Rich and I are over the moon that Honey Bugs wedding cars has reached the finals of the South West Wedding Awards 2016!!

We really do want to thank all the couples who voted for us. Its such a cheesy cliche when I say that Honey Bugs really does mean the world to us. We have so much passion and enthusiasm for the business and everything we do behind the scenes only has one purpose in mind, which is making every couple's time with us extra special.

Although I am the first point of contact for enquiries and correspondence, I very rarely get to meet our couples (unless we get to meet at a wedding fayre). When Rich comes in following a wedding, I love hearing all the details. Knowing our couples have enjoyed themselves is one of the highlights of my day. I especially love hearing from our customers after the event and seeing their wedding pictures.

Rich and I are now looking forward to the awards ceremony in March. It will be a great opportunity for us to meet some of the other finalists.

Watch this space, but thank you once again!!

Sarah x

Over our quiet winter period, our vehicles hit the workshop in preparation for the new wedding season.

Rich and I pride ourselves in ensuring our vehicles are kept tip top and wedding worthy. We spend a lot of time, money, blood, sweat and tears into maintaining our vehicles. Over the last couple of months Bella and Hank have both had work completed, ensuring they are kept at their best. 

Bella the convertible beetle was treated to new underseal, protecting her from salt on the roads. In addition, she has had a new stereo fitted and a little touch up to her paint work.

Hank the camper also got the VIP treatment. His wedding curtains and bunting were taken down and Hank hit the Westcoast workshop. In this time his new engine got its first 500 mile service and he was treated to some new shiny wheels and deluxe trim. However, more importantly Hank was fitted with a new front beam to provide a smoother ride when he is travelling at full capacity.

Congratulations to Nicola and Paul who got married in Newquay on the 24th October 2015. 

The happy couple traveled to Cornwall to get married and chose St. Michaels Church for their ceremony and the beautiful Bohdi's on Fistral Beach for their reception.
On the day of the wedding Rich and I had feared that the weather was going to be too wet for Bella to go topless, so armed with brollies, we loaded up Hank and Bella preparing for wet weather. Luckily, shortly before leaving to collect the bride and groom the rain cleared and the sun came out!

Dressed in Autumnal red ribbons Bella set off to the Hotel Victoria to collect the groom and best man and Hank went to Trenance Tourist Park to collect the bridsmaids. Hank and Bella then returned for the bride and remaining bridesmaids.
Following the ceremony, Paul and Nicola went for a litttle spin around Newquay before heading for photos near Little Fistral.

Thank you Paul and Nicola for letting us play a small part on your very special day!

We always get super excited when we receive bookings for two cars, as it always makes for a head turning sight. So when Sarah got in touch and booked a camper and two beetles for her wedding cars we knew it was going to be a fab journey.

On the 15th August Hank, Bella and Bradley (driven by the two Daves and Rich) collected Sarah and her bridesmaids from the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay. All three cars drove in convoy to Crantock church for the ceremony. It was a hot and sunny day and perfect VW wedding weather. Following the service, Sarah had arranged for a white double decker bus (to the match the wedding cars), to take all her guests from the church to the reception at Lusty Glaze in Newquay.

Rich and the drivers let the guests go ahead, whilst the beetles and Hank went for a lap of honor through Newquay town centre! As you can imagine there were lots of waves and smiles as Sarah, Andy and the three cars dove through town. There was also a lot of cheerful claxon horn blowing and beeping (from us) as we announced our arrival! We even had the bridesmaids singing along to Hank's wedding tunes!

When we eventually reached Lusty Glaze, Sarah and Andy had photos with each of the cars, and although they traveled in Bella, they also jumped into Hank for Photos.

This was a really lovely beach wedding, with beautiful beautiful wedding colours and a fantastic couple. We wish Sarah and Andy lots and lots of future happiness.

It seems an eternity since we said goodbye to Hank and sent him off for a full restoration and wedding make over. After seven long months, he is finally back and looking fabulous. With brand new paint thanks to West Coast and a brand new interior made by Rich, Hank is looking fab!

When thinking about his make over, we decided that we wanted to be able to provide our customers with a greater seating capacity. Therefore, we decided to remove his traditional camper interior (fridge, sink, cooker and units.. after all who wants a kitchen sink on their wedding photos). Hank was then giving a lovely cream interior and a upgraded sound system, ideal for your favourite tunes. We also wanted to choose a  new colour that would go with all colour schemes and match our existing cars.

Although Hank is now a wedding camper and no longer doing self drive holidays, we still wanted to maintain that beach laid back feel. Rich decided to put a nice hard wood floor down and make a beach affect unit to house the speakers. To top this off, we resprayed his retro cool box in the same matching colours, perfect for keeping bubbly or beers for the men cold.

We are so pleased with how Hank has turned out and his first debut wedding was a massive hit! Everyone fell in love with him. 

We were super excited when we were asked to drive Newquay Carnival Queen and her attendants through Newquay in our two convertible beetles; Bella and Miss Molly,

This years VIP carnival queen was Ellie Southwick who was the belle of the ball in a lovely dress provided by Country Cream Bridal shop. 

On the day of the carnival Bella was decorated in pink ribbons, bows, roses and balloons. Miss Molly was decorated in peach ribbons, bows and ivory balloons. 

I started to write this blog way back in May, however with one thing or another I never had time to publish it as we have been so busy.  On Tuesday 5th May Richard and I got married. This is our second time round, so we decided to keep it a small affair. So on Tuesday 5th May Rich and I got married in Truro registry office, followed by an intimate reception for immediate family at the Headland Hotel in Newquay.

On the morning of the wedding Rich left for the registry office in Bella and I went in Miss Molly. Since my wedding colours were yellow, Miss Molly was perfect. Over the last year, we have actually been very lucky for weather and Bella and Miss Molly have usually been able to have their roofs down for the brides and grooms. However, in typical fashion, we had to get married on a wet and windy day!! That meant the roofs had to be up! Never mind. 

During the ceremony, Rich was a tad naughty, saying his vows with a mischievous glint in his eye and a tone of voice that he knew would crack me up! And yes, it did! I had a fit of the giggles!

Following the ceremony, Rich drove us both back to the Headland Hotel, stopping off at Trenance Gardens for photos. We would have liked to have gone on the beach, but it was far too windy!

Rich and I had a lovely chilled day. A lovely lunch and fabulous wedding cake supplied by Newquay party cakes and a lovely evening meal in the Headland restaurant. At this point I have to give a massive thank you to Oliver Harris who did our photography. Oliver did a wonderful job! That evening Rich and I were spoiled, and my mum treated us to a night in the hotel. Bliss!

However, the celebrations weren't quite over. The following saturday we had a small reception for family and friends, Honey Bugs style! We decided to rent the BBQ lodge from Coastal Valley Campsite in Newquay and throw a BBQ party. Tanya and Andy from Coastal Valley were amazing!!! We were worried that the weather would be iffy, so they erected their huge marquee for us. I put on my dress again (with yellow pumps) and we filled the marquee with hay bales, blankets, bunting and lighting and it was perfect. We also took the Photo Bus down for our guests to use. Whats the point of having a really cool photo booth if you cant use it yourself!! The sun shone and the day was perfect. When the sun went down, the tea lights in jars and the light from the flickering flames around the fire pit, lit up the night sky. My huge jars of cocktails also gradually slowly went down (pimms, mystery green punch and my lovely paint stripper).

Rich knew I was a little disappointed that we had no first dance, so he made sure our song came on and he made sure we had a dance! :)

This may not have been your typical wedding. There were no speeches, no formality, but it was just us! I have done the big wedding and now I've done the small alternative wedding and I would say one thing, A wedding is more than a fancy cake, favours, hundreds of people and thousands of pounds A wedding is what you want it to be. Its more important to have the people who are dear to you there. In years to come it wont matter if you had pink or lilac sugared almonds or if you didn't quite have the weather you wanted. At the end of the day its about the people who were there and finding the right mr or mrs to share your life with.

Have you heard about the Wedding Alliance Cornwall? The Alliance contains some of Cornwall's best wedding suppliers. The Alliance only allows businesses that are known for supplying a trust worthy and top quality service for their customers. Before a business can join, it has to meet certain criteror and is assessed by a panel. I am pleased to say that Honey Bugs is a member of the Alliance!

The Alliance has its own website where suppliers offer exclusive promotions for couples that sign up as a bridal member. They are given a membership number which when quoted, will allow brides/grooms the ability to use these discounts.

Today was the fist Alliance wedding fayre at the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay and boy was it a success! It was so lovely to see that this was a wedding fayre with a difference! All the suppliers were fully energised and put on a great show! With interactive stands and freebies, ques of people lined up to register for an Alliance membership number. Honey Bugs were offering 10% off Bella bookings and took three confirmed booking for campers and beetles during the day. I love days like today! There is no better feeling than being able to meet new couples and talk about our cars (of which I am very proud). Roll on the next one.

If you would like to sign up for exclusive Wedding Alliance discounts, please visit
 www.wedding-alliance.co.uk/

The Photo Bus belongs to  Fistral Bays and is a mobile photo booth in a retro VW camper van. 
Unlike many camper photo booths (which usually contain a digital camera and a few props), the Photo Bus is a permanent photo booth and  is fitted out with state of the art technology with studio lighting, instant print facilities and green screen capabilities! 

The Photo Bus comes complete with a range of fun photo props to keep your guests in fits of giggles and with optional red carpet your guests will feel like a VIP.

The Photo Bus camper booth will be available for weddings, corporate events, charity and social events, private parties. If you are having a themed party or event, the range of photo props can be tailored to suit your requirements. 

So what are you waiting for? Book the Photo Bus, grab a prob, strike a pose and SMILE.

It feels like its taken an age, but I'm glad I can finally say that the rickshaw restoration is finally underway!

We bought the 1970's rickshaw back in 2013 with the intention of restoring it and turning it into quirky and alternative wedding transport for Cornwall weddings. With one thing or another, the poor rickshaw got overlooked! For almost a year it sat in the corner of the garage in pieces waiting to be reassembled and done up.

Over the last few weeks, the rickshaw frame has been rubbed down and resprayed white. Whilst Rich gets on with re-upholstering the seats, I have been painting underneath the frame in black (to give it a little protection from the elements). One thing we have noticed and chuckled at, is just how original it is! Back in the 1970's this little rickshaw was hand made in Indonesia. All the mud guards and parts of the frame have been fabricated and beaten by hand! Its hard to imagine where this little rickshaw has been and all the passengers it has ferried.

Rich has now put the frame and bike back together, so next stop is to get the somewhat rusty wheels re-spoked! The wheels are the original 1970's wheels and are not easily replaced, so you can imagine our panic when we thought we had lost one during the re-build! Don't worry, we've found it now!

One thing we did notice as we began to put the frame back together, was just how long it actually is! Having been in pieces over the year, we had forgotten its size. Rich and I looked at each other and in the in the famous words immortalised by Jaws we agreed "we're gonna need a bigger boat", or in our case a bigger van to deliver the rickshaw. With all the best will in the world, I cant see Rich wearing a crash helmet and goggles and cycling up and down the  A30 to delivery i!t

Over the next two weeks the plan is to finish off the painting, rebuilding the side panels and getting the new upholstery completed. Watch this space for for rickshaw updates.  

Here are a couple of pictures of the rickshaw, before it was bolted back together.