning something VERY casual but with a cycling theme. I'll keep you posted!

[SadieKate]

First of all, congratulations!

Second, is this a small wedding? When we were married I found handpainted cards that were blank inside and took those to the printer to have the invitation printed inside. I didn't worry about the cards being intended for a wedding. I just found cards that I liked. Obviously, the handpainted part isn't critical and since we only had a couple dozen to print the cost wasn't bad.

You have any artistic friends? Or you? Nothing says you can't do the art yourself.

[Technotart]

I made our invites using a rubber stamp centered on a square flat card in brown/coppery colored ink. Over the top of this went a square piece of vellum - sized slightly smaller than the embossed frame on the card - the two were held together through punched holes with brown satin ribbon tied in a bow. The invitation words were printed on the vellum and the rubber stamp design showed through. The stamp I used was an Italian architectural design, but surely there is a nice bicycle rubber stamp out there somewhere.

We had miniature bicycles the same color as our real bikes on the cake table. I found them on ebay - they even had chains and pedals and stuff that moved!
http://cgi.ebay.com/VINTAGE-MINIATURE-RACING-BICYCLE-10-SPD-MODEL-REPLICA_W0QQitemZ140191754821QQihZ004QQcategoryZ2904QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[kelownagirl]

DH and I were married (both older as well, 2nd time round) last March and we had a very casual gathering for our friends. We used this picture that I found on the net (sorry can't remember where and I can't find a copy with a higher resolution)on our invitations (I can PM you a copy if you want) and we also took it to a cake place and had them blow it up bigger on our cake. I can show you the cake as well if you like. Happy wedding!

[Trek420]

I can show you the cake as well if you like. Happy wedding!

Very nice drawing, nicely done, it's romantic more than "bike'ey" , good use of color and light. I like the way the artist uses just a hint of blue. :cool:

And there is this:

http://dev1.boomersdomain.com/cgi-bin/store_pedalinghistory_2/01893.html

[IFjane]

SK thank you! We are looking forward to the whole escapade. :D It is not going to be big - probably 20 or so people at the wedding itself, and about 80 at the reception. My 85 year old mom is even going to either ride a trike or ride in a bicycle rickshaw (sp)?!

Kelownagirl - that picture is fabulous - I want to use it if I may! I will let you all see the final product! ;) Check your PM's.

And finally, all of you have a wonderful holiday!