Winter is not the traditional time of year for weddings, and that’s been our experience in our relatively short existence, with just a steady trickle keeping us going until the Spring when it all starts again. So we were pleasantly surprised to have a wedding a week during December, giving us five in total.
We’ve written before how each wedding is different, and these five were no exception, with a variety of venues, spread throughout the East Midlands. There were differences with whom we were engaged to transport too, as sometimes it was the Bride, sometimes, just the Groom, and also on one occasion, just the Bridesmaids.
As mentioned in our previous post about the London connection, three of the five fell into this category, with two of them being couples now living in London and coming back to their roots for their wedding, and in one instance the family were originally Londoners who’d moved to the region some time ago, and wanted Betty for nostalgic reasons.
Our first couple were the lovely Jasmin & Tim, a couple now living in London but who were married at our most popular venue, the stunning Hazel Gap Barn. The London connection was enhanced as they’d hired a vintage London Bus to transport the guests to the venue.
Our role was first to take the Bridesmaids from the nearby Clumber Park Hotel, and then the Bride and her Father, and we then waited until after the ceremony so that the married couple could have photos taken with their choice of vehicles. Hazel Gap is impressive both inside and out, so photographers love it, especially as the weather was just about in their favour!
For our next lovely couple, Emma & Josh, we had our longest day so far as their wedding was right over close to Skegness in the village Church in East Keale, with everyone being picked up at Woodhall Spa Manor where they would all return to for the reception.
Betty had the important role of taking the Bride to and from her ceremony and on this occasion there was yet another vintage London Bus for guests, plus a black London Taxi for the Bridesmaids, as the couple now live in London and wanted to keep the connection.
Because of access issues at both ends, we weren’t able to get a photo of all three vehicles together, unfortunately. Given the weather around the country at that time, Emma & Josh struck lucky as it was a lovely sunny day right up until they got into Betty to go back the reception venue, when the heavens opened! For this wedding, Betty had burgundy ribbons and flowers.
The London connection continued for the lovely Claire & Christopher, as Claire and her family are Londoners now living in Derbyshire, and hiring Betty was a trip down memory lane. Films made in Hollywood often show it forever raining in London, so the weather on their day was certainly keeping to the script as it was very cold and very wet, which was not conducive to having photos taken outside.
Their wedding was at the impressive Eastwood Hall and our role was to take firstly the Bridesmaids and then return to take the Bride and her Mother and Father. The reception was at the same venue and as the weather was so bad, we didn’t get to see the Groom after the ceremony for photos with Betty. The burgundy colour theme was used for this wedding too.
A change to norm for our next wedding, as we were hired just to take the Groom Stuart and his party to the venue at Morley Hayes Hotel, for his wedding to the lovely Susan, who was already staying there.
We love being involved in surprises and Stuart was totally unaware that Betty was going to be there for him. Susan had organised the surprise and a certain amount of subterfuge was necessary to keep it from him, but he genuinely didn’t know and we hope he enjoyed the experience.
This was just our second wedding at Morley Hayes and it was nostalgic for us as it was the venue for our first ever wedding back in June 2016, and funnily enough we just took the Groom and his party there on that occasion too!
If your wedding is just a couple of days before Christmas, how would a Bride arrive at her wedding ceremony? In a sleigh of course! Although Susan was staying at Morley Hayes, she had a short distance to travel to the ceremony and the Hotel had it covered!
Dark navy and white was the colour theme for this wedding.
We’ve mentioned how two of our couples traveled back to the area from London for their weddings, but their journeys were eclipsed in a big way by the lovely Jennie & Dan who came all the way from South Korea where they now live, to get married in Jennie’s family village of Bassingham in Lincolshire.
The Bride’s transport was already arranged, but we were hired quite late in the day just to take the Bridesmaids from the reception venue, the distinctive Pumping House at Ollerton, to the Church about a 45 minute drive away. It was an unusual day for us as we didn’t have much chance to engage with the Bride on the Day and we didn’t get to see the Groom at all.
Two further unusual aspects to their wedding were, that we believe the Bride was married by her Mother, who is the Vicar at the Church, and the colour theme was black, although we mixed the black bows with white ribbons on Betty.
Another year is over and it’s been our best ever, and these five weddings in December have given us much to think back on as we look forward to 2019 with great anticipation!
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White Taxi Weddings 