In Their Words: Sarah & Tom’s Wedding

Late summer brought gorgeous sunshine, so much laughter and a truly heartwarming celebration to The Great Barn Devon, as Sarah and Tom gathered their families and friends for their big day. Their wedding was every bit the relaxed, family-focused celebration they had dreamt of from the start — full of colour, laughter and dancing in our idyllic countryside setting. We’ll let them take it from here…

We both have 2 teenage children each and we wanted the day to be about our families; a big celebration party to share with all our wonderful friends and family who have supported us.

The Great Barn is absolutely stunning and able to accommodate the number of guests we wanted (around 135). The location is in a quiet, beautiful valley with lovely on site accommodation, a swimming pool (which the kids loved), and surrounded by independent places to stay.

We went for natural colours, the bridesmaids wore sage green; the flowers were mainly white, green and orange. We were fairly minimal as The Great Barn doesn’t need much to be added – cottage garden flowers in Kilner jars on the tables, and in old enamel jugs on the bar. We used Formula 1 racing tracks as table names and had lego F1 cars as favours on the table.

I wore a Sassi Holford dress with sparkly shoes, the bouquet was with cottage garden flowers. My hair was styled into an up do in a loose way with some white gypsophila flowers, and my make up was more of a natural vibe. Tom wore a green suit and the bridesmaids wore Monsoon sage green dresses.

We chose canapés then a sharing feast and the trio of puddings. We had an amazing 4 tier wedding cake by Sweet Satisfaction Cake Design which all got eaten (we didn’t get to try any!). We had pizza in the evening, cooked in the courtyard of the venue. For drinks, we chose to have kegs of ale and cider which were great for guests to help themselves during the day.

What did you do to entertain your guests?

We had a ceilidh and then disco music afterwards.

Everything! I loved getting ready the day before, talking through the plans with Emma and John, then practicing the ceremony with John doing the lighting. We felt in such safe hands and everything, every tiny detail was considered and taken care of by the amazing team. The kids spent the day before in or by the pool and had a wonderful time! The day itself was the best day of our lives – it was so much fun and everything was amazing. The wonderful staff, food, drinks, decoration – we could not fault anything and wished it didn’t have to end.

Do you have any words of advice for future couples?

We 100% made the best decision choosing The Great Barn – you do not need to worry about anything as everything is looked after and just works so well! We had so many people ask before if we were stressed about the wedding and we really weren’t – it was a pretty relaxing experience!

Every detail of Sarah and Tom’s celebration was filled with warmth, laughter and love — the most wonderful reflection of two families coming together. We’re so grateful to them for sharing their thoughts and memories of their day at The Great Barn Devon. If you’re planning your own wedding and would like to see our venue for yourself, we’d love to welcome you for a viewing and show you why so many couples fall in love with this special place.