unusual wedding car

Winter VW wedding jobs!

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So it’s January and we’re not doing weddings…what are we up to at Pear Tree Weddings? Are we relaxing & chilling out until the new wedding season starts? Gosh no….we’re at work harder than ever – just different sorts of hard work!

daphne respray    curtains

We have just under 3 months every year to ensure our wedding hire VWs are in absolutely impeccable condition – we are incredibly proud of our show room standards, but it’s hard work to maintain them!  So, there are some body enhancements for each of the VW campervans and of course for Wilma the wedding Beetle….each vehicle also has a good major service, and (my favourite part) we make interior upgrades.  This year both Daphne and Wilson are having new blinds similar to those in Basil.  Wilson is also having new flooring, similar to that in Morris.  And all the VW camper vans are having some totally fabulous and exciting new buntings and cushions – the designs are simply amazing – can’t wait to share the photos with you!

We are also to-ing and fro-ing with Bruce and Bernie as they receive their total makeovers!

With all this in mind, we have to apologise if we’ve not been in the office as much as normal, although office hours are 9.30am until 2.30pm, Monday to Friday blind making & servcing dont happen in the office, so we’re out & about a fair bit taking VWs for re-sprays, servicing and at home to make 14 blinds……. please be assured though we check email every few hours & pick up messages daily – we’ll get back to you as soon as we can!

Bruce the VW Beach Buggy

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As most of you know, Pear Tree Weddings welcomed a VW Beach Buggy into the family last summer – whilst he was bought for a bit of fun it would seem that not only have we, but quite a few groom’s have fallen in love with our Bruce!  (We’ve even been asked by 3 brides if he can be hired for their wedding day!)  Bus & Buggy….perfect partners!

bus and buggy

Well, it seems a little selfish to keep him for our own pleasure, so we have decided to let Bruce join the Pear Tree Weddings VW fleet, as such he is having additional seats installed, as well as safety roll bars……and he will also be ‘wrapped’ in some new colour…but we’re not quite sure if it should be white or Pear Tree Vintage VW Green to coordinate with Daphne & Basil?

Bruce is a lurid green at the moment….but will soon be looking stylish and sophisticated….well, as sophisticated as a VW beach buggy possibly can!

bruce 2     bruce

Now for a bit of the history of Bruce……Bruce started life as a beach buggy LDV – the LDV standing quite unbelievably for ‘Light Delivery Vehicle’! This meant Bruce started life as a two seater beach buggy with a small load area at the back.

As with most beach buggies Bruce uses a beetle chassis, where the top is simply removed and the new body bolted on top. So although he is indeed a beach buggy from the 70s Bruce has to be legally registered as a beetle from 1963, when the chassis was originally made. Weighing very little and with an aircooled 1671cc engine and straight through exhaust pipes Bruce is fast and loud and makes what can only be described as a unique statement.

So, all that’s left for now is for the Pear Tree Weddings team at HQ to pull together a Bruce ‘Fair Weather Hire Package’ – more details to follow soon.

Bernie the Bus!

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December was a very exciting time for Pear Tree Weddings, not only did Father Christmas very kindly visit, but we also welcomed the arrival of Bernie, our 1966 split screen campervan!

bernie 2

We had been looking for a ‘new’ VW camper van for some months, as the rest of our VW wedding fleet is so busy – and when we saw Bernie we immediately fell in love again.  Bernie is in a little need of work on the outside, he will remain blue as it is such an amazingly popular wedding colour, however his interior is just gorgeous already! He will of course be treated to the Pear Tree Weddings soft furnishings make-over with curtains, cushions and curiosities!

bernie seats

We knew the minute we saw the internet pictures of Bernie that he was a rare gem – and oddly we recognised the interior……very similar to our fabulous vintage green and cream VW camper, Basil, and looked to be of superior quality, very similar to our Bay Window campervan, Flossy.  After a little investigation we were thrilled to discover that Bernie’s interior was recently refurbished by our friends & VW experts – CamperShak (who fabulously fitted Basil & Flossy!)basil doors open

 

Time for VW hibernation!

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For Pear Tree Weddings it is nearly the end of the 2014 VW wedding season – we will review the year in full over the next few weeks, but for now it’s time to look forward to the next few days & the last few winter weddings.

snow

Daphne, Flossy, Basil and Wilma (and Bruce!)  are now all tucked up tightly in their garages & barns taking it easy for a few weeks and enjoying a well earned rest before we start the servicing, detailing and titivating the wedding campervans and beetle ready for the 2015 VW wedding season….in fact today we’ll be making new curtains for Daphne – so although weddings may be slowing, the work for us just changes…..from managing weddings to enhancing & loving our gorgeous show room condition wedding VW fleet!

Over the next few days Wilson and Morris will be attending three weddings, and then they too can have a well deserved break. (Although Wilson is having new flooring and curtains – so he wont rest for  too long!).

So, other companies drive their VWs throughout the winter – why don’t we?  Well here at Pear Tree Weddings we recognise that:

– The VWs dont have ABS brakes or power steering & with the potential of icy roads we just don’t think they’re safe enough for wedding passengers
– The VWs do not like salty roads – wet salty roads are the last thing these VWs need – salt can play havoc with the paint work & under side of the vans & beetle!
– The VWs don’t have the most efficient heating – we really don’t want a shivering bride on her big day!
– ………and most importantly for us – we want a couple of months to work on our award winning fleet to ensure they are in absolutely perfect condition for the 2015 wedding season.

VW Wedding Season slows…..

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So here we are on the 5th November and we are wondering what to do this Saturday!  Although we have weddings on Friday, as the wedding season starts to slow down, we have ring-fenced a Saturday & Sunday off!!! YIIPPEEE!!!!

Here at Pear Tree Weddings we run our wedding season from March when the daffodils start to peep through until the beginning of December when the Christmas tree goes up……we know lots of you get married during the winter months, however we believe our VWs need a rest…..and if i’m quite honest, so do we!

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The vintage and classic wedding VWs don’t have power steering, and they don’t have ABS braking systems….which we think are quite essential for winter road driving, but even more importantly maybe for you, they don’t have efficient heating!!!  We also don’t want the VW wedding fleet suffering from ice and salt – all in all we’d prefer them tucked up in hibernation for the deep winter months.

As for the Pear Tree team?  We’ll be working hard – we’ll be renovating & titivating the VW campervans and VW Beetle, servicing and pampering them too.  In the office we’ll be planning the several hundred weddings we already have on the books for 2015, as well as taking lots of new bookings.

As for this weekend, well, after Fridays weddings have finished the Pear Tree Family will be driving off in to the sunset for a weekend break – enjoying out first Saturday lie in for over 9 months….can’t wait!

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!

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