VW milton keynes wedding

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!

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.

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.

 

Friday 13th….unlucky?

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So, we were sat in the office today thinking how odd it was that we had no weddings booked for today – the only Friday in the entire wedding season without a wedding….when some bright spark said “Well who would want to get married on Friday 13th?”   Good point…….but that got us thinking about the bad luck and good luck superstitions that are associated with weddings.

Did you know for example finding a spider in your wedding dress is very good luck – so too is rain on your special day!

sweep

Wilson the classic VW campervan was at a wedding a few months ago with a chimney sweep….meant to be a sign of good fortune at the start of your marriage – why?    Well, over 200 years ago a London chimney sweeper saved the life of King George III, the king then proclaimed all sweeps were good luck bearers – to ensure a long happy marriage a kiss from a chimney sweep on your wedding day is still believed to be the ultimate good luck.

As for the horseshoe that appears so often on a wedding day – well, it’s fair to say it is a symbol of luck – the origins of which are a little unsavoury, so for now just keep carrying those horseshoes, but don’t concern yourself too much with why!

BUT – stop press – the funniest superstition we found was “Having a cat eat out of your left shoe one week before the wedding is good luck” – oh, please let us know if you ever try this one out!!!

Basil, Morris and Wilson, a selection of our split screen campers are all out tomorrow….finger crossed we meet a chimney sweep!

 

Does a date matter?

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So earlier this week I had a bride in tears on the phone as all of our VWs are already booked out on her wedding day next July…….as a flippant comment at the end of the conversation I suggested to her “you could always change your wedding date”…….and today I receive a call from her asking availability of Daphne on some alternative dates for July 2015 as they are liaising with the venue to change their date……

daphne perfect

So would you be tempted to ever change your wedding date?  We’ve had brides who have changed dates to suit there venues, we’ve now had several change date to get the VW of their dream, one bride changed her date to ensure her Bride of Honour wouldn’t be “too pregnant” on her wedding day!

If you’ve planed your wedding date is this weekend (which 9 couples who have booked with Pear Tree Weddings have decided) then you are in quite good company – Spice Girl Mel B, Mel Gibson, Bjorn Borg, Bruce Springstein and Jennifer Lopez also decided the first week in June was a great time to get married!

I married Mr Pear Tree 12years ago now….and we were married on 18th May, my birthday…..so no for me, I wouldn’t change the date, I would have compromised …..but back then I didn’t know about VW weddings, perhaps that would have persuaded me to change my date!!