How much did you say”. I only want the carriage to take me to the service, pick me up afterwards and for taking pictures. That’s the number one response we receive from our initial enquiries for our services.
It is hard for most of our clients to fully understand the additional work that goes into preparing for all the services we offer.
Just from our prospective the preparation required to ensure that everything goes perfect far exceeds the actual time spent at the specific event. The following will we hope give our clients some insight into the cost of our services.
The Wedding
In the Horse and Carriage business the distance driving to the location (28’ trailer) is of primary importance followed by the actual route the horse and carriage will have to follow for the service itself.
The bride and groom have a rehearsal and what they don’t see is we do as well. We always take the horse to the location and walk him around the route he is going to take to make sure there is no surprises for him or the driver after all he is animal and you cannot not ever forget that.
Another major time-consuming event is the preparation of the horse himself. Prior to the bath itself you clip the muzzle, (give him a shave) clip his bridle path, and clip the hair around the hoofs.
If you have never washed a horse before think of it as somewhat like washing a very large truck that has a tendency to move as you do it then you have come close. Actually he is pretty good about his bath so long as you have a few carrots handy and don’t mind getting wet along with him. Special attention has to be applied to the feathers on his feet, the tail, and the mane using lots of shampoo, lots of cream rinse followed by major combing, fluffing of the feathers and braiding of the tail as a final touch. Of course those of you that know horses be sure to do this very close to your departure time as if he gets a chance he will roll in the dirt for sure.
Presentation is of prime importance not for just the horse but the carriage itself. (You know what they say about curb appeal when selling a house.) The carriage is washed and decorated to complement the colors of the wedding party. The driver and footman are also dressed in formal tails. The horse is always the focal point so the finishing touches like his braided tail with a bow, his polished shinny hoofs and his plume on top of his head are most important.
The amount of work that goes into making every wedding a unique special memory for the Bride and Groom goes far beyond the actual time element of the service itself. We know all people feel there services represent the true costs to do the best job they can do, but like everybody, we find it very difficult to present that to our clients.
“How much did you say again”
www.coulsoncarriage.com
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