Real Wedding: Jim + Sharon’s Wedding with a Bike

When Sharon first sent me some photos from her wedding, I really loved how her husband and her incorporated so many details about themselves into their day. That really is what it’s about – making the day about you as a couple! Their ceremony was at Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook in Culver City and then they had their reception at the Smog Shoppe (one of my most favorite locations!) All the wonderful photos are by Walter Pieringer. Sharon was sweet enough to send some details about their day also. Thanks so much for sharing your day with us Sharon and Jim!

We had an amazing time! We made everything from the centerpieces, to the photo booth to the candy bags and candy display to handmade buttons for all the guest and so much more. We had a video loop playing during our reception that our friend created, which was us riding bikes thru various scenes.

outdoor wedding with a bike

outdoor wedding with a bike

When Sharon first sent me photos, I loved all the photos with the bikes and had to know what the story was! From Sharon, The bike was very significant to us, especially to Jim. He is an Art Director at OdysseyBMX. He has been riding bmx bikes since he was a young boy back in Long Island. We met in LA through some mutual friends at an Action Sporting event in Pomona. It was very casual, and it was more like “Hi”, “Bye”. Then two years later we met again, and have never been separated (that was 3 years ago). Some of Jim’s pro athletes compete in the X Games, so it’s another reason that we were able to meet up again, and why we have some common interest.

So we were riding a custom made Hercules/Sunday Frame bmx sidehack with Odyssey parts. Orange version was painted and decaled by Jim. Our ordained minister, Mike Ardelean, is also a pro bmx athlete. One of our closest and dearest friends.

outdoor wedding with a bike

outdoor wedding with a bike

smog shoppe wedding

candy bar

dessert bar

How awesome is this photo booth?? So creative and fun. It was made by Jim and his friend Jeff.

photobooth frame wall

Our friends surprised us and made shirts for all our wedding guest. The day before the wedding, we had a Beach Volleyball Day for all the guest to hang out, catch up, and get to know one another little more before the Big Day. So our bridal party made T-shirts for everyone. What great friends!

wedding shirts

I love these invites! Jim designed them and had them screen printed on handkerchiefs at a local printer. Many of our friends brought the invitation with them and used it as a pocket handkerchief, which we encouraged on the invitation. One of my co-worker’s mom made a dress out of the two handkerchief for their daughter to wear at the wedding. It was great that everyone found another use for the invitation. Also, his mom helped us make the ceramic birds. (She just happens to have a kiln in her basement. Lucky us!) We had purple and orange ceramic birds with the center piece. There were enough for each of the guest to take some home.

travel wedding invitations

Looking back, my favorite memories were everything leading up to the wedding. Jim and I had an amazing time being creative and incorporating pieces of us in our wedding. We got in engaged in December 2008, and decided to have the wedding in less than 6 month. So it sparked a lot of energy to get motivated and design a wedding that reflected our personalities. At the actual wedding, I think my favorite part was the Pae Bek Ceremony. It was so unique and our friends loved it. It also allowed us to recognize our parents and have them incorporated in the evening. Plus i got to wear a korean hanbok, which was so beautiful.

Vendor Info:
We made it a point to keep it within the community, so the majority our vendors were Culver City locals.

Caterer: Tender Greens, Culver City
Cupcakes (Green Tea, Oreo Cookie, Creamsicle, and Banana Cream): Jessica Madrid (a friend of the couple)
Dress: Handmade by my friend Tamara Dutton Zielinski
Other Desserts: Dolce Forno and a local donut shop
Paek Bek Ceremony (Korean Tea Ceremony) Esther Kim

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