Cycling to a formal event

[lph]

Every now and then somebody posts here wondering if it's appropriate to cycle to or wear cycle-friendly clothing at a formal event. I had to think of TE when I saw this photo. Oslo isn't really a particularly bike-friendly town, but here is Oslo's mayor, in a snappy suit, attending the funeral of the king's sister, princess Ragnhild, at the Royal Chapel... doesn't get much more formal than that!

[Melalvai]

Check out their matching sneakers


We were the only ones with helmets (and as you can see for the photo op, she didn't even buckle hers--she did for the actual ride).

My write up of my brother's bicycle wedding procession:

This weekend I rode in a bicycle procession led by my brother and his bride on a tandem from the wedding to the reception.

Katie and Jon enjoy road biking and mountain biking. They’ve ridden more than one century. So the theme of their wedding was bicycles. The wedding invitation had a sketch of a tandem bicycle. Katie’s mom used paper printed with bicycles to make the paper flowers. The cake decorations were bicycles. Katie wore black & white plaid sneakers with her wedding dress. Jon had matching sneakers and a matching tie. Their sneakers were embroidered with “Katie and
Jon”. The best man and maid of honor also wore sneakers. (Everyone else biked in high heels and dress shoes.)

My sister decked out the tandem with cards in the spokes, streamers, and “JUST MARRIED” balloons. She passed out plastic whistles to all the cyclists. Katie hiked up her dress to get on the tandem—her boxer shorts matched her sneakers!

My striped helmet hat went perfectly with my polka dot dress. We followed the tandem with its fluttering streamers, balloons, and wedding dress, blowing whistles, ringing bicycle bells, and honking air horns. Passersby loved it. Drivers honked and pedestrians clapped and shouted.

It was a lovely wedding and a beautiful bicycle wedding procession.

[Atlas]

That's pretty neat lph. Is the couple in front of the mayor wearing bunads? If so, that's really cool that people still wear them to important events.

Melalvai, I want to be a part of a bike wedding someday.

[lph]

Yep, both the couples in front of him are wearing bunads. You can wear them to any formal occasion and I get the impression that especially female politicians wear them a lot, maybe to spare themselves the invariably snotty comments from the fashion police... Can't argue with some hundred years of tradition, no matter how unflattering it might be.

Melalvai, I loved your write-up of the wedding! Put a big smile on my face :-)

[malkin]

I love both the bike wedding and the bike funeral!

[Melalvai]

Is it morbid since you posted this that I've been thinking, "I hope my (decades from now) funeral involves a bike procession"?
Have the mourners bike from the service to the cemetery.
I better choose cremation; they can stuff the urn in a pannier. It would be tricky to tow a casket by bike.
Can't come up with a socially acceptable way to ensure nice weather for it though!