Congrats on wanting to get further into cycling Also on the upcoming wedding!

I found my bike used on craigslist-- Got a fairly good deal for an entry level road bike (trek1000). The guy who was getting rid of it was apparently getting out of cycling and gave me all of his stuff too . I took a friend with who knows a bit about bikes to look it over before I forked over cash.

You may want to ask around at your local bike shops-- sometimes they will carry used, or they might have heard about an available bike through the grapevine. Whatever you do, you definitely want to try it out before you buy. While I was looking, I learned that a 54cm bike from one brand, is not the same size as a 54cm bike from another brand... slightly different geometry can change the fit. Something they told me to look for to determine how old the bike was were placement of the gear shifters-- on newer road bikes they're typically in conjunction with/part of the brake levers.

For clothes... I went to nashbar and performance and bought some entry level stuff. Jersey's weren't a big deal, but shorts-- I wish I'd invested in a better pair (read better chamois, lol). Gloves are a good idea, and aren't that expensive. I also found a camelbak worth the investment-- although you may not need one until you do longer rides. Clipless pedals are also worth it, in my opinion. Some LOOK pedals came on my bike, so I just started with those- it makes you SO much more efficient!

Hope none of this is too basic for you--

Good luck!!