▶Emu Bottom Homestead · Homestead Way, Sunbury VIC 3429 · Melbourne
▶A late spring wedding for 116 guests at Emu Bottom Homestead in Sunbury, the stone farmhouse that is Victoria's oldest. Both the bride and the groom dressed on the property in the late afternoon, guests arrived to a musician, bubbles and lawn games, and vows were set outdoors at five, followed by a confetti walk, a grazing hour in the gardens, cake, dinner, speeches and a first dance at half past eight.
Robes in the garden · Vows on the lawn · Confetti and a group photo · Portraits by the stone walls · Speeches in the Homestead
The afternoon started outdoors, with the bridesmaids in white robes popping a bottle in the garden and the groom and his two groomsmen in tan suits trading jokes with his mum under the trees. The rings and shoes sat on the old stone sill among dried petals. Guests gathered on the lawn beside the long veranda of the homestead, and white chairs faced a gum tree at the garden end. A flower girl led the way, the bride walked in on her dad's arm with a loose white bouquet, and the groom read his vows from a sheet he could barely hold steady.
The couple signed at a little table on the grass with the lawn stretching away behind them, then came the kiss and a storm of confetti as they passed the timber slab hut. Everyone crowded into a whole group photo by the garden bed, the groom's arm in the air. While guests grazed, we walked the couple around the old stone walls, the lattice windows and the farm gates, and the bridal party posed on the gravel in the last gold light. Dinner was at long tables in the whitewashed Homestead room, with the cake cut on the way in, speeches from both families, and party hats on the dance floor by the end.
Ceremony spot · Moving between spaces · Light · How the day ran · Portrait spots · Our advice
The vows were on the lawn beside the main house at Emu Bottom Homestead, with the long veranda and whitewashed stone walls running down one side and gums and garden beds closing off the other. White folding chairs faced a big tree, so the couple stood against greenery rather than a building, and guests had the heritage house as their backdrop. It is a wide, flat lawn, easy for prams and older guests, and the veranda gave a sliver of shade for anyone who wanted it on a warm spring afternoon. Watch at 1:18 Watch at 1:52 Watch at 2:32
Nothing here needs a car. The bride and her girls dressed in a cottage garden a short walk from the lawn, the groom's crew waited by the hedges, and the ceremony, confetti walk, portraits and the stone reception room all sit within a few hundred metres of each other. We walked the couple from the lawn past the slab hut, along the walls and out to the farm fences without ever losing sight of the guests' drinks area. For the couple it meant real time with people instead of a convoy of cars. Watch at 0:12 Watch at 3:18 Watch at 5:22
A five o'clock ceremony in late spring put the sun low behind the trees, so the lawn was lit but soft, with warm backlight on hair and the bouquet. The whitewashed walls of Emu Bottom Homestead act like a giant reflector: stand the couple a step away and the light wraps their faces evenly, which is why the lattice window portraits look so clean. The woodpile and farm gates gave us golden rim light just before the sun dropped. Inside, the white room stays bright and even for speeches, so nobody is lost in shadow. Watch at 4:22 Watch at 5:42 Watch at 6:12
Getting ready started at a quarter to four, guests arrived to drinks from half past four and the aisle was at five. After the signing and confetti we did a whole group photo straight away while everyone was still together, then portraits during the grazing hour. The couple were announced into dinner at a quarter to seven and cut the cake on the spot, which freed the rest of the night. Speeches came after mains with the MC at the microphone, then the first dance and a dance floor that filled fast. Watch at 2:52 Watch at 6:22 Watch at 7:22
All the portraits happened on the property in the hour after the ceremony. We used the timber slab hut and the paddock fence for the walk away, the white stone walls with their lattice windows for the bridal party, the woodpile and the old tractor for something a little playful, and the gravel yard for a twirl in the gown. Twenty minutes with the couple and ten with the bridal party was enough. Plan for the hour before sunset, because once the sun leaves the walls the yard goes flat quickly. Watch at 4:08 Watch at 4:26 Watch at 5:42
What our team noticed was how much the confetti walk past the slab hut gave the day. It turned a formality into the loudest moment of the afternoon, and the gap between the lawn and the hut meant the whole crowd could line both sides. Cutting the cake as you enter dinner, as this couple did, is a trick worth stealing: one less interruption later. Tan suits and a strapless white gown suited the stone and gum tones perfectly. And put speeches against the white wall, because every speaker looks their best there. Watch at 3:42 Watch at 6:22 Watch at 6:58
Emu Bottom Homestead was begun in the 1830s by the settler George Evans, who took up the land on a squatting licence after arriving from Van Diemen's Land, and it is generally called Victoria's oldest homestead. The main house and some outbuildings are built of local stone coursed with creek mud, a rare survivor of early colonial building, restored in the 1960s and repaired again after a fire in the 1980s. It drew tens of thousands of visitors a year as a tourist attraction in the 1970s and appeared in several period television dramas. Today it runs as a function and reception venue on about 24 hectares at the edge of Sunbury.
Ceremonies are held outdoors in the grounds, among the gardens and tree lined avenues, with the original timber slab hut known as the Miners Cottage as the wet weather option and pre dinner drinks space. Two reception rooms suit a heritage wedding: the Homestead, with open stone fireplaces, a dance floor and a veranda over the gardens, seating up to 130 or holding around 250 for cocktails, and the Wool Shed, an original timber building with a large stone fireplace, also seating up to 130. Historic rooms including the parlour and dining room are open to couples on the day, and a bridal suite is included.
The old stone walls are the signature portrait backdrop here, their rough texture and warm colour reading beautifully in late afternoon light, with the gardens and the long avenues of mature trees a few steps away. Jacksons Creek runs through the property, and the nearby wetlands have platypus viewing platforms, so there is water and bush within the grounds as well as lawn. A five o'clock spring ceremony puts the sun low over the paddocks for the confetti walk and leaves a comfortable hour of soft light for a group photo on the grass and portraits by the walls before dinner.
Sunbury sits on the north western edge of Melbourne, on the doorstep of the Macedon Ranges, roughly 45 minutes from the CBD and about 20 minutes from Melbourne Airport, with a metropolitan train station under ten minutes' drive from the homestead. The venue has its own car park, and a private Bridal Homestead cottage can be booked for the couple. Hotels in Sunbury and around the airport cover interstate guests, and a bus from the city is easy to arrange given the freeway run. For a garden wedding with 100 plus guests, that combination of a car park and an airport nearby matters.
Late October in Sunbury can turn from warm to windy in an hour, so keep the Miners Cottage in reserve and pack the ceremony after four, when the heat has gone and the light is kind. A grazing hour straight after the confetti lets the couple do family groups, wedding party and portraits without guests waiting hungry, and a musician plus lawn games keeps the lawn lively. Inside, with speeches before the first dance and the dance floor open by half past eight, the Homestead's fireplaces and festoon lighting carry the night; music finishes around eleven, so build the run sheet back from that.