Arts Centre Melbourne Wedding Photos Melbourne CBD
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Melbourne CBD Wedding Photography · Mehndi & Wedding Day

NGV Wedding Photos & Mehndi Day: Aasheen & Emmanuel

Mehndi Day at Arts Centre Melbourne with location photos at Willsmere Estate in Kew · Riverside Terrace vows · Carlton Gardens portraits · NGV Great Hall reception

Ballroom Wedding · Cultural & Traditional Wedding · Heritage & Historic Venue Wedding · Urban City Wedding · Region: VIC - Melbourne CBD · City: Melbourne · Venues: Carlton Gardens · Crown Towers Melbourne · National Gallery of Victoria · Willsmere Estate

A Mehndi in a domed room under the Arts Centre spire, vows on a riverside terrace with the whole city skyline as a backdrop, and a first dance beneath the stained-glass ceiling of the NGV Great Hall. Aasheen and Emmanuel’s Melbourne CBD wedding ran over two big days a week apart, and we were there for every song, every twirl of that orange lehenga and the sparkler send-off on St Kilda Road.

Aasheen lifts her gold-dotted veil over one shoulder, her orange and gold mirror-work skirt glowing in soft window light at the family home
Aasheen stands in the open front doorway in pink and orange embroidery, holding her sheer gold veil at either side of her face
Close detail of a mirror-studded orange skirt, a floral beaded top and stacked pink bangles as Aasheen gathers her skirt in one hand
Aasheen spreads her sheer gold-dotted veil along the white banister upstairs, her orange and red skirt flaring across the landing
Aasheen walks down a staircase wound with roses and greenery beneath a crystal chandelier while a young man in gold looks on
Aasheen smiles up from the rose-wound stairs, holding her veil at her temples as a hand behind lifts its gold-dotted train
Looking up through the curved stairwell at Aasheen in orange and gold, posed halfway down the garlanded staircase at the family home
Aasheen gazes upward from the top of the staircase, framed by the white curve of the stairwell and its trail of pink and red roses
Emmanuel in an ivory jacket looks up and grins as Aasheen pauses on the flower-wound staircase above him
Emmanuel in ivory and Aasheen in pink and orange hold hands on the front path outside the family home, both smiling
Emmanuel leads Aasheen up the stone steps beside the cream heritage colonnade, her pink and orange skirt gathered in one hand
Aasheen and Emmanuel walk hand in hand past rounded hedges and the long cream heritage wing
The couple stand close on the lawn beneath the historic slate-roofed Italianate tower at Willsmere, with grey clouds rolling overhead
Aasheen beams as Emmanuel leads her across the lawn, her gold-edged veil trailing below the historic cream tower
Groomsmen in yellow and white and bridesmaids in shades of pink walk the courtyard lawn with the couple at the historic Willsmere Estate, Kew
Aasheen laughs with four bridesmaids in pink and coral, beaded purses in hand, beneath the cream tower of the heritage estate
Bridesmaids in pink swirl their skirts as they walk the lawn with Aasheen past round hedges and the long heritage wing
Emmanuel twirls Aasheen across the grass, her gold-dotted veil lifting in the breeze below the historic tower
Aasheen and her bridesmaids spin their full pink and orange skirts on the courtyard lawn of the heritage-listed estate
The couple walk hand in hand up the drive toward the arched verandahs and historic Italianate facade of Willsmere in Kew
Aasheen strikes a dance pose beside a dancer in pink on the white floor of the gold-walled pavilion in inner Melbourne
Aasheen's patterned hands pass a handful of rice into Emmanuel's cupped palms above a white bowl, a plate of dates and petals beside them
Aasheen rests her intricately patterned palms, stacked with pink bangles, on her orange mirror-work skirt
A green and gold tray of mirrored bowls, a tealight and rose petals sits beside plates of sweets and dates
Aasheen and Emmanuel laugh and clap from a white sofa beneath a gold arch of red and ivory roses in the city pavilion
Emmanuel and Aasheen dance as guests cheer beneath garlands of orange and red flowers strung across the curved ceiling of the Leaper Family Pavilion
Emmanuel turns on a red-carpeted staircase to smile down at Aasheen, a glittering dark mural behind them
Aasheen and Emmanuel lean in close on the night terrace in central Melbourne, the gold-lit steel lattice of the Arts Centre Spire glowing above
Emmanuel kisses Aasheen's forehead as a single light behind them flares under the golden lattice of the city spire at night
Melbourne CBD towers glow under low night cloud across the road from the blue-lit curve of the concert hall
Aasheen and Emmanuel face each other in a pool of light on the Arts Centre Melbourne terrace, city towers glittering in the dark behind
Emmanuel smiles towards the window in a velvet dinner jacket, bow tie and white rose buttonhole, in black and white
Hands in pockets, Emmanuel looks out a tall window in his velvet dinner jacket and patent shoes, in black and white
Emmanuel stands front and centre with four groomsmen in dark suits and white rose buttonholes beneath tall windows, in black and white
The groomsmen pile onto a laughing Emmanuel, one planting a kiss on his cheek, in a bright black and white frame
A woman in blush pink fastens the back of Aasheen's lace and tulle gown by a window onto Melbourne CBD towers at Crown Towers Melbourne
Aasheen turns at the tall suite window above the city as her long tulle train sweeps the patterned carpet, in black and white
Holding white orchids and roses, Aasheen looks up in a moody curved lounge in central Melbourne
Seen from behind, Aasheen walks a dark marble corridor of the city hotel, her veil and bouquet mirrored in the polished wall
Aasheen steps out of a white vintage car as the domed heritage Royal Exhibition Building rises behind her, in black and white
Emmanuel reads his vows to Aasheen beneath a blush rose arch on the terrace, a city wedding with the skyline across the Yarra
Aasheen and Emmanuel hold hands and laugh beneath blush roses and orchids in central Melbourne as a bearded man reads from a black folder
A man behind the couple raises a ribboned ring above their heads on the white aisle runner, historic cathedral spires beyond the city terrace
Guests clap from pink-draped white chairs as the couple kiss at the floral arch, a sunny Melbourne CBD skyline behind Hamer Hall's terrace
The couple sit at a white iron table with a red folder and roses on the lawn above the Yarra, urban towers behind
Petals fly as Aasheen and Emmanuel walk back up the white aisle beaming, guests reaching out on the Riverside Terrace in Melbourne CBD
Emmanuel kisses Aasheen as she punches her bouquet skyward, a joyful city wedding moment on the riverside lawn in central Melbourne
Aasheen and Emmanuel walk towards each other on a city garden path as a tiered historic fountain sprays behind them
The couple embrace on the path, her long lace-edged veil spread across the ground before the heritage fountain
Aasheen and Emmanuel stand on the lawn beside the spraying fountain, a grand domed hall gleaming behind them in the World Heritage-listed Carlton Gardens
Aasheen swirls her tulle skirt before the tall green historic doors in inner Melbourne as Emmanuel grins back at her
Blush and ivory flower columns frame a monogrammed dance floor under the stained-glass ceiling of the NGV Great Hall, set for a ballroom wedding
A crystal chandelier glows over the head table of lit arches and blush roses, mirrored in the dance floor of the city ballroom
Candles and peach roses line the head table, looking across the ballroom dance floor to a mirrored floral arch and glass walls
A mirrored arch wound with ivory roses stands on the white dance floor among pillar candles in the Gandel Hall ballroom at the NGV
An orange and white tiered cake stands before the dance floor and floral pillars of the Melbourne CBD ballroom beneath a glittering chandelier
A glowing ballroom chandelier hangs against the stone wall above five lit arches and a line of blush roses at the National Gallery of Victoria
Close detail of the ballroom wedding cake with sugar roses, a pearl border, ruffled icing and two small bird figures in a copper alcove
Aasheen in a fitted lace gown and Emmanuel slow dance in the ballroom on their monogrammed floor beneath the chandelier at NGV International
Emmanuel and Aasheen dance at arm's length, her free hand flung wide, as the chandelier blazes over the city ballroom floor
Emmanuel hoists Aasheen onto his shoulder, both flinging their arms wide, as guests cheer on the ballroom dance floor of Gandel Hall at the NGV
Palms pressed together, Aasheen and Emmanuel dance as her long hair swings out under the chandelier in the ballroom
Outside the ballroom, the couple embrace under the blue-lit stone arch at NGV International in Melbourne CBD, golden light rippling through the water wall
Aasheen and Emmanuel hold hands and smile against the rippling gold of the water wall near the ballroom in inner Melbourne
Emmanuel dips Aasheen into a kiss beneath the blue-lit entrance arch of their ballroom venue, the NGV, golden light rippling through the glass behind
A white, a pink and a red classic car wait under purple-lit trees for a Melbourne CBD send-off from the ballroom
Guests hold sparklers high as Aasheen lifts her bouquet and runs with Emmanuel through the blue arch at NGV International after the ballroom reception
Emmanuel grins from the wheel of a white classic car with Aasheen beside him as ballroom guests wave from the historic boulevard
The wedding story

Our NGV wedding photos: a Mehndi under the Arts Centre spire, riverside vows and a Great Hall party

Mehndi Day getting ready in Wantirna South · Willsmere Estate portraits in Kew · Mehndi at the Pavilion, Arts Centre Melbourne · Getting ready in Patterson Lakes and at Crown Towers · Riverside Terrace vows at Hamer Hall · Carlton Gardens portraits · NGV Great Hall reception

Read the full story

Two days, one love story

Some weddings fit into one day. Aasheen and Emmanuel’s needed two, and we wouldn’t have had it any other way. A week before the wedding came the Mehndi, a riot of orange, pink and gold with about 250 guests. Then came the wedding day itself, all black tie and blush roses, with 278 people in the Great Hall at the National Gallery of Victoria. Two looks, two moods, two families coming together, and one couple who laughed through every minute of both. For a photographer, a two-day wedding is a gift: by day two everyone has forgotten the camera, and that is when the real moments show up.

Mehndi morning at home

Mehndi Day started at Aasheen’s family home in Wantirna South. Her lehenga was a work of art, orange and pink silk, hand-embroidered and studded with tiny mirrors that threw sparks of light around the room. Mirror work loves soft window light, so we kept her close to the glass and let the gold do the talking. Then came the staircase, wound with roses and greenery under a crystal chandelier. Emmanuel arrived in an ivory sherwani, looked up and just grinned. That look, before a single word is said, is why we always ask for a few minutes at the bottom of the stairs.

Colour at Willsmere Estate

From there we headed to Willsmere Estate in Kew, the grand Italianate landmark that opened as the Kew Asylum in the early 1870s and is now home to apartments. Its cream walls, slate-roofed towers and long verandahs make a dreamy backdrop for colour, and Aasheen’s lehenga absolutely popped against them. The bridal party joined us, the groomsmen in yellow kurtas and the bridesmaids in every shade of pink, and within five minutes they were twirling across the courtyard lawn like a music video. Our tip for big, bright outfits: give them room to move. A spinning skirt shows off the embroidery far better than standing still.

A Mehndi at the Pavilion

That evening the party moved to the Pavilion at Arts Centre Melbourne, a domed, gold-toned room under the spire. Garlands of orange flowers hung from the curved ceiling, there was a chai and chaat cart and live musicians, and Aasheen’s brother kept things moving as MC. We loved the quieter rituals too: the tray of petals, dates and sweets, Aasheen’s hennaed hands, and rice passing from her hands into Emmanuel’s. Then the choreographed dances started and the room went wild. Aasheen and Emmanuel danced in to cheers and barely sat down all night.

The spire after dark

Late in the evening we stole the couple outside. After dark the Arts Centre spire glows gold, and its steel lattice makes a ready-made frame, so all it needed was one light behind them to lift them out of the night. Across the road the city towers lit up like a set painted just for them. A few kisses, a few laughs, and back inside before anyone missed them.

Black tie, two ways

A week later the palette flipped to black tie. Emmanuel and his groomsmen got ready in Patterson Lakes, all velvet jackets and white roses, and the boys did what boys do: lined up seriously for exactly one frame, then piled on him. Over in Southbank, Aasheen got ready at Crown Towers with her bridesmaids and her mum. Her gown was all tulle and lace with a train that filled the floor, so we used the big hotel windows and a moody marble corridor to give it two very different looks. Then a white vintage car pulled up and off we went.

Vows on the Riverside Terrace

The ceremony was on the Riverside Terrace at Hamer Hall, part of Arts Centre Melbourne, right on the Yarra with St Paul’s Cathedral, Flinders Street Station and the city skyline across the water. A floral arch of blush roses and orchids, white chairs dressed in pink and a big blue spring sky did the rest. Mid-afternoon sun on a city terrace can be harsh, so we turned the couple to keep the glare off their faces and let the skyline sit bright behind them. Emmanuel read his vows, Aasheen laughed through hers, and the petals flew as they walked back up the aisle as husband and wife.

Carlton Gardens portraits

Next stop, Carlton Gardens. The Royal Exhibition Building, finished in the early 1880s and the first building in Australia on the World Heritage List, is about as grand as Melbourne gets, and the 1880s Exhibition Fountain out front is one of the most elaborate in the country. We kept the portraits relaxed: a slow walk on the path, a close cuddle by the fountain, and Aasheen spinning her tulle skirt in front of the building’s huge green doors. Long veils love a breeze, so we waited for the gust and caught it mid-flight.

A Great Hall entrance

While the guests enjoyed drinks and canapés in Federation Court, we slipped into the Great Hall before the doors opened. Under Leonard French’s stained-glass ceiling stood columns of blush and ivory flowers, a mirrored floral arch, a head table of glowing arches and a white dance floor with an A&E monogram. Then the parents walked in, the bridal party followed, and Aasheen and Emmanuel made their entrance to two songs, one for each side of the family. The roar from 278 guests bounced off the stone walls.

The first dance and beyond

The cake came first, then the first dance under a crystal chandelier, with Aasheen in a fitted lace gown made for moving. In a hall of dark stone, the white floor and that sparkling chandelier did the heavy lifting, and they made the first dance glow. A spin, a dip, then Emmanuel hoisting Aasheen onto his shoulder while the whole room cheered. Speeches, dinner, the bouquet toss and a dance floor that never emptied filled the rest of the night.

Sparklers on St Kilda Road

To finish, we took them out to the Waterwall, glowing gold behind the glass, and the blue-lit arch at the gallery entrance. Then the guests lined up with sparklers, Aasheen threw her bouquet in the air, and the two of them ran the tunnel of light to a white classic car waiting on St Kilda Road. Emmanuel took the wheel, Aasheen waved, and that was a wrap on two of the most joyful days we have ever photographed.

These NGV wedding photos are everything we love about a Melbourne CBD wedding: heritage, culture and a city that lights up after dark. See more of our Melbourne wedding photography, our cultural wedding photos or our city wedding photography.

Photographer's venue notes

NGV International, Southbank: Leonard French’s stained-glass Great Hall on St Kilda Road

Read the venue notes

The venue

NGV International is the National Gallery of Victoria’s home at 180 St Kilda Road in Southbank, just south of the Yarra and the CBD, and the building is on the Victorian Heritage Register. The gallery was founded in the early 1860s and describes itself as Australia’s oldest and most visited art museum. Roy Grounds designed the bluestone building, which opened in the late 1960s as the first stage of the arts precinct that now includes Arts Centre Melbourne, and Mario Bellini’s redevelopment reopened it in the early 2000s. Guests walk in past Grounds’s Waterwall, and in the Great Hall they look up at Leonard French’s ceiling, one of the world’s largest pieces of suspended stained glass.

Reception rooms and the ceremony

NGV weddings centre on two reception rooms. The Great Hall covers 775 square metres and takes a seated dinner of up to about 450 guests with a dance floor, and pre-dinner drinks are served among the art in Federation Court before the doors open. The Garden Restaurant suits smaller weddings of up to about 120 with a dance floor, overlooking the gallery’s moat. Aasheen and Emmanuel married next door on the Riverside Terrace at Hamer Hall, opened in the early 1980s as the Melbourne Concert Hall. Their Mehndi a week earlier was in the Pavilion, now the Leaper Family Pavilion: a gold-leaf domed room on level 8 under the Arts Centre Spire, seating up to about 350.

Carlton Gardens and Willsmere portraits

For daytime portraits, Aasheen and Emmanuel chose two of Melbourne’s grandest Victorian backdrops. Carlton Gardens, 26 hectares on the north-eastern edge of the CBD, surrounds the Royal Exhibition Building, opened in the early 1880s and in the mid-2000s the first building in Australia to gain World Heritage status. In front of it stands Josef Hochgurtel’s 1880s Exhibition Fountain, which the heritage register calls the largest and most elaborate fountain in Australia, and the grand allée of plane trees gives shade on a bright day. Willsmere in Kew, about six kilometres from the city, opened in the early 1870s as the Kew Asylum. Its Italianate wings, four-storey mansard-roofed towers and iron-columned verandahs, now apartments, glow in late afternoon light.

Light and timing in the city

Melbourne’s sunset falls at about 7:45pm in late October, about 8:45pm around Christmas and New Year and about 5:10pm in June, so a spring or summer wedding gives you a long golden evening. Aasheen and Emmanuel’s wedding day is a good model: vows on the Riverside Terrace at 3:15pm, portraits at Carlton Gardens from about 4:30pm to 5:45pm, then a 7pm entrance to the Great Hall. Hamer Hall sits on the south bank looking north across the Yarra to the city, so in the afternoon the sun comes from across the river. We stand couples with the light behind them, which keeps faces even and the skyline bright. Allow for city traffic between locations.

After dark and wet-weather frames

The arts precinct is at its best after dark. The Arts Centre Spire rises 162 metres above the street, lit by fibre optics, neon on its mast and around 14,000 bud lights on its lower skirt, and from the terrace it makes a ready-made backdrop for night portraits, with the city towers glowing across the road. At the NGV, the Waterwall shines gold behind the glass and the arched entrance frames a sparkler exit onto St Kilda Road. Plan ten minutes between courses for these. If the weather turns, Federation Court and the Great Hall itself give you indoor frames among art and under stained glass, with the entrance arch a few steps away.

Planning an NGV wedding, a Mehndi or a two-day celebration in Melbourne? Tell us about your plans.

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