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Joe's Diary: Transport

This has to be right for two reasons; firstly we need to be able to get to the venue on time and in one piece. Secondly, this will be the first point where photos will be taken, so we want to arrive in something really special.

Pete and I don't have to travel in the same type of car, he's been talking about one of these huge jeeps that you can get. As long as he doesn't go for some off-road fun on the way I don't mind. He could even get a flash sports car for him and the best man.

For me, there are a couple of factors to bear in mind. I want it to be a classic theme rather than ultra modern, so I don't think a stretch limo will work at all. I'm thinking more along the lines of a Rolls Royce or Bentley. At least I won't have to worry about crumpling my dress like Katie does!

I would like to have a classic car like something from Jeeves and Wooster. Whilst they look gorgeous, I'll have to remember to take a comb so that I can tidy my hair up when I arrive after being blown about!  It being a summer wedding the lack of heating in these kinds of cars won't be an issue either.

Katie is thinking about having a horse and carriage for her day which is very romantic. The only problem is that the reception location has a cattle grid over the drive so the horses wouldn't be able to go over it. One solution might be to have a separate car that could pick her up halfway between the two so she can still have the carriage for the first part of the day. I told her to make sure it has a canopy in case it rains, she said I shouldn't be so practical!

We'll need to have a car for the attendants too, and that could be in a similar style to mine. Of course when we leave the ceremony Pete will be in my car with me, I'm looking forward to that bit!

Pete has done the route with Mark a couple of times to be sure of how long it takes - they did it at the ceremony times on a Saturday as traffic is often worse at those time anyway. Whilst the hire companies might know this kind of thing through experience, it's still a good thing for us to know so that we can adjust the day's timings accordingly. We've marked out all the routes on copies of a local map to send out with the invites so everyone will know where they're going.

I'm also going to look into the hire of a minibus to transport guests without cars between the different points of the day. Some reception venues have one that can be hired for that purpose, I'll have to ask. It will just make everything go much more smoothly but if it isn't possible to get one we'll have to make sure that the best man knows he has to make sure everyone is sorted at each stage. He has a list of local taxi firms and knows who the tee-totallers are too just in case of emergencies.

Leaving the reception is a different matter as we'll be going onto our honeymoon so we'll be leaving in our car. We've told the best man to make sure they don't go too crazy with the decorations as we have to get to the airport hotel!