September 15, 2022

5 Amazing Venues in the Hunter Valley

Bryce Hall

We’re so excited that you’re engaged, and ready to plan your dream day! I bet you can’t wait to dive into all of the planning for your special day! With so many aspects of your day to consider, it’s a safe to assume that you’re going to start off with deciding where to hold your wedding! 

While we are a huge believer in hosting a gorgeous outdoor ceremony out in the world. There are actually plenty of amazing venues which offer a mixture of both indoor and outdoor settings for your day. This can be crucial especially when you can never count on what the weather decides to do nowadays! So having multiple options is an absolute necessity for holding a successful day.

While we have so many incredible places in mind and we would list every venue if we could. Here’s a few of the venues which we’ve worked at recently that we had an absolute ball at! When we list these venues, we are talking about more than just with the photo & video opportunities. We also are talking about everything from the friendly & highly organised staff, to a cracking good meal! So here they are, 5 venues, in no particular order, that we absolutely are loving at the moment!! We’ll be back at many of these venues in the upcoming weeks and months and cannot wait!

Dark Horse Vineyard

We recently worked for the very first time at Dark Horse Vineyard and had the absolute BEST time ever! Everything was perfect; from the prep room’s ease of location situated right outside the ceremony spot. To having the incredible Fennel & Co on board as their exclusive caterer. These guys seriously know how to provide an incredible service for catering at any event and will take away all the stresses of this aspect of your night! 

And the ceremony location!!! Just wow! It’s situated outside those barn doors, you can really opt for an incredible floral setup at this venue, if your heart desires! The staff here are so patient and are always willing to cater towards how you’d like your perfect day to be, they’ll put in the time and effort to ensure everything is perfect. This is crucial having incredible vendors like this, because when it hits the fan, you know you’ve got a team of people who are in your corner!

All of the spaces inside of the reception room are beautiful, we especially love the chill out booths! These areas could be repurposed for a multitude of other activities such as; guest books, gift tables or it can even make for the perfect photo-booth location! 

We love a venue where you can really put your own heart into styling it. Because this is where you can really bring your dreams to life. It’s your day and it should be crafted the way you like it, don’t settle for anything less!

We’ll be back here early 2023 in February for photo & video and absolutely cannot wait!

Shoal Bay Country Club

Shoal Bay White Sands function room, where coastal meets modern beauty. From the get-go, this venue is already stunning on the inside, so if a minimalist style is your vibe, then this place is a hit! Even as it’s bare-bones you’d be satisfied, as the place already looks incredible. However, on the other hand if you’ve got big dreams and massive ideas. You could also implement some of the most incredible floral installations into this venue too!

This venue is also what we like to call, “The king of the Canapé!”. We seriously believe having canapés at this venue is such a vibe as it has gorgeous indoor and outdoor areas to socialise and especially on the warmer months. Why not enjoy the views of Shoal Bay with a beer in your hand? Being situated next to a beach that could easily be mistaken as the Whitsundays also makes for the perfect setting for some cocktails too!

You really cannot go wrong with the views or the beauty of this place. It is absolutely incredible and nearby you have tonnes of stunning locations where you can hold your ceremony before getting the party started!! 

The staff at SBCC are so lovely and will put so much time into crafting the perfect service for you also. These legends will make sure your day runs smoothly and perfectly! Also not to mention, if your day has rainy skies, this place makes for an EPIC backup ceremony location. There’s plenty of room and plenty of natural light flows through the windows allowing for a beautifully naturally lit ceremony. Again, isn’t it great having options for your ceremony? You’d hate to be caught with no plan B on your wedding day, seriously not a vibe!

Caves Coastal Bar & Bungalows

One of our absolute favourite places under the sun to party with couples is Caves Coastal Bar & Bungalows. This venue offers a unique all inclusive wedding experience where couples can really plan their whole day at the venue. Situated at the iconic beach Caves Beach in Lake Macquarie. Caves Beach sits right by the ocean and hosts gorgeous coastal views. It also includes a stunning boardwalk amongst their beautiful waterfront accomodation options.

You can host your ceremony, right on the boardwalk if your heart desires! With perfect ceremony options for both wet weather and sunny days, you really can’t go wrong with holding your special day here. One of the aspects of your day that I believe makes the whole process so much less stressful, is the element of being able to do all of your prep on site at a wedding venue. This is because you can simply walk to your ceremony. Why not take a nice moment outdoors relaxing before your ceremony begins?

You can’t go past having your wedding photos on the Caves Beach either. It definitely is one of our favourite beaches, even amongst all of the gorgeous beaches we are blessed with in our area. There’s something special about getting photos with your lover in the mouth of a large cave. This provides a look that no other beach can provide, it’s truely unique to the area and very well known!

Caves Coastal has beautifully sized function rooms which you can absolutely customise to your needs when booking in your dream day! This room really can be styled in any shape or form, to fit your hearts desire! 

Peterson House

Peterson House is such a classic venue that many couples absolutely loves and for good reason! With a gorgeous chapel and vineyard, they host some stunning views in the Hunter Valley and all of the weddings we have worked at at this venue have been an absolute dream!

The chapel is a decent size for any size of wedding and is designed to perfection. On a side note; we love that as a photographer you can climb to the top of the stairs inside the chapel to get that unreal, high view mid-ceremony. It’s a seriously unique spot which allows for many unique angles that wouldn’t be possible at another venue. 

They have a permanent marquee on site and this space is amazing for entertaining your guests! It’s situated just nearby and will be large enough to entertain guests. You can really put on a show after your formalities kick off! We’ve loved partying and dancing the night away with our couples in this space and believe that you can really put your own spin on the place. Styling it however your heart decides. Again, this place is really a blank canvas for your imagination, if you let it run wild you never know what you might be able to come up with!!

Pepper’s Creel Barrel Room & Chapel

If the tiny chapel wedding is your style of wedding. Then there’s really no better venue then Peppers Creek. With beautiful views of their winery and a stunning reception room hosted in their barrel room, at Peppers Creek there are so many stunning options for hosting your dream vineyard wedding.

The candle-lit function room is definitely one of the biggest talking points about he venue. You can enjoy your venue in a gorgeously romantically lit barrel room surrounded by your closest. You cannot go past the intimate and incredible moments we’ve been part of inside those walls.

Maybe vineyard photos aren’t your thing? Peppers creek is also nearby to many other amazing and classic photoshoot locations within the Hunter valley. We can always take you to for your gorgeous wedding day photos. We’ll always recommend that you stay to get photos on site, because the place looks stunning all year around! 

Peppers creek while having an incredible ceremony & reception location also has some AMAZING accomodation options right on site. These are perfect for getting ready for the big day and have plenty of amazing locations where we can take gorgeous detail photographs of all the components which make up your big day!

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  1. Aimee says:

    Love that photo at Peterson House so much Bryce. Nice round up.