If there is one event in people’s lives that follows time-tested traditions more than others, it is their wedding. These apply to many aspects of weddings such as what should be worn, who gives the speeches, what the cake should look like, and there are even traditions and etiquette that relate to the wedding cars.
This applies not just to what sort of cars should be used, but to other matters such as the order of the cars arriving, who travels with whom in each car. and how the wedding car should be decorated. Read on, and you will discover more about these, and other wedding car traditions and etiquette.
Car Types
In practical terms, you could arrive at your wedding not just in any car you want, but in any vehicle. That includes a horse-drawn cart, a taxi, or even a motorbike as some brides and grooms have done. However, for a traditional arrival at your wedding, whether you be the bride or the groom, it is usual to hire wedding cars with certain attributes such as being large, luxurious, stylish, and regarded as being lavish.
Who Travels with Whom
Some start preparations for their wedding, not 100% certain who is meant to travel with whom. Most know that the bride travels with her father in one car, but if it is large enough, one or more of her bridesmaids can travel with them.
More often, the bridesmaids all travel in a car together and in that car, the bride’s mother is usually present too. The groom and his best man travel together, and the ushers also travel in one car. You might hire a wedding car for the groom’s parents to travel to the ceremony unless they opt to make their own arrangements.
Order Of Car Arrival
Not only are there traditions as to who travels with whom in each car, but it goes further to the etiquette of who arrives at the wedding ceremony in which order. In most cases the order will be as follows:
- First: The usher or ushers will arrive. As the head usher is the person who ensures the whole day goes to plan, it makes perfect sense for him to turn up first to check on everything.
- Second: The second car to arrive should be the one carrying the groom and his best man.
- Third: Once the groom has arrived, it is usually time for the guests to start arriving. If it is an extremely large and lavish wedding, some guests may have wedding cars hired for them.
- Fourth: After the guests arrive, the car with the bride’s mother, which usually also carries the bridesmaids, should arrive next.
- Final Car: The final car to arrive at the wedding ceremony is traditionally that of the bride-to-be along with her father, or the person who will be giving her away.
Car Decorations
Dependent on what the wedding car company allows, the minimal decoration should be the white ribbons tied to the front of the wedding car and stretching back across the bonnet. Beyond that, flowers, flags, signs, cuddly toys, balloons, and tin cans are all traditional wedding car decorations.
After The Ceremony
One last tradition is the bride and groom travelling from the ceremony to the reception, or from the reception for their honeymoon. The wedding car they share for the journey can have a “Just Married” sign, and tin cans tied to the rear of the car is a tradition too.