A Match Made in Bike Heaven
Photography: David Grove, Dominique Labrosse, Claire Stock, and Lisa Labovitch
When Jane first met Rusl, he intriguingly asked her if they’d met before at a Critical Mass ride. Later, bikes propped them up during their knee-weakening first kiss. Since their bicycles were silent partners over the course of their courtship, it only made sense to incorporate bikes into their wedding.
Throwing tradition to the curb, the essential elements of a wedding were isolated: community involvement and a celebratory procession. And how better to combine those than with a summertime group bike ride down to the ceremony and back for a potluck reception? Family members came in from other towns – and other continents! – and couldn’t be expected to pack a ride with them, but the local crew pulled through and managed to equip all 160 patrons with elegant rides sufficient to get them where they were going in style. DIY pedicabs were arranged for elders who hadn’t been on a bicycle for many a decade, and the mother of the bride was spotted corking an intersection for the first time, “empowered by taking care of other members of the group.”
On their special day, the married couple had one swell flourish to set them apart: The Love Bike, a cooperatively-steered (insert your own marriage metaphor here) pedal-powered vehicle consisting of two tandem CCM frames, a bench, many long hours of welding and, well, a whole lotta love. It barely came together in time (Jane laughs, “There I was in my wedding dress, stapling the seats!”) but despite everything they rolled across the lush green field when the moment came and enjoyed a celebration so wonderful and strange it could only have happened on two wheels.
In a final merry wave to convention as they pass it by in the bike lane, rather than worry about who would take whose surname they lived happily ever after as Mr. and Mrs. Bicycle!
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The Wedding Party That Spontaneously Didn’t Combust
sarah coffin, maiwenn castellan, brahm dhorst, mael castellan, tania lo, gwendal castellan, armel castellan, sarah burger. Photograph by Dominique Labrosse
In 2004, Gwendal convinced Tania to quit her job and join him on his adventure by bike from Patagonia to the Canadian Arctic. Watch their journey in their award winning feature documentary Long Road North. www.longroadnorth.com After spending 24hrs a day together for 365 straight days they returned to Vancouver and realized that cycling was part of their everyday life, not just on the road but also at home. This summer, Gwendal and Tania (now Momentum’s Associate Publisher) were wed by the sea at Hastings Mill Park in Vancouver. They didn’t plan to have a cycling wedding party but when they left the house to get to the park, there seemed to be no better way to get there than by bike!
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Claire's spoke-flower bouquetPhotograph by Claire Stock
Claire and Steve’s Bike Wedding
“No getting down on one knee I’m afraid, we were both holding our bikes.”
Claire Stock and Steve Connor held their bikey wedding in Edmonton in July, 2007. Their shared love of cycling was expressed with a bicycle spoke bouquet, bicycle chain engraved wedding bands, bike races for guests to receive a second bouquet (made from inner tubes & reflectors), garter (reflective ankle strap with lace) and other prizes, wedding
vows with cycling references, flower arrangements in jars atop chain rings, decorative banners with stories about the couple and their bikes, cycling trivia questions to determine table serving order, and a request for guests to contribute money instead of gifts to help
purchase two Brompton folding bikes.
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Photograph by Lisa Labovitch
Michelle and Aaron Dykstra – Chicago cyclists who race on Team Pegasus
and were newlyweds at the Sadie Hawkins Alleycat in achicago in 2007.
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