▶Brindabella Hills Winery · 156 Woodgrove Cl, Wallaroo NSW 2618 · Canberra
▶A late spring winery wedding on the lawn at Brindabella Hills Winery in Wallaroo, in the Canberra District, with a triangle arbour set against the valley and the mountains beyond. The couple kept it small and midweek: forty seven guests including a crowd of children, cocktail hour out the front, family style share plates in the wisteria room, speeches, a cake cut and a thirty minute dash back outside for the sunset.
Orange classic car · Kids at the arbour · Portraits in the vines · Speeches under the wisteria · Sunset dash at the arbour
A warm midweek afternoon, forty seven guests, eleven of them children in white. The groom in an open collared shirt had the kids lined up for photos inside before anyone else arrived, then an orange classic car rolled up the drive and the bride stepped out with a flock of flower girls. Guests sat on white chairs on the lawn in front of the glass building, and the ceremony at the triangle arbour ran twenty minutes with the hills behind: kids up front, vows into a handheld microphone, the little ones holding the certificate after the signing. Petals flew on the walk back, and the grandmother got her family photo with everyone in it.
Portraits took the couple along the white post and rail fence, up the rows of vines and back to the umbrellas out the front while guests had canapés. Inside, long tables ran under the wisteria with bentwood chairs and candles, and the DJ called the couple back in at ten past five. Speeches ran between courses: a grandfather, a sister, a mother reading from her notes, and the groom with his young son beside him. After the cake cut, a first dance and a dance with her dad, the couple slipped out at twenty past seven for the sunset at the arbour, all flare and silhouettes, and were back before the cake was served.
Ceremony spot · Moving between spaces · Light · How the day ran · Portrait spots · Our advice
The ceremony at Brindabella Hills Winery was on the lawn below the glass building, at a white triangle arbour dressed with florals on one corner, with a black fence line and then nothing but valley and hills. Guests sat on white chairs with the building behind them, so every frame of the couple looked out over the view. The kids stood up front, which only works at a short ceremony like this one. Our tip: keep the arbour on the lip of the lawn so the hills fill the background, and be ready for the wind that comes up the valley to lift a veil or a page of vows. Watch at 0:50 Watch at 2:26 Watch at 2:42
Everything is within a minute's walk. The ceremony lawn sits right below the reception room, cocktail hour ran on the terrace out the front under market umbrellas, and the couple's portraits went no further than the vines by the drive and the white fence. The glass doors of the reception room open straight onto the terrace, so the couple's entrance came from outside into the room, and the sunset dash was simply out those doors and down to the arbour. For a wedding with this many kids, that closeness mattered: nobody got lost and no one had to be driven anywhere. Watch at 3:50 Watch at 5:14 Watch at 8:58
Late spring in the Canberra District means a high, hard sun through the afternoon, and the ceremony at a quarter past three was in full light with thin cloud helping now and then. We kept the couple moving for portraits rather than posing, used the shade of the big tree by the fence for close ups, and let the rows of vines stack up the hill behind them. The reception room is glass on every side, bright behind anyone speaking, so we exposed for faces and let the terrace fall soft. The sunset at half past seven was the payoff: gold flare through the arbour and clean silhouettes. Watch at 4:02 Watch at 5:54 Watch at 9:14
Guests from half past two, bride at three, a twenty minute ceremony, group photo, then canapés and sausage rolls for the kids while the couple did close to an hour of portraits around the winery. The grandmother's family photo was the one request, so we shot it straight after the ceremony while everyone was together. Share plates, speeches between courses, cake cut at a quarter past seven, and then the clever bit: out the door at twenty past for the sunset and back by ten to eight with the DJ keeping the floor warm. A short, well ordered day that never felt rushed. Watch at 3:38 Watch at 5:18 Watch at 8:58
You do not need to leave Brindabella Hills Winery. In the hour after the ceremony we used the white post and rail fence by the drive, the big tree beside it for shade, the rows of vines running up toward the grassy hill, and the terrace with its umbrellas for a few relaxed frames on the way back in. All of it sits within a couple of minutes' walk of the lawn. Mid afternoon light is high, so plan this hour as movement and laughter rather than still poses, and keep the best ten minutes for sunset later: the arbour at half past seven gave frames the afternoon could not. Watch at 3:58 Watch at 4:18 Watch at 4:34
What our team noticed was how much the children shaped the day, and how well the couple planned for it: a short ceremony, kids up front, kids' food at cocktail hour, the groom's son beside him for the speech. If your guest list has a crowd of little ones, do the same. The other lesson was the sunset. Cutting the cake first and leaving the floor to the DJ meant the couple could disappear for thirty minutes without the party losing a beat, and those last frames at the arbour were the best of the day. Put the sunset time in the runsheet and protect it. Watch at 3:34 Watch at 7:18 Watch at 9:22
Brindabella Hills Winery sits on a granite ridge about 25 kilometres north of Canberra, high above the Murrumbidgee River, and was one of the district's early vineyards. One side looks out over the river and mountains, the other across the vines. Its in-house team and catering partner run weddings for up to 90 seated or 110 cocktail guests, with the cellar door and restaurant at the heart of the property. A guest list under fifty with a crowd of kids makes the room feel full and lively while still leaving plenty of space to move.
The reception room is the winery's signature space: wisteria trained along the ceiling, festoon lights, dark bentwood chairs and walls of glass opening to a terrace of vine-wrapped pillars and market umbrellas. In daylight that glass is very bright behind anyone standing at the window, so expose for faces and let the terrace fall soft and airy rather than fighting it. A head table against the long, low window frames the trees like a painting and gives a calm wide shot to cut back to during speeches. Once dusk settles, the festoons carry the warm light beautifully.
Speeches here run through the DJ's handheld mic, and with a hard floor and so much glass the room is lively, so a videographer takes a feed from the DJ desk and keeps a second recorder close to where speakers stand. Speakers reading from a phone or a folded page tend to pull the mic away from the mouth, so a quick word to hold it close pays off. The dance floor shares the same room, with the DJ set up at the window end, so speeches before dancing keeps everything clean. A couple of lights on stands at the floor's edge keep faces bright once the sun goes down.
Sunset is the moment to build any day here around. The venue itself sells its two-level grass terrace as the place to watch it. On a late spring evening the sun goes down around half past seven, so a runsheet that cuts the cake at a quarter past, sends the couple out at twenty past and has them back inside by ten to eight works neatly. Thirty minutes is plenty: back to the ceremony arbour, into the sun for flare and silhouettes, then a return to a party the DJ has kept humming. In mid winter the sun goes closer to five, which puts this inside cocktail hour instead.
Set aside close to an hour after the ceremony for portraits all over the winery; for a winery wedding it is worth doing. The rows near the drive run up towards the grassy hill, so a long lens down the grass between the vines stacks them neatly against it, and the white post-and-rail fence makes a clean, simple frame. Mid afternoon light is high, so keep the couple moving rather than posing, and welcome thin cloud when it comes. If the weather turns, ask the venue early about its wet weather plan; the glass reception room and covered terrace are where to look first for portraits.