We allow you total freedom to pick and choose your catering options depending on the style of your wedding and how much you wish to spend. There is no obligation to use specific caterers, but we have provided a list of who we (and our past couples) believe are the best caterers around to help you get started with your planning. We have a fully operational commercial kitchen where you can help yourself to our cutlery, crockery and glassware, all of which are included with the house. We have tables, chairs and linens to serve up to 90 guests in the main dining room. If you have more guests, you could spread them out between the dining room and another large room like the oak panelled hall or you could hire a marquee (we have 24 trestle tables and an eclectic mix of 200 chairs). You are completely free to do as you wish. To get you started, here are some ideas and options of how you may like to cater for your guests during your stay:

• Fully self-catered – maybe you have a chef in the family or friend who thinks he’s Jamie Oliver. Having your guests all pitch in with the cooking, serving and washing up, is a great way to eliminate costs and create a fun communal atmosphere.
• Self-catered with a few extra pairs of hands – your guests do the cooking, while serving and washing up is handled by our dedicated local staff. We have a team of lovely ladies who do this week in week out who are happy to take the load off your shoulders.
• Casual buffets/hog-roasts/BBQs – a popular option for a relaxed wedding breakfast or Sunday afternoon lunch.
• Festival style food stalls/food trucks – a fun idea for the Friday night or Sunday morning breakfast. This great budget option as the trucks can park right outside the front door and there is never any washing up!
• Formal & fancy – award winning silver service banquet style caterers to put the wow factor in your wedding.

A sample weekend catering plan

• Friday evening – big pot of chilli made by a family member/stone oven pizza wagon/ fish and chip van
• Saturday morning – continental buffet breakfast set out by your family.
• Saturday afternoon – hog-roast/BBQ/casual buffet made by family/three- course banquet meal.
• Saturday evening – pies or pasties brought in/home-made cheeseboard table.
• Sunday – toast and cereals set out by friends/breakfast food truck (guests buy their own)/caterers to cook a full English Breakfast.

Many couples choose a mixture of the above options to suit different parts of their wedding weekend or week. You can find our list of recommended suppliers below. All of the caterers listed have previously worked at Colehayes and many know the kitchen and venue like the back of their hand!

Formal Catering

• M Welsh Catering – Who also do a fabulous hog roast (see below)
• Pickle Shack
• Milkshed Catering
• Mulberry Catering Co

Casual Catering

• Astridges Catering – Paul is a regular with us and we receive great feedback from every wedding he does at Colehayes, great food and also does a fabulous hog roast (listed also below).
• Eran’s Kitchen
• Dan’s American Kitchen
• Big Pot Kitchen – Big pan cooking, rustic sharing boards, grazing buffets.

Hog Roasts & BBQ options

• West Country Carvery – Westcountry Carvery have been coming to Colehayes since August 2013 when they catered for a wedding for the whole week! From that time, they have become a popular choice with Colehayes brides and grooms and have been here multiple times over the years. The team provide amazing tasters upon request and are lovely people to work with.
• Dan’s American Kitchen  – Another caterer we can recommend from our own family weddings. Dan and his friendly team can serve up delicious ‘Deep South’ American style BBQ for a very reasonable price.
• M Welsh Catering – Hog Roasts
• Kenniford Farm
• The Cheeky Cow
• Astridges – Hog Roast
• Piglet Cottage
• Smoulder & Scorch

Festival Style Food Stalls & Food Trucks

• Feast It – Directory for unique street food stalls & funky food trucks
• Flippy Chippy – Delicious fish & chip van.
• Nippy Chippy – Delicious fish & chip van
• Stinky Vintage – Cheese on toast truck.
• Piccolo Pizza Co – Wood-fired pizza van.
• Il Cornicione Pizza – Wood-fired pizza van.
• Pizza A Legna – Wood-fired pizza van.
• Pizza Buona– Wood fired pizza van.

• Polly Ann’s – Phillipa can cook a full English Breakfast from her horse trailer or the kitchen. She can also offer other breakfast items and meal options. 

Bakeries, Deli’s & Cheeses

• Wildmoor Deli
• The Cheese Shed
• Ullacombe Farm
• The Bakehouse Salcombe

  Making sure that glasses are kept topped up throughout your big day can quickly break the wedding budget, especially when hidden fees are included. But here at Colehayes, we don’t believe in hidden fees – and that includes corkage. As one of the few venues in the Southwest to operate without a corkage fee, this makes us an ideal choice for guests that value freedom and flexibility as much as we do. And in the spirit of freedom and flexibility, we don’t enforce a curfew either – so your party can continue ‘til sunrise if you wish! We do not believe in packages and leave you to choose how you would like to handle your bar to suit your style and budget. Our bar in the house is fully stocked with glassware that you are free to use. You are not only free to source your own drink options but you are also free to set up a bar anywhere in the grounds too. Here are some ideas of how you may like to run your bar:

• 100% BYOB – if you’d like to supply your own drinks, we do not charge a corkage fee. We can provide a list of items we’d recommend and approximate quantities. For staffing, your friends and family may be happy to pour their own drinks, or take turns manning the bar. Or we have a team of bar staff that can serve your drinks for you. 
• Hire a mobile bar team to fully stock and run the bar in the house.
• Hire a festival style mobile bar or cocktail van to be set up in the grounds.

You can also choose different payment styles of your bar to suit your budget, the most common choices are below:

• Free bar for your guests.
• Set pre-paid tab and your guests pay when this runs out.
• Subsidised Bar where your guests pay a small contribution, such as £1 per drink, and you pay the balance.
• Fully Paid Bar – your guests pay for their own drinks.

Many couples choose a mixture of the above options to suit different parts of their wedding weekend or week. Please find some links below to our recommended drinks suppliers list.

Mobile bar services

• Dartmoor Bars
• Red Rock Brewery
• The Fizzy Pheasant 
• The Jigsaw Bar
• The Box Bar
• The Liquor Box
• Gate house Trailer Bar
• The Rolling Bars

Bar Trucks/Cocktail Vans

• The Cocktail Kings
• Beetle Juice
• Fillies & Fizz
• Tipple Trailers

Breweries

• Teignworthy – Their real ale is incredibly popular
• Barnaby’s Brewhouse – handcrafted organic lager
• Powderkeg Brewery – Local beer and friendly to deal with 
• Sandford Orchards – Delicious local cider, Fanny’s Bramble is a favourite!
• Luscombe – Delicious drinks, mainly juices and tonic water but they also have ciders.

WINE

Majestic Wines in Exeter is a good place to start your search. They offer free tastings, often have great sales, deliver to our door and offer a buy-back service on unopened bottles.

It is worth shopping around, however, as it may be more cost effective to buy drinks at a large supermarket chain and either bring it with you or have it delivered to the house when you arrive.

You may have a friend of a friend who is a photographer or videographer or even a family member. You may even want to have all of your friends and family document the day on their devices and invite everyone to contribute to a photo sharing platform or just email them through. HOWEVER, we do highly recommend hiring a photographer/videographer or both to capture the best moments of your special day as it will only happen once! There are numerous styles of wedding photography but they mainly fall into three of these categories; reportage, traditional and contemporary. Reportage is characterised by a natural approach and capturing events in an un-staged manner throughout the day. Traditional is dominated by posed photographs and formal set ups to get those mantel piece perfect classics and timeless group shots. Contemporary takes inspiration from fashion photography; although scenes may be set up, they are more relaxed and artistic. Once you have a look at some examples you are sure to find a style that suits your wedding.

Traditional

• Nick Williams

Contemporary

• Tarah Coonan
• Johnny Hathaway

• Rockrose Photography
• McKenzie Brown
• John Barwood
• Ananda Weddings
• Will Dolphin

Reportage

• Howell Jones
• Lucy Turnbull
• Samuel Box Photography
• York Place Studios

• Kirstin Prisk
• Millie Benbow
• Dan Morris
• Amy Sampson
• Matt Spooner

“Colehayes Park is one of our favourite wedding venues and one we would return to in a heartbeat. The most amazing thing about this Georgian mansion set in the Dartmoor Countryside is that quite literally anything goes; you can completely have it exactly as you want it with as much or as little help from the staff as you desire. You can hire the entire place to yourself, you can have the ceremony outside next to a spectacular cork tree (one of only 5 in the UK!), the building is beautiful and covered in Virginia Creeper, and the surrounding land is gorgeous: from the immaculate gardens to the lake with its historic stone bridge leading to a little island with a single huge tree, it’s beyond picturesque. Needless to say, we absolutely fell in love with this place and we are sure you will too.” York Place Studios 


“Colehayes is the sort of venue that attracts creative couples wanting to put their own stamp on their day, this coupled with everyone staying the whole weekend meant a wonderfully personal, relaxed feel to the day.” Simon Gilbert Photographer 


Film

• I Do Film Weddings
• Luc Amaden Films 

Photo booth

• Southwest Photobooths
• The Vintage Wedding Photographer

 Our dining room can comfortably seat up to 80 people, but if you’re planning on having a larger number of people seated together for your wedding breakfast, then you could consider hiring a marquee. Marquees come in all shapes and sizes, from the traditional wedding clear-span design, to various festival-style stretched tents and circus tents. They can be positioned in the lower hedged garden, on the front lawn, in the camping field, or on Cork Tree Cottage’s lawn (provided that you are also hiring the Cottage for your wedding). They usually come with the option to hire matching tables and chairs, delivered and set up along with the marquee a day or two before your wedding. They can also be decorated with drapes and lit in a variety of ways. Hiring a marquee, does of course cost extra. To save money, many couples choose to split their guests between the dining room and living room or main hall. You could seat over 140 people in the house like this. If you do choose to hire a Marquee, all the companies listed below have come to Colehayes over the years:

• Marldon Marquees – We have a basic quote, drawings and brochure that we can send over for this company, please ask.
• Hapikata – Specialises in Nordic Tipis
• Jurassic Tents – Specialises in Bedouin tents
• Godney Marquees
• Barny Lee Marquees
• Sperry Tents

• Ashley Events
• Vagabond Marquees

• Really Good Marquees
• World Inspired Tents
• Oakleaf Marquees 

• Hatch Marquees 

GAZEBOS

If you’re lucky enough to get married on a hot sunny day, you may want to consider bringing some Gazebo shelters to provide some extra shade in the gardens. This will be especially appreciated by older generation family members or friends with young children They can also double up as smoking shelters for rainy days, considering we’re a non-smoking venue inside.

TABLES & CHAIRS

We have 24 trestle tables and an eclectic mix of 200 chairs. The chairs range from wooden dining room chairs, bar chairs, banqueting chairs, lecture room chairs and a rustic collection of various wooden chairs. We also have polyester table cloths which are free to use, if you would prefer cotton they can be hired from the companies listed directly below. Please request our Table & Chair guide for more details.

EXTRA EQUIPMENT HIRE

The companies listed below, are popular for hiring a variety of extra equipment for your event, such as chairs, tables, fridges, glassware, porta loos, PA systems , outdoor bars and hay bales for quirky outdoor seating options.

• Southwest Event Hire
• Total Event Hire
• Devon Bales and Event Hire
• Matrix Productions – local company who can provide PA systems and music/lighting equipment

LIGHTING

We have exterior lighting in the top garden but if you want to extend that, hiring festoon style lighting really adds to the atmosphere. We recommend paying the extra for setup if you are having lights setup throughout the whole back garden.

• DJC Event Hire

CAMPERS

If you are having a large number of guests camping we recommend hiring additional toilets and showers as it is a little bit of a walk to the toilets in the main house and there are no outside lights. There are numerous companies you can hire cheap portaloo’s from, but the below suppliers offer something a little different. You may also consider arranging to have Bell tents set up for your guests, so we have included a great local company who can provide these.

• Premier Luxury Loos – Lux loo option and also provide showers.
• Event Hire Solutions – Toilet hire

• Signature Blue Vintage Events – Shephard’s Huts and glamping showers

• Thunderboxes – Eco friendly composting toilets
• Devon Bell Tent – Bell Tents
• Nomadic Washrooms – Luxury shepherds hut toilet & showers 

• Prop Factory – Has a great range of amazing props, games, furniture to make your wedding that bit more fun and entertaining.
• Michael Dark – Just 5 minutes away is a mecca for those wanting to do a total DIY job on decorations and floristry accessories. They are brilliant for all of the little touches.
• Decorations and Celebrations – A local wedding styling company who have helped many Colehayes couples make our spaces even more beautiful.

• Simply Flowers – Our local florist in Bovey Tracey consistently wins awards at the Royal Chelsea Flower show and has done umpteen weddings at Colehayes.
• Emma Hewlett Floral Design– Just need to take a look at her social media and her work speaks for itself.
• St Mellion Flowers – Professional and reasonably priced.
• In Bloom– Jenny grows all her own flowers, can do DIY wholesale or she make up whatever you want.
• Floren Studio 

Music

Many couples choose to have a festival type vibe for their wedding at Colehayes. On a lovely summer evening, a live band playing in the gardens makes for a very fun atmosphere. Outside the house we are licensed for live music to be played until 11pm. Inside the house, live entertainment is permitted until midnight Monday – Saturdays and until 11:30pm on Sundays. We also have a large room in the basement that many guests have used as an after-party club. The walls are so thick they are almost sound proof so guests sleeping upstairs will not hear a peep! We have had everything from soul bands to Irish ceilidh and your choice of entertainment entirely depends on your tastes. Instead of listing previous bands that have played at Colehayes we recommend using these entertainment agency websites to help start your search for entertainment to suit your fancy.

• Warble Entertainment
• Entertainment Nation
• Alive Network

A few favourites:

• Brother From Another – Soul/funk/R&B band.
• True Brass Ensemble – New Orleans style brass band.
• Horse With No Name – Excellent acoustic rock band.
• The Drat Pack – 3 piece jazz band
• Mafia 4 – 4-piece band playing funky grooves
• One Step – Unique cover band 

Please find below our list of recommended hair & makeup artists who have styled numerous brides at Colehayes!

Hair & Makeup

• Gershwins – Award winning salon based in Newton Abbot.
• Changing Faces– Very popular mobile bridal make up team.
• Amy-Elizabeth – Somerset based specialising in air brush make up.
• Lucy Milton – Exeter based artist specialising in light air brush make up.
• Anna Stokoe

As the majority of our rooms are not en-suite, some guests prefer to stay elsewhere. If you would like to suggest alternative accommodation for your party there are a wide range of options in the local area, from cosy B&Bs to luxury hotels. We’ve compiled a list of options below that you can share with your guests. There are also a number of apartments and holiday cottages on Airbnb.co.uk, which can be a great choice for families or people with pets.

Colehayes Cottage (0 MILES)

https://airbnb.com/h/colehayescottage A 2-bedroom, natural stone cottage situated within the Colehayes Park Estate. A few hundred metres from Colehayes front door – the closest accommodation option. Perfect for family members or guests that want their own space. Sleeps 6, with fully equipped kitchen, lounge with smart TV and a large enclosed garden. Dogs Welcome. Please email colehayescottage@gmail.com to book direct. 

Strelna CoaCh House (0.2 MILES)

Strelna Coach House – 3-bedroom cottage, situated at the end of the Colehayes drive in Lowerdown, Bovey Tracey. Furnished and decorated to a high standard with a terrace and large garden. Available to book on Booking.com and Air bnb. Or directly by email strelnacoachhouse@hotmail.com. 

The Copper Kettle (1.5 miles)

www.thecopperkettlebovey.co.uk – A cosy and friendly B&B and Tearooms. Conveniently located, with good value traditional rooms.

The Dolphin Hotel (1.5 miles)

www.thedolphinbovey.com – Conveniently located, good value option. A 19th century coach house turned family-friendly restaurant and hotel.

Courtenay House (2 miles)

www.courtenayhouse.co.uk – Courtenay House is an Antique Centre, Tea Room and 3 star rated B&B. Tina who runs the business has been trading for 26 years. The Devonshire Cream Teas with home-made jam are pretty special!

The Cromwell Arms (2 miles)

www.thecromwellarms.co.uk – Traditional English pub with real ales and West Country ciders, in the centre of Bovey The Cromwell Arms offers14 rooms in total and a nice beer garden. Good reviews and dog friendly!

The Moorland Hotel (3 miles)

www.moorlandhoteldartmoor.co.uk – A good quality, 4 star option, located near Haytor within Dartmoor National Park, with plenty of rooms, nice restaurant & bar, and some dog friendly rooms.

The Rock Inn (3.5 miles)

www.rock-inn.co.uk – Close to Haytor Rock, in Dartmoor National Park. The Rock Inn dates back to the 18th Century. It has elegantly decorated traditional rooms; a lovely garden and they serve excellent food in their cosy restaurant.

Ilsington Country House (4 miles)

www.ilsington.co.uk – Set within 10 acres of private grounds, the Islington Country House Hotel & Spa is great retreat and dog friendly!

Bovey Castle (10 miles)

www.boveycastle.com – A 5 Star Luxury option. A grand estate, complete with golf course and swimming pool, fine dining, restaurant and spa.