It all started with our own wedding, a love of ice cream and one little bike that didn’t actually make it to the big day. Here’s how that idea grew into the Sundae Cycle you see today.
It’s quite strange to think that if Dave and I hadn’t got married in 2017, Sundae Cycle might never have existed.
Because before the weddings, the events, Hetty, three ice cream bikes and The Parlour, there was our wedding, and an ice cream bike that, slightly awkwardly, never actually made it there. 🫣
Where it really started
Ice cream has always been a bit of a thing for us.
Whether it was catching up, checking in after a rubbish day or just finding an excuse for a cheeky treat, somehow ice cream had always found its way into our time together. So when we started planning our wedding in 2017, it felt pretty obvious that it should make an appearance there too.
We started looking at the options available, but nothing we found felt quite like us. And somewhere along the way, the thought crept in:
We could do this ourselves.
Or, more accurately…
We could do this better.
So we got ourselves an ice cream bike and started making plans to turn it into something of our own.
There was just one slight problem.
We didn’t actually finish it in time for the wedding.
So despite Sundae Cycle quite literally being born from the idea of having ice cream at our wedding, there wasn’t actually any ice cream at our wedding. 😂
Not exactly the grand launch story you might expect.
But the bike was there waiting for us afterwards, and what had started as a little idea for our own day had already planted the seed for something much bigger.
From our wedding to yours
Once the wedding was over, we got to work.
The bike was finished, Sundae Cycle officially came to life and we started taking it to other people’s weddings and celebrations.
Looking back now, there’s something quite lovely, and slightly ironic, about the fact that the bike never made it to our own wedding, but has since been part of so many other people’s.
That first bike very quickly became a huge part of our lives.
We started travelling to weddings, parties, festivals and events, meeting some brilliant people along the way and getting to be part of occasions we’d otherwise never have experienced.
There’s something we’ve always loved about serving from the bikes. They naturally end up right in the middle of everything. People gather around them, chat while choosing their flavours and, more often than not, appear again later for another scoop.
And all these years later, that still hasn’t really changed.
One bike became three...
As Sundae Cycle grew, our original bike started picking up a few friends.
Today we have three ice cream bikes, each with its own look and character. Our two wooden bikes have that rustic feel that works beautifully at weddings and outdoor celebrations, while our larger bike brings a little more Sundae Cycle colour to the party.
The bikes are still very much at the heart of the business. They’re where everything started and, despite everything that’s happened since, we can’t imagine Sundae Cycle without them.
But apparently, we weren’t very good at stopping there.
Then came Hetty
At some point, an old Citroën HY van entered the conversation.
Because obviously what a growing events business needed was a vintage van that required restoring.
Meet Hetty.
She was a much bigger project than the bikes, but gradually she was transformed into the ice cream van we’d imagined, and she quickly became another much-loved member of the Sundae Cycle family.
Hetty gave us the opportunity to do something a little different. As well as serving ice cream, we could add sundaes and milkshakes, and her larger footprint meant she could really become part of the backdrop to an event.
And, admittedly, she’s rather good at getting attention.
A few more ideas along the way
If there’s one thing we’re not particularly short of, it’s ideas.
Over the years we’ve kept looking for different ways to make Sundae Cycle work for different celebrations.
Our rustic Bar came along as another way to serve the same Sundae Cycle experience without the wheels, while our Self-Service Station gave us a completely different option…individual tubs ready for guests to grab whenever they fancy one.
Some ideas have started with something a customer needed. Others have come from us looking at each other and saying, “Do you reckon we could make...?”
And usually, before too long, Dave is building something.
That willingness to keep trying things has probably shaped Sundae Cycle more than we realised at the time.
More than just weddings
Weddings will always be a huge part of what we do, and we still get a bit of a buzz from arriving at a venue knowing we’re about to be part of someone’s wedding day.
But over the years, Sundae Cycle has taken us to far more than weddings.
We’ve served at birthday parties, corporate events, festivals, community celebrations and all sorts of gatherings in between.
No two events are ever quite the same, which is probably why we still enjoy it so much.
One day we might be tucked into the gardens of a wedding venue with one of the bikes, another we’re arriving somewhere with Hetty, and another we’re setting up for a completely different kind of celebration.
It keeps us on our toes, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.
And now, we have a home
Which brings us to probably the biggest change Sundae Cycle has seen so far.
After years of taking Sundae Cycle to other people, we’re finally creating somewhere people can come to us.
It’ll be the home of our ice cream production, a place to pop in for something delicious when the doors are open, somewhere to hold celebrations and parties, and a space where we can finally bring to life some of the experiences and ideas we’ve talked about for years.
It feels like a big step from that original ice cream bike.
But strangely, it doesn’t feel like we’re moving away from where Sundae Cycle started.
If anything, it feels like we’re getting to do more of it.
More ice cream. More celebrations. More people around us. And probably quite a few more ideas that we haven’t thought of yet.
Still us. Just a little bigger.
A lot has changed since 2017.
The bike has gained some friends. We’ve got a vintage van, a Bar, a Self-Service Station and now an actual building to call our own.
But the bit we care about most hasn’t really changed.
We still want Sundae Cycle to feel relaxed, friendly and a little bit special. We still love being part of people’s celebrations. And we still get ridiculously excited when someone tells us they’ve come back for another scoop.
So while Sundae Cycle & Co. looks rather different these days, that little ice cream bike is still very much where it all began.
And we’re definitely not parking it up anytime soon.