Hunter Valley Wedding Photography
Australia’s oldest vines, the Brokenback Range at sunset and a chapel among the rows
The Hunter Valley claims to be Australia’s oldest wine region, with Semillon on the sandy flats and Shiraz on the loam, and Pokolbin at its centre about 50 km west of Newcastle. Wollombi is a little over an hour from Sydney, with Pokolbin, Lovedale, Rothbury, Broke and Mount View further on. The climate is humid subtropical, hot and wet in summer, and vintage runs through summer into autumn. Venues are wineries, chapels, barrel rooms, resorts and working farms, most with accommodation on site.
We have filmed weddings at Chateau Elan, Oaks Cypress Lakes Resort, the Barrel Room and Chapel at Peppers Creek, Peterson House and Redleaf at Wollombi, and photographed a wedding at Tamburlaine Lodge. The Brokenback Range stands behind the vines and lands in the sunset frame at many of the venues.
Photographing weddings in the Hunter Valley
Summer here is hot, so a ceremony late in the afternoon and a short couple session at the end of the day work better than a long one at four. Most venues keep a hay shed or enclosed barn for wet weather, and air-conditioning is a selling point. Spring blossom at Peterson House runs August to October. Because guests stay on the estates, morning-after portraits among the rows are an easy add. Vintage adds bins and tractors to the picture, and we photograph them.