Avalon Castle Wedding Photos
A bluestone castle on a hill above Cockatoo, gum trees a century old, and the whole day in one place
Avalon Castle is a bluestone castle on two acres at the top of a hill in Cockatoo, in the eastern Dandenong Ranges. The original building was lost in the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983. The Blyth family bought the property in 2010 and restored it as a wedding venue, keeping the old gum trees and adding guest rooms and a honeymoon cottage. There are three ceremony spots: a timber-lined chapel, the Rose Terrace with its outdoor bar, and the gardens around the fountain.
Veri has photographed three weddings here, including Lizzie and Jack, Chloe and Andrew, and Katherine and Lucy. Each had the ceremony, portraits and reception at the castle, so nobody drove anywhere and the timeline stayed loose. That suits us. Portraits can happen in short runs through the afternoon rather than one long block, and Chloe and Andrew’s day carried on into night photos around the castle.
Photographing a wedding at Avalon Castle
The hilltop gives open sky and a long sunset in summer, and the gum trees throw shade for family groups in the middle of the day. The chapel is the wet-weather ceremony option; its timber interior photographs warmly with the doors open. Allow ten minutes on the Rose Terrace straight after the ceremony while everyone is still close, then step back out at dusk for a last frame of the castle against the sky. The galleries above are three full days at Avalon Castle.