Brave Creative Design

Bicycle Theme Wedding + Design Photos

Hello there! If you’ve been following this blog or my facebook page then you’ve seen a couple of sneak peeks into the wedding my family and I attended a little more than a week ago. I was privileged to help the family with graphic designs for their special day, and I felt honored that my ideas and advice on decor and planning were welcomed and well received. I thought about splitting this post into two parts but you wouldn’t want to wait would you? 😉 Grab a drink (coffee is always my choice) and enjoy!
Let’s start at the beginning… A long while back the mother of the bride (my cousin’s wife) let me know I was to be her wedding consultant when the time came for her daughter’s wedding. I really had no idea it would be sooner rather than later. I got an email in March asking if I would be their “wedding designer, planner, creative genius, sounding board, etc.” LOL Of course I would help as I could but I live 4 hours away! I got in contact with the bride and we went through some of the ideas she was throwing around, mainly bicycles as they like to be outdoors and the bike alluded to the new journey of marriage.


Aubrey emailed some images of bicycle themed stationery she liked, along with the colors they would have (a hot pink type and a teal-ish blue.) I remembered Jordan Ferney of Oh Happy Day posted the bicycle themed wedding she had been a part of so that was my first stop for inspiration. Aubrey also mentioned they would be having a brunch reception and wanted it to have a summery feel with flowers and bright colors.

Invitations…
I asked David to sketch a bicycle according to their description. I tweaked it, added some extras and threw in some floating hearts to see if they might like the ‘movement.’ (They did. yay.) With the graphic approved I suggested a vellum overlay to the invitation design and even an envelope liner. I thought about an address wrap but went with printing floating hearts on the front instead and used a clear return address label on the back flap (with the bicycle, of course.)
After sending Aubrey the printed invitations & envelopes I compiled my other decor and design ideas into a HUGE email, adding photos as they applied to what I was trying to describe. I’m sure it took a while for her to go through as it took me a while to write it! Here are a few of the main ideas.

Centerpieces
Aubrey and Vinnie both love to read (she is getting a Masters in Library Science) so I started putting all these pieces together. Bicycles, books, love of flowers, outdoors, brunch.. Well, I kept imagining that scene of a couple on top of a hill under a huge oak tree with a blanket spread out, picnic basket off to the side, one lying on the other reading a book and little flowers floating in the breeze. (Doesn’t that make you want to relax?) I suggested just that (sort of) for the reception table centerpieces. I had a brainstorm and shared this with Aubrey: “maybe the centerpiece could be a stack of books sitting on a blue or pink little square of material (symbolize picnic) with a pot of grass on top of the books, maybe a tiny bike leaning against the pot or the books, and a stake in the grass with the table name sign.”

I thought it would be really fun to give names to the tables even though there wouldn’t be assigned seating. On the Table Name cards I suggested it describe something that guests might not know about the couple, those little things guests like to know… how’d he propose, what places have they been, etc. It’s also a great conversation piece. I am so happy with how it all turned out. Here are just a few of them.

They also did a wonderful job adding draping and lighting to the hall. They wanted it to be ‘magical’ and I think it was accomplished!
Well Wishes and Advice cards
Again, back to the library thing – I thought it would be really cute to create well wishes cards to look like library book cards. They could then tie the card onto the bicycle that would be setup in the reception hall. They went beyond that for the prop area and enlarged the bicycle and verse onto a large banner backdrop with several other embellishments. It looked great!
Miscellaneous Design Pieces
Some of the other pieces I designed for them were programs, buffet cards, water bottle wraps and signs for things like the photo booth. I am so pleased with how wonderful everything looked.
Favors
As I said, Aubrey and Vinnie both love to read and her thoughts for a favor were more towards a bookmark with the bicycle on top and some quotes. I went a different direction and suggested something a bit more brunch related. Maybe a jar of jam or something homemade with a cute tag on it, something the guests could enjoy at their own breakfast or brunch. They found cute little honey jars with the honey dippers attached and I created the tags for them.
Aren’t all the flowers gorgeous?! My favorite type of flowers!

Photobooth
I’ve been following lots of blogs and event planners’ sites and it seems a photo booth has become very popular these days. It’s understandable – they’re really fun! So, I suggested they try something like that and it really was a big hit.
Here’s a snapshot with my camera of me and my guys! I love it!
And look at this really fun touch they had in each of the restrooms! Bicycle soap and towels! CUTE!
Now, how could I end without sharing some photos of the beautiful ceremony & bride and groom? I love how they meshed the two theme colors in the lighting and wedding party attire. The backdrop is just lovely, no?
The top left picture is one of my favorites – the bride looking at her dad. So special.

Michele

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Comments

  2. says

    very beautiful….very very pretty…i wanted a bike theme as well because my bf taught me how to cycle….and you just touched the nail on its head with all the details….very inspiring

    Reply

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