Horse Drawn Wedding Carriages
Lots of people these days fancy the idea of being driven to the ceremony and to the reception in a beautiful horse-drawn carriage, or even in a small cart pulled by a pony. Numerous companies that specialise in supplying horse-drawn vehicles for weddings and make a good living out of it.
If this is something you are contemplating, think carefully. Unless it's an experienced wedding carriage puller, even the most placid and laid-back horse or pony is unlikely to be comfortable with crowds of people waving and shouting excitedly. And even those experienced carriage pullers can be spooked by a car backfiring or other sudden, loud noise.
You might think that a couple of dear old cart horses couldn't possibly be anything other than sweetness and light as they pull you to your dream wedding. But if you have ever seen a couple of 19 hand Shires spook at full gallop you may prefer to consider a more mechanical option.
Horse-drawn wedding vehicle companies
Ask the company for references and also visit their yard and ask to meet their horses. If the horses look calm, clean and in good health you're probably OK. Beware horses that seem shy, skittish, sweated up, underweight, or with scars on their heads and other harness areas of their bodies (mainly the neck, shoulders and back).
Private horse-drawn vehicles
Ironically this may be the better option, especially if you know the horse's owner well and trust him or her and his/her judgment. A privately owned horse is likely to be more of a docile pet than one owned by a carriage yard and is also likely to have a better relationship with its owner/driver.
Almost certainly the owner will want to rehearse the journey with the horse (beware if s/he doesn't) so it doesn't encounter any surprises on the day. You might enjoy going along for the ride, if you have time, to make sure you don't have any previously unknown qualms about horse-drawn transport. Also, assuming the vehicle used for the rehearsal is the same one to be used on the day, you can check out realistically how easy or hard it will be to climb up into and down from the vehicle in your wedding attire.
It's a good idea to warn as many of your bridal party and guests as possible that on the day you will be arriving and departing via real, live horsepower, and tell them not to do anything that could cause a fright.
