June 2019

Photos courtesy of  Matt Fryer Photography

You can see lots more lovely photos of Tasmin & Jack’s wedding in our gallery here.

Tasmin & Jack are both 26 and live in Buckland Brewer, just a short distance from The Old Barn. Tasmin is a manager and Jack’s a farmer, and they’ve been together since the age of 15.

Why did you choose The Old Barn for your wedding day?

Partly sentimental reasons! I’ve spent a large amount of time at The Milky Way because my mum sold the glass animals there, and I loved The Old Barn as soon as it became a wedding venue.

I think it’s a beautiful venue, as well as offering an alternative experience for guests with the dodgems. It’s a perfect rustic venue, and allows you to get married surrounded by nature in the conservatory, but without being dependant on the weather. Although we were lucky with the weather on our day, I have visited the venue when the weather wasn’t great and the inside still looked bright and beautiful.

Was it important to you that it’s a ‘DIY’ venue?

I loved the DIY aspect  as it allowed us to put our personality on to our wedding. Other venues tend to offer a “one size fits all” but The Old Barn allowed you to take total control and put as much or as little as you wanted in there. It also meant we could source our own suppliers so it completely matched our personalities.

Did you have a large budget?

We needed to keep to a fairly tight budget and ended up having 88 guests to the day. The hire of the venue itself was very reasonable for what you got as well as the use of the dodgems.

What sort of theme were you aiming for?

We had a very mild Harry Potter theme going on but were mainly going for a magical/rustic feel. All of our guests have said how relaxed and joyful the day was and the dodgems were a huge hit!

What did you wear?

I wore a Maggie Sottero (Darlene) dress – this had a sweetheart neckline, lace bodice and ballgown skirt (it was a bit of a squeeze getting it down the aisle!!)

Tell us about the actual ceremony …

The ceremony in the conservatory of The Old Barn was perfect. We were able to play our own music, again, making it more personal to us. The grape vines were stunning and it was the perfect size for our guests and felt very intimate. Before the ceremony our guests were able to enjoy the courtyard and greet each other before being seated.

What about your food and drink?

We hired Devon Caterers to provide our canapes and wedding breakfast who did a fantastic job. Joss and Jacqui behind the bar were very friendly and accommodating all night long.

What did you choose for your music?

For entertainment we hired Flybase DJ who kept people dancing all night.

What did you love most about your day?

We loved every part of the day but the most important thing for us was that everyone seemed to be having fun and the day was so relaxed. Since the wedding we’ve had multiple people say it was the best wedding they have ever been to and the main reason they say this was because it was such a chilled out day with much fun had!

Did you all enjoy the dodgems?

The dodgems and they were a massive hit! I would strongly recommend anyone looking to hire the venue to also hire the dodgems as our guests loved them and it makes the whole day completely unique. I’d like to thank the staff who ran the dodgems for doing a brilliant job.

Are you glad you had the day you did?

Very glad! Everything went exactly as we wanted it to, it was just perfect. We wouldn’t have wanted to get married anywhere else!

Did you feel well taken care of by The Old Barn team?

YES – Joss was absolutely fantastic and put up with all of my silly questions [note from The Old Barn team: no question is ever silly when it comes to your Big Day!!!] and let me visit the venue whenever I needed to. I have to say that both Joss and Jacqui clearly cared so much about the day going well for us. When we left the ceremony to go through the bar, it was like being greeted by members of our own family, which was just what I needed in my emotional state! They really are both amazing!

Real Weddings at The Old Barn
"We loved the natural, old country feel of The Old Barn, the fact that it’s so different - it was a blank canvas that we could make our own."