Basil

Pear Tree Weddings?

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Ok, so what do Pear Trees have to do with weddings? So many people over the years have told us what a gorgeous name our company has…… but few people know Pear Tree Weddings comes from the home of our vintage and classic VW wedding fleet….Pear Tree Cottage!  We have numerous pear trees in the garden, and more senior neighbours have told us stories of how, as children, they used to climb the cottage garden wall to steal pears on the way to school!  When we first started our business our logo was of Flossy and a pear tree, we even had leaf inspired font!

pears  door  pear tree old logo

Wilma is a lucky girl, she sleeps snuggled up in the toasty warm garage, whilst Flossy (our 1972 white bay window campervan) Daphne (our 1964 split window vintage green camper) and Bruce (our mad VW beach buggy) are covered in a protective weather proof ‘duvet’ – and sit on the drive way at Pear Tree Cottage.  These members of the fleet have tip top security, with not only ram proof locked barriers but also CCTV watching every minute of every day to ensure that they are safe & happy!  The rest of the fleet; Morris (our 1958 vintage two tone cream split screen VW), Wilson (our 1960 two tone cream split screen van) and Basil (our 1963 vintage green and cream luxurious wedding campervan) are all together in a rather fabulous local farm barn, set in the middle of Northamptonshire’s finest countryside, what a view they wake up to every day!

Having started Pear Tree Weddings quite some years ago now, we have been lucky enough to not only receive loads of VW campervan gifts, but we’ve also been inundated with Pear gifts too! Thank you to all those who have sent them in, they are pride of place in the new Pear Tree Weddings Head Office Shed!

shed beam 2shed beam 1

 

How many people can you fit in a VW?

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Well – 27 people can be crammed into a classic mini…..so no doubt you can get hundreds in to a VW campervan??? Wrong……

By law we can only transport a maximum of 8 people in to a VW campervan – after this we would require a mini-bus license. So, yes, we can take 7……but we don’t advise it!

We want you to be comfortable during your VW journey, we want it to be enjoyable and we don’t want you feeling squished in – the maximum number of passengers we recommend is 6…..BUT even that depends on the size of the people, the dresses & the hats!!!

daphne leo  wilson & chaps  bridesmaidsdaphne 22 march

We tend to have up to 5 passengers in the back seats – our seats have the advantage of facing each other, some wedding campers have the curved bench seats which inevitably means knees can bump, and the person on the curve can get squashed.  In the split screen campers each bench seat is 1m 50cm wide, with the opposite seat 1m 20cm wide….one seat is shorter as the built in Champagne units take up some space.  Except Basil – he has two 1m50cm seats as his Champagne unit has been hand crafted to the rear of the back seat (very clever!).  We can take one passenger up front with the chauffeur – but since the handbrake and gear stick are positioned central to the van in the front we don’t like two passengers up front otherwise the poor chauffeurs has to lean across one of your guests just to change gear!

S flossy bridesmaids silver morris bride & groom petrol bridesmaids

So work it out for yourselves – we think the more space the better, so if you are less than 3miles from your ceremony venue, why not let us do two trips – giving you the maximum comfort a VW can offer.

 

Time to reflect

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It doesn’t seem possible that we are nearly half way through the 2014 wedding season – as  July and August draw closer we are preparing for the busiest few weeks of the VW Wedding year.  We uncovered the VWs from their winter hibernation in March, and they’ve enjoyed fresh spring days, torrential down pours, as well as brilliant blue skies – basking in the heat of the summer sun.

morris yellow   wilson rain 2   wilson - lilac and pale blue

Whilst we plan for the 7 weddings we have this week we’ve been looking back at the range of beautiful churches we’ve travelled to, the gorgeous wedding venues we’ve visited and the variety of brides & grooms that we’ve met…..for every wedding we’ve been too – one thing remains constant, the love of VWs!

wilma and daphne   wilson-notley5385f55a96278.jpg   12th april charlotte & danny

We’d best get making bows now, but enjoyed our little reflection of the season so far…..can’t wait to see where else we get to, who else we meet and of course what else we may work alongside!

basil with green vintage car  daphne & london bus       morris cream vintage car

ribbons & bows!

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The VWs love being part of your wedding, and they adore being a central part of your photographs…..and they always dress to impress, looking their best.

So occasionally we have a bride who says it doesn’t matter what colour ribbon they choose…..how wrong you can be!  We thought we’d share some  amazing pictures of the VWs who have all been dressed in coloured ribbons to coordinate with bridesmaids or bridal bouquets!

      shirley 12th karen hearn daphne pic 6

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We have a range of about 14 basic colours for ribbons that can coordinate with the season or with the bridal party!  If you would like another colour as long as it can be sourced as a ‘poly ribbon’ we are happy to dress the VW in an alternative colour.  We charge extra for non-standard ribbon & bow colours, usually about £10….however if you are happy to spend some extra pennies on ribbon, why not have your own personalised ribbons, with the name of bride & groom and wedding date printed on….your choice of colours, your choice of print colour.

printed bow morris printed ribbons

The personalised ribbon for the ‘V’ shape across the front will cost £10, which we tend to coordinate with plain bows.  Alternatively you can purchase printed handmade bows – we require a set of 4 for each wedding (although we only use 3 it is wise to have a spare!)  A set of handmade bows costs £35.  All extra lengths of ribbon will be sent in the post to you after your wedding.

However…..if you don’t fancy colour…..then ivory or white can look stunningly classic!

12th april charlotte & danny

What’s in a name?

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……a rose by any other name may smell as sweet according to Shakespeare , BUT would a Pear Tree Wedding VW Wedding camper still be as cool if it had another name?

So we have the VW wedding campervans: Morris, Wilson, Basil, Daphne and Flossy and our gorgeous VW wedding Beetle: Wilma – some of the most fabulous names we think you’ll agree.  They give each VW a character, and each name was chosen for a very specific reason – and no, not just because they’re awesome names…..but each wedding VW has its name for a reason!

lauren      S

Morris: Morris had lived in an old barn in San Fernando, California for 15years until he came across to join the Pear Tree Weddings VW Wedding Camper team during the 2012 Olympics…… Mrs Pear Tree was very keen to call him Mo after Mo Farrah, and Little Miss Pear Tree has her heart set on Borris, after Borris Johnson – and so the battle of the names began…..until some little 5year old bright spark piped up with “Why don’t you put the names together and call him Morris?” – thank you Master Pear Tree!

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Wilson: Wilson came to the UK about the time the Tom Hanks Castaway movie came out over here– the ball in Castaway was a Wilson Sporting Goods volleyball,  that became a friend to the castaway, which he simply called Wilson.

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Basil: Basil is a stunning vintage green colour, he was named after the fresh green herb, and used to work alongside other VW wedding campers & Beetles called Parsley and Thyme!

Daphne:  Daphne came to us in summer 2013, and we really struggled to name her – nothing seemed quite right, so we opened it up on Facebook asking people to suggest names.  We had some fantastic suggestions, but some shrewd Facebooker realised her number plate started with “D A P” and suggested Daphne.

helen

Flossy:  Flossy came to us when she was called Kojak, but we just knew she was a girl, so that name just didn’t suit her.  On her first family weekend out we went to a festival where the children ate pure white candy floss, and they decided the VW camper should either be called Candy or Flossy….Flossy won!

Wilma: well you all know about her as you read the blog last week!!!

…….and if you didn’t it because brides would ask “Will ma dress fit in?” (the answer is yes by the way!)