Couple gets married at animal sanctuary — with disabled sheep as ring bearer

A couple who met at an animal sanctuary tied the knot at the special venue – with a disabled sheep as their ring bearer.

Jake Ratcliffe, 34, met his bride Rosie, 28, when she started volunteering at his animal rescue — Millington’s Magical Barn — five years ago.

After spending the summer “mucking stables out and looking after animals together” the couple fell in love and married on August 2 in a converted cow barn on site.

Special guest rescue sheep Bunny, who was born without the use of her back legs, walked down the aisle as ring bearer to the couple in her adapted chair – much to the delight of their 60 guests.

Jake, an electrical engineer alongside his rescue work, from Wakefield, Yorkshire, said: “Last minute we were discussing ideas of who would be the ring bearer.

“I always wanted Bunny – she’s always been a daddy’s girl.

“She arrived at Millington’s just as we were turning the cow barn into a wedding venue, so she spent six weeks with me whilst we all set up.

“We did a bit of a rehearsal but with farm animals there’s not much training to it.

“I kind of just had to rely on the fact me and Bunny had a special relationship and […] that she would come to me.

“I had a bottle of milk on hand just in case.

“I’m sure everyone expected us to have some form of animals involved.

“It added to the feeling and made it all the more special”.

Jake set up Millington’s Magical Barn in Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 2018 as an animal lover with no previous experience in animal rescue.

Since then, he has rescued over 200 animals who needed a home.

Jake met wife Rosie, a veterinary nurse, when she started volunteering at the sanctuary in summer 2020 and went on to propose in August 2023.

Jake said: “We had been scheduled to get married out in France.

“Once we got into the organization of it, it didn’t feel right.

“We spoke about it more and thought we met here, fell in love here and proposed here so it was only right we got married here too.

“A sanctuary is not a wedding venue so we had to come up with a solution of where it [the ceremony] would be.

“I told Rosie I’d convert the cow barn into a wedding venue.

“Rosie was skeptical, but I’d like to say we pulled it off.

“She was worried about having a sheep involved as animals like cows, sheep and pigs are not as adaptive with commands and training as dogs are.

“We said we’d have a backup so Alfie the bichon frisé, a childhood dog of Rosie’s, was the other ring bearer.

“Just before the ceremony we lost him, and I had to hastily borrow my mom’s ring to put on her finger.

“As soon as the confetti was thrown, we ran around the farm trying to locate the ring.

“We thought, ‘where would Alfie go?’

“He was up in the cat’s room eating all their food with the ring on the floor next to him”.

With Bunny the star of the show, the couple’s wedding guests loved her addition to the nuptials.

Jake said: “You can hear the collective ‘aw’ as she walked down the aisle.

“Sometimes with our content it can divide opinion as a sanctuary rescuing animals that people don’t typically feel should be rescued, particularly disabled animals.

“People comment nasty things about what we should do to the animals.

“On this occasion the opinion was unanimous – everyone thought Bunny was amazing.

“Whilst we were getting prepared for the wedding we were not around in the garden at the time, and I told the groomsmen not to let Bunny eat anything she shouldn’t.

“But when the wedding photos came back, we saw she was eating some of the canapes.

“It proves you can’t put groomsmen in charge of anything”.

Bride Rosie said: “Everybody has their own idea of their dream wedding, and for me, a big fancy French wedding just didn’t fit.

“I’m much more of a simple girl, and getting married at home in beautiful Yorkshire, surrounded by our rescued animals, our friends and our family was what truly mattered.

“We met at the sanctuary, we fell in love here, we even got engaged here whilst I was bottle feeding a lamb that had a collar on saying ‘turn around’.

“It only felt right to complete the full circle and get married here.

“It took a village to turn our working animal sanctuary into our dream wedding venue, but thanks to everyone who contributed it really was a dream day.”