Wedding car goes off course and crashes into shop window

September 9, 2011 By Dez Rowley
wedding-car-crash

A vintage wedding car decked out with white ribbons especially for the occasion, ended up halfway through a shop window after the chauffeur lost control of the vehicle before ploughing into a shop front in County Armagh.

The accident happened last Saturday afternoon, moments after the bride and her father, who had been travelling onboard the wedding car, had stepped out of the vehicle. The chauffeur had just dropped the bridal party off at St Mark’s Parish Church in Portadown, Northern Ireland, when he decided to move the wedding car into a different position, ready for when the bride and groom emerged from the church.

However disaster struck as the chauffeur attempted to manoeuvre the wedding car into a different position as he suddenly lost control of the classic silver wedding car, darting through two parked cars and a line of traffic before smashing into a shop window. Luckily there were no pedestrians on the pavement, or traffic coming in the opposite direction when the wedding car crashed across the road and into the nearby building.

No injuries were reported following the accident, the only thing that was hurt was the chauffeur’s pride as one eyewitness described the driver as looking very embarrassed.

It’s not known if a replacement wedding car was sent to collect the bride and groom after their original wedding car was forced out of action.

Filed Under: All News, Chauffeur News, Transport News, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Wedding car holds special memories for bride

January 5, 2011 By Carl Wheeler
picture-wedding-car

Nine college friends of a bride who tied the knot in Malaysia last month decided to create a very thoughtful wedding present for the 27-year-old on her big day.

Bride-to-be Li Xin-yi was completely blown away when her friends presented her with a wedding car which the group had personalised by covering it entirely in photos of the happy couple.

The friends all met eight years ago while studying at the Equator Academy of Art in Malaysia and have been a close-knit group ever since. When the 27-year-old revealed her plans to wed her long-term partner, 29-year-old Li Zheng-rong before Christmas, the group decided they wanted to commemorate the special occasion with a memorable gift.

The nine wedding guests stayed up until 3am on the morning of the wedding to put the final touches to the extra special wedding car. The Toyota Rav was transformed into a moving scrapbook after the friends got busy sticking photographs of the bride and groom over ever surface of the car. It’s estimated it took over 500 photographs to completely cover the car.

As well as the specially created picture wedding car, the bride’s father also hired two vintage wedding cars especially for the big day, both of which were over 70 years old and classic vehicles.

UK based limo hire company, Limo Broker, is currently offering special deals on both classic and modern wedding car hire for bookings in 2011 so get in touch to learn more. Unfortunately Limo Broker doesn’t currently offer a facility to decorate their wedding cars with personal snaps of the bride and groom!

Filed Under: All News, Car Hire News, Chauffeur News, Limo News, Transport News, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Prince William and Kate Middleton heading down the aisle in 2011

November 16, 2010 By Trudi Johnson
Prince-William_Kate-Middleton

Prince William and Kate Middleton will be heading down the aisle in 2011, it has been confirmed.

The prince finally proposed to his girlfriend of 8-years during a private holiday in Kenya last month. In a statement released by Clarence House today, it was revealed that William asked permission from Kate’s father before asking her to marry him.

No date for the royal wedding has been announced yet, although the palace says it will take place sometime during the spring or summer of next year. More details of the wedding will be released in due course.

Speculation has been mounting over the past few months as whispers reached the press that the announcement of a royal wedding was imminent. The biggest indication that an engagement was on the cards came after Kate’s parents were invited to stay at the Queen’s Scottish estate, Balmoral.

Following the 2011 wedding, which will take place in London, the couple will start married life in North Wales where William is based with his role in the Royal Air Force.

The couple met in 2001 when they were both studying at St Andrews University, and lived together in student accommodation along with two other students during their time in Uni. The pair split briefly in 2007, but rekindled their romance within a few weeks of the break-up.

Next Year’s nuptials will be the biggest royal wedding since the marriage of Prince William’s parents, Prince Charles and Diana the Princess of Wales, in 1981.

Filed Under: All News, Celebrity Watch, UK Events, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Tractor serves as wedding car for couple’s cave wedding

October 6, 2010 By Trudi Johnson
church-cave

With a tractor for a wedding car and a bride in welling ton boots, there was nothing traditional about the wedding of Andy Taylor and Jaclyn Harbot who tied the knot in a cave in the Scottish Hebrides this week.

The couple, who got engaged in New York’s Central Park a year ago, came across the isolated cave on the Island of Rona while on holiday last year and were so overwhelmed by the location, they vowed to get married at the spot.

The venue for the big day was Cave Church, near the Isle of Skye, which is situated halfway down a steep cliff and only reachable by foot via a precarious muddy path. The remains of when the spot served as a church are still evident with pews, now replaced with boulders, lining the Cave Church area.

Given the unique wedding location many traditions went out of the window. The chauffeur driven Rolls Royce wedding car was dispensed with and replaced with a tractor and a boat, while the bride’s meringue dress was exchanged for something more practical which wouldn’t drag in the mud.

Only a handful of close family members attended the big day due to the unusual choice of venue. The wedding reception was held on the island’s only permanent residence.

Filed Under: All News, Car Hire News, Transport News, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Entrepreneurial mother starts up luxury chauffeur driven car hire business

May 19, 2010 By Trudi Johnson
Chauffeur driven Alfa Romeo hire available in County Durham

Chauffeur driven Alfa Romeo hire available in County Durham

After being made redundant, business minded Carole Barton decided to take matters into her own hands by starting up her own company.

The mother of two felt inspired to launch her own luxury chauffeur driven car hire company in County Durham as she wanted to combine her love of driving with her social skills. The 50-year-old has wasted no time in throwing herself into the business, even enrolling on a specialised course to learn about chauffeur etiquette as she intends to offer her customers a professional and competent service.

Ms Barton has one Alfa Romeo 159 in sparkling white available at the moment. She hopes to offer something different from other luxury hire companies as although the Alfa Romeo is a top quality car, not many companies offer this vehicle for hire, so she hopes this will set her apart from her competitors.

The businesswoman has her sights set on offering a top class chauffeur service for corporate travel, as well as transport for special occasions such as weddings and birthdays, school proms, or even airport transfers.

The company is also offering an incentive to try and encourage repeat business by offering a 10% discount to any future bookings a customer may make.

The chauffeur driven luxury car hire company thinks it has something new to offer the people of County Durham and ambitious Ms Barton hopes to have another three vehicles and chauffeurs working for her within the next three years.

Filed Under: All News, Car Hire News, Chauffeur News, Transport News, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Wedding car with a special family connection

April 13, 2010 By Dez Rowley
A Jaguar Mark ll which had passed through 3 generations of the family was used as the wedding car

A Jaguar Mark ll which had passed through 3 generations of the family was used as the wedding car

A bride-to-be from Australia travelled to the ceremony on the big day in a wedding car which held some very dear memories for the man she was about to marry.

The 1960’s Jaguar, which transported bride Chantel Dielwart on her wedding day, was originally bought by the groom Quinton’s grandfather who lived in South Africa.

Sadly Quinton’s grandfather died in his 40’s and the car was passed down to his son, Quinton’s father, Marteen, who brought the Jaguar Mark ll over to Australia and spent 23 years restoring it. But another blow was about to strike the Dielwart family.  Marteen died 10 months ago, and never saw the car completed.

When it came to finding a wedding car for their big day, there was only ever one option for Chantel and Quinton. After the date was set the couple swung into action to get the Jaguar back to its best for the special occasion. The evening before the wedding day, the Jaguar was finally finished.

With so much history associated with the car, it was the perfect ride for the newlyweds and also marked the first time the Jaguar had been driven on the open road in 22 years.

Filed Under: All News, Car Hire News, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

North Wales wedding car fleet wiped out by arson attack

March 16, 2010 By Dez Rowley

Arsonists torch vintage wedding car fleet

A fleet of vintage wedding cars estimated to be worth £130,000 has been destroyed in what police believe was an arson attack.

A couple from North Wales, Sharon and Phillip Hughes run Oakfields Chauffeured Vehicles from their home in Wrexham, North Wales.

In total 6 wedding cars were destroyed in the blaze including 2 vintage Beauford wedding cars, plus 2 Daimler limos, a Roadster, Jaguar, and a classic motorcycle.

The fire was started late on Friday night. The couple happened to notice the flow of the fire from the garage where the motor vehicles were kept, and notified the emergency services.

Mrs Hughes described how her husband attempted to save the weddings cars from the flames, however the fire was so fierce that he risked injuring himself and is said to have suffered from smoke inhalation as a result.

Despite the devastation this has brought to the family-run business, the owners are determined the incident “won’t grind us down” and has vowed to get back on their feet very soon. Couples who had booked wedding cars for the weekend were found alternative transport with the help of Mr and Mrs Hughes.

Those brides and groom-to-be who have booked a wedding car with Oakfields Chauffeured Vehicles should not despair as the owners say they will get in touch with each customer to reassure them that their wedding day transport will still be provided. They hope to have a new fleet of wedding cars up and running in the very near future.

Filed Under: All News, Chauffeur News, Limo News, Transport News, Wedding News Tagged With: , , , , ,