'A exciting ride': Callan's Classics is driving in style during Savannah's busy wedding season
Last fall on a bright September afternoon, Savannah resident Sherri Anderson drove bride-to-be Casey Hill to Forsyth Park.
Anderson, who co-owns Callan’s Classics, wasn’t Ubering or piloting just any ride — in a restored, eggshell white 1956 Bentley, she conveyed Hill to meet her soon-to-be husband at an intimate outdoor ceremony. Afterwards, Anderson chauffeured the newlyweds around downtown and through River Street.
Hill, who lives in Little Rock, Ark., found Callan’s Classics online while researching elopement options in the Hostess City. Originally, Hill and her husband planned a much larger celebration in Arkansas, but a death in the family required changing plans. Eloping to Savannah became the next best option.
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“We’d vacationed there before and knew we loved the city’s unique charm,” recalled Hill.
“When circumstances changed, we wanted to do something small just for the two of us, and we found an elopement package online and Callan’s Classics along with it. What was so special was how people reacted to us in the Bentley. We didn’t expect the enthusiasm we got while riding in back of the car.”
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Increasingly, brides-to-be are finding Savannah a highly desirable wedding destination.
From 2010 to 2019, the industry has steadily grown locally with as much as 40% of the 3,000 on-average annual weddings uniting couples from out of the area. September, October and November have emerged as preferred months, with October by far being the most popular for getting married.
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In early 2018, Sherri and Bill Anderson were revved up and ready to roll when they opened Callan’s Classics, a chauffeuring service featuring Bentleys from the 1950s and 1960s, a 1951 Ford Deluxe, a ’53 Packard convertible and ’73 mustang. Though anyone can reserve a car for any purpose, weddings are the number one reason most people book.
“We started out with three: the 1950 Bentley, Ford Deluxe and Mustang convertible; and realized that with the demand we experienced out of the gate, we needed more in the fleet,” said Sherri Anderson. “Now we have seven cars which is about all we can handle in terms of maintenance, especially as we head into Savannah’s busy wedding season.”
Sherri and Bill Anderson aren’t obvious candidates for starting up and managing a full-time classic car business.
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Married 27 years, Sherri was a real estate agent, and Bill, recently retired, was in federal law enforcement. Sherri’s father, though, was their connection. Vernon Callan Phillips was a farmer and classic car aficionado who was born and raised in Idaho, and when he passed in 2013, he left 59 restored vehicles. Sherri and her family members, as per his estate, were instructed to sell the cars at auction.
“It was an incredibly emotional experience because my father was so well loved at home, and everyone knew the time and dedication he put into each car,” recalled Anderson.
“It took us four trips from Georgia to Idaho to coordinate with auctioneers and get the cars ready. Some of them hadn’t been started in six years, so there were a lot of dead batteries and flat tires to replace and repair. When it came time for auction day, there were 350 people from all over the United States bidding on my father’s collection. It was bittersweet, but ultimately more sweet than bitter.”
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The Andersons purchased three cars that day, transported them back to Savannah, and began the arduous task of making them reliable and event-ready.
The couple now works as a team in handling business details: Sherri takes care of scheduling, advertising and client coordination, while Bill maintains the cars with an eye on long-term business growth and developing trends. Their current seven-car fleet is not only available for weddings but often rented for local commercials, music videos and print media projects as well.
“This has been an exciting ride,” said Bill Anderson.
“And I had no idea the impact we would have on the couples we work with. In a short time, we have built real relationships with people we now call friends. Some have already returned to book a car with us again to relive that first time. In the beginning it was just a business, but this has quickly become so much more. We didn’t anticipate how many great people we’d meet, and that is one of the biggest rewards so far in this endeavor.”
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA wedding: Callan's Classics offers luxury cars for couples
