Surprise Party

The groom drove a pickup truck; the bride machine-tooled his ring. (Ah, love!) Sandra Bullock and her biker beau, Jesse James, floored guests at their barbecue bash when they said "I do" – their way

Originally posted Thursday July 21, 2005 12:00 PM EDT

"We've been engaged since October, suckers!" groom Jesse James told guests on a video they saw shortly before the wedding. Photo by: Todd Williamson / FilmMagic; Albert L. Ortega / WireImage

The bride wore white. And there were flowers everywhere. But the fact that they were flowing out of old barnwood troughs – and that the bride wore cowboy boots under her silk tulle Angel Sanchez dress – was a clue that the wedding of Sandra Bullock and Jesse James was not going to be a traditional affair.

For starters – until a half an hour before the evening ceremony at a ranch in Solvang, Calif., on July 16 – almost none of the guests were sure they'd been invited to a wedding. They RSVP'd instead to a barbeque "in honor of Sandy B. given with love by Jesse J.," as the invite read, to celebrate Bullock's 41st birthday on July 26.

In the requested "evening cocktail attire" on Bullock's side were old pals from elementary school in Arlington, Va., relatives from Germany (where her mother was born) and a handful of celeb buddies including Hugh Grant, Keanu Reeves, William Shatner and Regina King. On the side of the groom – who owns West Coast Choppers custom bike shop in Long Beach, Calif. – were family members and a few Hell's Angels buddies in suits and tattoos.