It’s been a very busy wedding season for Victoria Events. We’ve provided vintage bus hire for couples all over the south east of England, in London, Oxford, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire and even as far as Essex (see areas we cover). As we quieten down and prepare ourselves and continue to take bookings for the 2017 wedding season (several dates are already booked up- contact us asap). In light of our experience, here are a few tips for wedding couples hoping to book a vintage bus (either a london red routemaster bus or vintage single decker bus) for 2017.
Checking Access
A lot of wedding venues can be found down very narrow country lanes which a lot of vintage bus operators are not willing to enter. Our London Routemaster vintage double decker bus is approximately 14ft 5″ tall and therefore cannot access wedding venues, churches and other locations that are only accessible by roads with low hanging trees, low bridges, low gates etc. In these cases our 1952 AEC Regal IV vintage single decker bus is perfect for accessing the wedding venues with height restrictions but remember the vintage single decker bus only has a capacity of 39 passengers. If you are planning on having a vintage bus for your wedding, please make sure you check the access with the wedding venue, whether your hiring your vintage bus in London, Oxford, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire or any other surrounding counties (Essex, Hampshire, Northamptonshire etc). We have less issues with providing vintage double decker buses (specifically the London Routemaster) into London. This may be the home of the London Routemaster but there are still low bridges and low trees present within London. If you are planning to have a wedding within London, it is still worth checking the local roads.
Parking & Turn around
Much like with access, due to the size of both the vintage london routemaster double decker bus and the vintage single decker bus, alot of wedding venues across London, Oxford, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire prove difficult to turn around in. Often at least, a bus can reverse back down the road in which it came from, but this is not ideal if the bus is required to provide a return trip. Ideal wedding venues are those with large car parks as this provides somewhere for our vintage bus to park whilst the wedding ceremony takes place. The trickiest wedding venues and churches to serve are those attached to narrow roads or busy main roads with no available parking. For example, in London, waiting within bus stops is not permitted for an excessive period of time and the majority of roads are either restricted by a double yellow or double red line. There are designated coach bays within London, but these are located at South Kensington, Embankment, Waterloo, Regents Park and other popular London destinations.
Shuttle Style service
Our London Routemaster vintage double decker bus has a capacity of 72 passenger and our AEC Regal IV vintage single decker bus has a capacity of 39 passengers. If your party of wedding guests exceeds the capacity of the bus then we can always provide more then 1 trip on the vintage bus. This service is available for weddings in any county including London, Oxford, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire and other surrounding counties. Having 1 vintage bus to provide a shuttle service is a much cheaper option then providing two vintage buses. The idea works particularly well if the shuttle service is from wedding ceremony to the reception as wedding photos can be taken with close family of the bride & groom, whilst they wait for the second trip from the vintage bus. This option is only effective if the pick up and drop off locations are relatively close to each other. Otherwise wedding guests will have to wait a long time before getting the 2nd trip. A lot of wedding couples provide champagne and nibbles for the wedding guests that await the second vintage bus trip. We allow drinks and snacks on board our buses – see our services and FAQ pages for more details.
Journey times
We always ask wedding couples to allow additional time in the itinerary for unforeseen circumstances. Modern journey planner apps will tell how the time of journey for a modern car, but the journey time does not account for the slower travelling speed of a vintage bus. Our vintage London Routemaster double decker bus and our vintage single decker bus can reach speeds of up to 40mph. We also ask for additional journey time to account for loading and alighting of guests, which can take a while if you are doing so with 72 passengers on a London Routemaster vintage bus. You can always contact us for any advice on journey times. Journey times also affect your quote, as the cost increase depending on the total travlling time to/from you wedding. Whilst our vintage buses can travel to London, Oxford, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Berkshire etc in reasonable time, as mentioned before our buses can only travel up to 40mph. Any counties outside of these areas (Hampshire, Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Essex, Kent, Sussex etc) will take extra travelling time which will unfortunately increase the cost. You can receive a quote here
If your interested in vintage bus hire for your wedding day, whether its a London Routemaster double decker or a vintage single decker bus (see our bus gallery here) why not get in contact orrequest a quote. We offer vintage bus hire for weddings, parties, corporate events, private sight seeing tours, advertising, TV and film (for more info see our services page). We cover a large area including Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, Berkshire and Bedfordshire. We also cover other areas, see our areas covered page or get in contact. For further info on Victoria Events check out our News and FAQ’s.