Helen & Kyle’s Bicycle Themed Wedding at Lincoln’s Cottage in Washington, DC

Trying everything I can do to distract myself from Super Tuesday results. I’ve been canvassing & text banking my FINGERS off, but holy heck the shades of 2016 feelings just can’t stop bubbling up. SO, while I try and keep myself busy with meetings, work, and off of Twitter, I also have one of my FAVORITE weddings to share from last year.

Helen and Kyle were a dream couple – super organized, super laid back, super kind, and SUPER into have a really fun day. They executed that perfectly with a rockstar vendor line up, a gorgeous DC wedding venue, and leaning into the May 4th date just enough ;) Take it away!

We chose Lincoln’s Cottage because I grew up loving history. When Lincoln’s Cottage reopened for public tours in approximately 2008, my parents and I visited together. I suggested it to Kyle as an option and we loved that it was sort of a historical oasis in the middle of the city. It was also special to us to get married just a few miles from where we live and to feel like the wedding venue was part of our neighborhood.

As far as the cycling touches, that stems from Kyle, but has become a big part of our relationship. Kyle has completed multiple Iron Man triathlons and is an avid cyclist. He bikes to work every day and is very engaged with DC’s bike advocacy community. We spend a lot of weekend time on long rides together, including charity rides.

Early on I envisioned Kyle riding down the aisle and the other details flowed from there. Apparently it’s a little slippery to ride a bike in dress shoes.

Personalizing the ceremony was very important to us. Our friend Becca did a beautiful job with the ceremony. The strings played music from my favorite musical, West Side Story, during the processional. I held my great grandmother’s blue embroidered handkerchief as part of the bouquet. my nephews and baby niece were involved…mostly successfully.

We wanted to incorporate our Jewish heritage by including a Ketubah signing ceremony, and traditional Jewish marriage ceremony features like a chuppah, the Seven Blessings, and breaking the glass.

We had a blast during the Hora, even if it was a bit terrifying. We knew we wanted to get married in May, and given the choice of May 4th, we thought it was too hard to pass up. Our nod to the Star Wars day was the light saber send off, and I got Kyle cuff links with a famous quote from the Empire Strikes Back.