Our First Wedding

Shane Tretheway • September 3, 2018

A Learning Experience

Yay! It's our first wedding with Miss Daisy! Just like the Pink Bride Show, we were nervous and excited. We had everything loaded in the bus and ready to go. I drove the bus and Kaley followed behind in our truck since were also photographing and filming the wedding. We were chugging along in the right lane on I-75 getting passed by nearly every car because we are slow.

Remember when we mentioned that we had little knowledge of VW buses? Well we didn't realize how easily they can overheat and it was about 95 degrees this sunny August day. I get a call from Kaley saying "Pull Over! You are smoking!". I quickly took the next exit and pulled into the nearest gas station. Now what? How are we going to get to this wedding? We also have to photograph and film it.

We called our most wonderful friend Julia and she came to the rescue. Julia immediately came to the gas station and we called a tow truck. They would be there in about 20 mins and Julia waited to give them the keys while Kaley and I took the truck and went to the wedding venue with our camera gear. We were stressed but had to keep going. We made it to the wedding in plenty of time to begin photographing/filming.

The Tow truck arrived and dropped off poor Miss Daisy hours before the ceremony and guests arrived. We were very thankful not to cause a disruption to the bride and groom's wedding day. I got Miss Daisy in place where she would be in operation during the reception.

Stress started to subside and we focused on documenting the couple's gorgeous wedding. Later our booth attendant arrived and made sure the kiosk and props were ready to go. Everything was working just fine and Miss Daisy fulfilled her duty as a super fun photo booth.

Guests hopped in and out of the bus all night for their photos and had the best time.

It wasn't the experience I had hoped for as our first wedding but we made it.

City skyline

Photo By: John Doe

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Birthday Sparks

Photo By: John Doe

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Fashion Magazine

Photo By: John Doe

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Blurred Lines

Photo by: John Doe

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The wedding was over and the couple had their sparkler send-off. All that was left to do was pack up and head home. Once all the guests left, the tow truck arrived and Miss Daisy made it back home safely.

The following day we called our mechanic at Automotive Artifex and had him take a look. It turns out that rebuilt motor we thought Miss Daisy had, was not the case. So here's a brief overview of a VW bus engine. It is air-cooled which means it does not have a radiator like most cars these days. She was supposed to have two pieces of tin that evenly distribute air over the engine pistons to cool them as it drives. Sadly, these crucial pieces of tin were nowhere to be found. In addition to not having the airflow distribution tin in place, the pistons were not aimed in the proper directions, which also caused the motor to get hot more quickly. VW Buses like to cruise at about 45 mph with 55mph being her top speed (for 1971 models), so when I was driving down I-75 pedal to the metal, she overheated.

But our mechanic fixed her right up and now we know. This is why we avoid interstates because Miss Daisy just can't keep up with the other cars. We take the road less travelled with backroads. This was a big learning experience for us as first-time VW bus owners and that wouldn't be the only thing we would learn along the way.