A complete guide to creating a relaxed, weekend-long celebration surrounded by nature.
If you’re dreaming of a wedding that feels more like an unforgettable weekend with your favourite people than a formal one-day event, a festival wedding in Devon could be exactly what you’re looking for.
You’re probably reading this because the thought of a stuffy and predictable wedding is not your thing. Rigid schedules? No thank you. Formal dining? I think not. Traditional wedding packages? Absolutely not..
Whether your vision is a woodland ceremony beneath the trees; a weekend of camping and cocktails; or dancing under the stras until midnight, this guide will help you plan the ultimate festival-style wedding in Devon.
Why Choose a Festival Wedding in Devon?
With rolling countryside, beautiful woodland settings and a thriving community of independent wedding suppliers, it’s no surprise that festival weddings in Devon continue to steal the hearts of free-spirited couples. Devon is the place!
So, if you do decide to go down this more relaxed and creative route, this is what you’re most likely to get:
- More time with family and friends
- A relaxed, gentle and informal atmosphere
- Flexibility over suppliers who listen to what you want
- Outdoor ceremony options – sigh!
- Glamping and camping accommodation
- A truly personalised wedding experience
And I’m guessing that all of these are on your list of priorities. Am I right? So, what’s the first step?
First Choose a Festival-Style Wedding Venue
Your venue is probably the most important building block of your festival wedding plans. To create the perfect festival atmosphere, look for a festival-style wedding venue in Devon (ahem) that offers:
- Exclusive use. You really don’t want any chance of random strangers rocking up in unexpected places
- Outdoor ceremony and party spaces with a back-up bad weather option that won’t flatten the vibe
- Flexible supplier choices – think street food trucks and casual dining (and probably not a sit-down multi course meal)
- On-site accommodation – with sensible options for everyone including Grandma
- Camping or glamping options – think Glasto luxury!
- Freedom to personalise your day. Really. This is the most fun you’ll have when planning your wedding! It’s about YOU!
A countryside venue in Devon with natural surroundings will instantly create the relaxed atmosphere you’re looking for. Woodland ceremony spaces, open meadows and outdoor gathering areas provide the perfect backdrop for a wedding that feels connected to nature. Don’t forget to look for covered spaces (barns, outbuildings and stretch tents) that will offer plenty of options for your activities over the weekend.
Here at Higher Holcombe, couples can exchange vows in one of our unique outdoor ceremony spaces: the Willow Cathedral and Silver Birch Church. These can also be used for other chapters of your festival wedding as well. The whole 30 acres estate is here for you to use as you please!
Choose a Blank Canvas Wedding Venue
One of the biggest advantages of choosing a blank canvas venue for a festival-style wedding is the flexibility that it gives you. Rather than working within strict rules and pre-determined logistics of more corporate venues, you can create a wedding that properly reflects your personalities, your values and your style.
Is it all beginning to sound utterly gorgeous?
Lean right into it all. If you get stuck, ask the venue owners for ideas and examples of how other couples have successfully used the various spaces. And if you’re planning a relaxed, festival-style wedding, you’ve hopefully got plenty of your own!
So – the next step.
Food!
Food Ideas for a Festival Wedding
Festival weddings are all about relaxed dining.
So, look for options that encourage your guests to mingle. This will help to create a far more sociable atmosphere, and it’ll be way more ‘festival-y’ than a traditional seated meal. The options are limited only by your imaginations. My only advice is to choose food that you both love. Choices that we’ve seen work well include:
- Wood-fired pizza
- Curry trucks
- Paella pans
- Picnics
- Sharing platters
- Hog roasts
- Loaded fries
- Grazing tables
- Fish n Chips trucks
- Cheese towers
- Pancake stations
- Pasty stacks
- Outdoor BBQs
- Waffle vans
- Ice-cream bicycles
- BYO puddings, pies and trifles
Plus the street food trucks, carts and vans are usually bursting with colour, fun and personality and they really add to the festival vibe!
Food sorted. And you’re probably feeling quite thirsty now?
Create Your Own Festival Bar
A ‘help yourselves’ bar feels very festival – Yes? Lots of couples search specifically for a no-corkage wedding venue in Devon if they’re planning on bringing in their own drinks and running their own bar. This can also significantly reduce costs while allowing you to serve your favourite tipples.
Another option is to hire in a pop-up bar. There’ll be a booking fee – but once installed, they will sell drinks (often at pub prices) so that you don’t have to think about it.
You might also want to mix it up a bit if you’re going for a multi-day festival wedding. Perhaps start with a Please Bring a Bottle (PBAB) on Friday evening.
Then, in the main party day, maybe serve drinks you’ve provided after the ceremony and during the main meal. Them from the post prandial cocktail hour and onwards, a pop-up bar is available for guests to buy their own. Is that what you had in your mind?
Oh wait! You want to create your own special drinks bar!
How about a:
- DIY gin bar with as many different gins as possible (yes please) (!)
- local Devon cider station
- festival-style cocktail shack
- post-prandial espresso martini bar, or
- hiring in a pump for some locally brewed beers
You could lead a procession of wedding guests to the cider station / cocktail bar (or whatever you’ve chosen) in a different part of the venue where you’ve set everything up. There’s often quite a lot of walking at a festival – and this is another of your ‘let’s get everyone moving’ surprises!
Turn Your Wedding into a Weekend Experience
A true festival wedding weekend in Devon doesn’t end when the music stops! By choosing a venue that includes accommodation and / or allows extra camping – the celebrations won’t be limited by taxi times or the bar closing-up shop. This is a festival wedding – and no one has an alarm clock in mind! Am I right?
The most memorable parties happen when guests can stay on-site and enjoy the celebrations for several days. No late-night taxi panics or worries about leaving the car. The Glastonbury Festival offers a range of accommodation – and your wedding can as well! What we need is glamping!
Choosing a glamping wedding venue in Devon will help to create a properly authentic festival atmosphere. A wedding venue site that offers a range of accommodation will keep everyone happy. Look for:
- Lotus Belle tents
- Shepherd’s huts
- Bell tents
- Campervan pitches
- Traditional camping areas
Guests can relax, socialise and fully immerse themselves in the experience without worrying about taxis or late-night travel. Imagine waking up on Sunday morning, gathering around a fire pit and enjoying a relaxed breakfast while sharing stories from the night before.
And if you’re clever, there’ll be something quirky for the honeymooners (or some very special guests) to stay in. And if you’re even cannier – you might find a venue that has four-walled farmhouse boutique-style luxury as well! Just saying!
Create a Relaxed Boho Style at Your Festival Wedding
What about your festival style décor? Your goal is to create a space that feels welcoming, comfortable and effortlessly beautiful. It’s likely to be colourful, possibly quirky and fun! A boho wedding vibe pairs perfectly with a festival theme.
So here are a few Festival Wedding Decor Ideas
- Festoon lighting (with warm white LED bulbs)
- Colourful bunting (lots and lots and lots) (and lots)
- Hay bales and blankets in unexpected places
- Outdoor rugs and giant floor cushions
- Disco balls
- Lanterns, festoon lights and all things twinkly
- Festival flags
- Rustic wooden furniture
- Artfully arranged crates, baskets and boxes
- Wildflower arrangements in random jugs
- Fire pits and chill-out zones
- Have you got room for a sofa zone?
You’ve got the idea, right?
And a top tip: use wheelbarrows and sack barrows to get your bits and pieces transported around the place. And ask the venue to hitch a trailer to the back of their tractor to move furniture around! I know a Devon wedding venue that will do just that!
Relaxed Dress Code for Wedding Guests
Festival weddings are not about formal or traditional dress-code rules. It’s probably a good idea to let your wedding guests know that formal attire like top hats and fascinators (are they still a ‘thing’?) are probably not part of the vibe.
Please encourage your guests to dress comfortably so that they can truly embrace and enjoy the mainly outdoor setting. That means that we’re looking at flowing dresses, linen suits, flower crowns, flat sandals for dancing on the grass and possibly wellies if it’s wet.
You might even specify bright colours, head-dresses, mis-matched pieces, no ties and a back-up pair of dancing shoes.
Oh – and no stilettos!
Entertainment Ideas for a Festival Wedding in Devon
Activities and entertainment for your wedding guests is often part of what can transform your wedding into a true festival experience. You’ve probably got a wish-list already. And here are a few more ideas for you to think about adding to it!
- Wandering acoustic musicians
- Folk bands, rock bands, brass bands and singers
- A Glitter Bar Station (don’t forget a mirror) (!)
- Temporary Tattoos
- DIY Flower Crowns with buckets and buckets of flowers
- Festival-style DJs to get everyone on the dance floor
- Silent discos
- Lawn games (Giant Jenga, Twister, Connect 4 etc)
- Fire performers
- Storytelling around the fire pit
- Dance-off Competitions
- Outdoor cinema screenings
- Country-fair aiming games (Coconut Shy, Skittles, Corn Hole etc)
You can spread these activities across the days and in a variety of spaces which encourages guests to explore the venue. This helps keep the atmosphere novel and lively throughout the whole weekend.
And if you want everyone to rock up for the speeches, cake-cutting and your first dance – please ensure that there’s some kind of visual timeline as a reference point!
Making Your Festival Wedding More Sustainable
If you’re planning a festival wedding – you’ll probably also be looking for ways to minimise or reduce the carbon footprint of your party festivities.
So, how can you actually do that? Here are a few top tips:
- Use local Devon suppliers (reduces road miles and is good for the local economy)
- Choose seasonal catering (no need for imported foods and all those air and road miles)
- Search for local flower growers (ditto all the above)
- Reusable decorations (please don’t use single-use décor items). Think about hiring or borrowing your décor items
- Encourage your guests to use public transport or car share
- Book a venue that includes eco-friendly glamping accommodation (so guests can stay on site) (road miles etc)
- Encourage your guests to wear clothes they already own – and avoid the waste created by fast fashion
There are lots of other things that you can do – but hopefully, this will get you thinking. And please don’t think that so-called ‘compostable tableware’ is an eco-option. Once those plates get used – they go straight to landfill. Very often, they’re made with plant material (good) that’s glued together with rather horrible toxic stuff (bad) to stop them falling apart. Not great.
Even a few mindful choices will help the world go round for longer (we hope)!
Ready to Plan Your Festival Wedding in Devon?
If you’re looking for a relaxed, creative and completely bespoke wedding experience, Higher Holcombe offers everything you need for an unforgettable festival wedding in Devon.
From woodland ceremony spaces and flexible supplier choices to weekend hire and glamping accommodation, you’ll have the freedom to create a celebration that truly reflects who you are as a couple.
Whether you’re planning a boho woodland gathering, a three-day wedding festival or a laid-back countryside celebration, your wedding can be as unique as your love story.
Want to come and visit yourselves? We can’t wait to show you around!