A wedding photographer’s guide to wedding cars

Regular readers of my blog and social media pages will get the impression that I like cars. Well that’s an understatement, I love cars, especially old cars, big gas guzzling old American cars, old classic British cars, well I think you get the picture. I get to see all sorts of cars at weddings so this is my guide to wedding cars from a wedding photographer and petrol head point of view.

Classic or modern?

Hmm, easy one for me. It has to be classic but I can see the appeal of a modern car. Over the years I have seen modern Bentleys, Rolls Royce and Mercedes. All looked amazing and did a sterling job, the Bentley below belonged to Georgie’s grandfather and looked stunning at her Bowdon Rooms wedding, last summer.

One, two or a limo?

Decisions, decisions. One car is fine if you are travelling from your preparation location to the wedding ceremony location if 1. there is no bridal party or 2. the distance between those two locations is short and the driver can drop off the bridal party in one trip and then go to pick up the bride for the second trip. If that scenario doesn’t suit you then maybe you need to think about two cars or even a stretch limo, which can seat around 8. This Chrysler limo was the transport of choice for Debra and Phil at their Nunsmere Hall wedding last year.

Have you thought about the wedding bus?

This is a great idea, the old London bus has had a revival in the last few years. Perfect for transporting not only the bridal party but all the guests as well. Solves the issues of people getting lost and turning up late for ceremonies etc. The wedding bus below was arranged by Laura & Dan for their wedding at Whitley Hall in South Yorkshire last summer. I was invited along for the ride and it was great fun.

My favourite wedding cars

It’s a tough one, my old mate Chris at Classic Wedding Cars Cheshire has a beautiful old MK2 Jaguar. Those that know me well, know I am a sucker for Jaguars, I’ve owned two myself, although nothing as old as a MK2. As a small boy growing up watching Minder on TV, Arthur Daley’s love of the XJ6 rubbed off on me and I promised myself I’d own one. I was lucky enough to do just that 20 years later. Here’s Chris’s MK2 at Adlington Hall in Cheshire, doing a fab job for Alice and Rob.

What other cars are suitable for weddings?

I must stop talking about Jaguar, there are other wedding cars available and I suppose the absolute classic wedding car has to be the Rolls Royce. I don’t think I can say anymore about this car, everyone knows and loves them, so here are a couple of my favourites.

Traditional or Quirky?

I suppose it depends on the type of wedding you are planning. I see more and more couples moving away from the traditional wedding and choosing something a little different and quirky and naturally the choice of wedding car reflects this. How about a London taxi, like this one from The Plaza in Stockport. This was Lisa & Tibor’s choice and I think you’ll agree it suits the wedding extremely well.

Sometimes, there may be a car that belongs to the family, something that has sentimental meaning or maybe just a car which would lend itself well to being used on the day. How about this classic MG, which was owned by Kelly. The car was stored at her London home and in a bit of a state until her husband to be Richard decided to get it back on the road and transported it up to Cheshire for their Cherry Orchard Farm wedding. Not sure that they appreciated the weather on their wedding day and I’m not sure the little MG did either, but it provided sterling service.

And finally, how about this for a totally unsuitable but fantastic wedding car. A Porsche 356, this car was the predecessor to the 911. The couple here were married at Blackpool’s Wedding Chapel earlier this month. I’m not sure the groom really enjoyed having to sit across the back seat, with bride and dad up front but it certainly made for a quirky choice.

What about no wedding car?

Don’t forget long before the car, there was always Shanks’s pony (youngsters use Google for this) and this is exactly what Cathy & Antony used for their remarkable People’s History Museum wedding late last year. Rain, no car, just a yellow umbrella, suede shoes for Antony and one pair of the most eye catching shoes I’ve ever seen for Cathy.

So there you have it, my wedding photographers guide to wedding cars, was it useful? I doubt it but it gave me a chance to post some photos of cars and who can argue with that 🙂