Johnny was ready first. Black tuxedo, white boutonniere and that calm-before-the-aisle look we love to catch while window light is soft and kind. By half past one we’d crossed town to Ballarat Premier Apartments in Ballarat Central, where Georgie’s room had a shuttered bay window throwing even, pearly light, the sort that makes satin glow without a single flash. A loved one fastened her gown and fanned the long train across the carpet, and once the veil was in, Georgie couldn’t stop laughing. Neither could we.
At half past three Georgie walked through the Mercure Ballarat garden on the arm of a loved one, and Johnny’s grin at the front could have lit up the whole of Golden Point. They kissed under a timber arbour with the bridesmaids in white beside them, then came back up the aisle through a proper rose-petal storm. Our tip for petals: hand them out before the vows and ask guests to throw high, not at faces. We danced the two of them along the lakeside path, rattled through the family photos, and then their fluffy white dog arrived in a flower collar and stole every frame going.
Just after five we drove the wedding party to Ballarat Botanical Gardens on the shore of Lake Wendouree. That timing matters in autumn. The sun sits low behind the Robert Clark Conservatory, so we shot into the light and let it glow through the veil and rim everyone in gold. The bridesmaids cheered, Johnny swept Georgie off her feet in front of the groomsmen, and the wind turned her long veil into our favourite prop. One gust wrapped it across Georgie’s face mid-laugh; another lifted veil and gown together as they kissed beside the glass. Long veils and breezy days are a gift, as long as you let them fly.
Back at Mercure Ballarat we stole a few quiet minutes under the vine-covered pergola, its hanging glass lights just starting to glow, before dinner swept everyone inside. After dark we pinched them one last time for the festoon lights in the gum trees, the final portraits of a very full, very happy day.
We filmed it all too, so if these Mercure Ballarat wedding photos made you smile, Watch Georgie and Johnny’s Mercure Ballarat wedding film.
