Hey I’m Alex, a Southern highlands Wedding Photographer, and you’ve come across one of my favourite venues to work at, Bendooley Estate in Berrima, with two stunning options to choose from, the Book Barn with a stunning ceremony by the lake, or the architecturally stunning, The Stables At Bendooley Estate, with the barn doors underneath the striking black steel ring, covered in flowers making an ideal ceremony location. Keep reading and find out what I love about the venue as a whole, as well as the areas individually.The Service
Second to none, that’s the easiest way to describe the level of service you receive right from the very beginning. Kelly is the on-site wedding coordinator at Bendooley Estate, and is very helpful in your planning process, helping to organise site inspections, through the booking process and creating a timeline for your day.
On the actually wedding day, there’s a manager in charge for you who helps organise your day, from letting your wedding celebrant know your ready to walk down the aisle, to ensuring your MC’s timeline is aligned with the venues, to making sure drinks are topped up at tables and sparkling and beers are poured and ready as soon as your package begins, and they’ll still be there to see you off at the end of the night. There’s also plenty of wait and beverage staff on hand so food and drink service is speedy.
The Food & Drinks
This is a big part of why Bendooley is one of our favourite Southern Highlands wedding venues, the food is sensational, and having been there close to 100 times with our partner business, Party Central, we haven’t had a bad meal once. While you can opt for a traditional alternate drop menu, we recommend you get the table/family share menu, this brings big platters of food to your table, it means guests can get to eat some of everything instead of having food envy, they can serve themselves as much or as little as they like too, and trust me, there’s always more than enough food, with two of my favourites being the slow cooked lamb shoulder and the pumpkin filled ravioli. You can also book end your food experience with a grazing platter straight after the ceremony, plus some hot canapes, and a dessert cart for the sweet tooths at the end of the night.
Then there’s the drinks, Bendooley Estate, being a working vineyard, has a range of it’s own wines as part of their wedding package, with a fine selection of whites, reds, and sparkling, they’re all great but if I had to choose a favourite, it’d be their Pinot Noir. Besides this, they have your regular beers as part of their package, with cocktail hours able to be added, and spirits available for purchase too.
The Location & Accommodation
Bendooley Estate is located just 10 minutes from both Moss Vale and Bowral, giving your guests plenty of accommodation options in either town, and easy access to your wedding, with plenty of onsite parking available, or if you want to give your guests the night off driving, a number of bus companies in the Southern Highlands like Berrima Buslines can ferry your guests around, at an approximate cost of $1200.
There are a number of accommodation units onsite to allow the bridal party space to stay the night before and/or the night of the wedding, with the surrounding grounds and views providing some great wedding photo opportunities. I’d suggest staying the extra nights, relax after the big day with a wine tasting and perhaps a meal at their new onsite restaurant, Leo’s.
The Book Barn
Get married underneath a beautiful old tree, with the lake making the perfect backdrop as you commit to your partner for life, its pretty magical, particularly if you get your florist to add some flower plinths or ground arrangements for that pop of colour, the grounds are always meticulously maintained. This area also has a wet weather option, with a shelter next to the lake so no one will be able to tell from your wedding photos that you weren’t outside.
After the ceremony, The Book Barn is perfect for small to medium weddings, especially if you’re a book lover, catering anywhere from 50-150 people, with some minimum requirements for weekends and peak wedding seasons. Guests will start with a cocktail hour in the bar/dining area, or if it’s a beautiful day, using the outside courtyard, before moving into the reception which is a working bookshop, you’ll be surrounded by works of great literature on some of the walls and behind the bridal table. The rest of the room is wooden and looks spectacular with fairy lights strung from beam to beam, with plenty of spaces to hang flower arrangements.
Most of your wedding photos will happen around the ceremony area, with a beautiful old homestead (where the bride hangs out pre ceremony) covered in green vines that turn red in autumn, a jetty on the lake, a fountain and many other great features. There’s also the winery vineyards right next to the book barn, and a dirt road with a smaller damn towards the back of the property for those sunset/blue hour photos.
This space includes a sound system, which my partner who is a DJ/MC with Party Central, is his preferred out of the two venues as the system is a little louder, something to consider if you like a louder party and you like both spaces equally. The sound system also has a microphone and lectern.
The Stables
The Stables is perfect for medium to large weddings, anywhere from 80-200 people, with some minimum requirements for weekends and peak wedding seasons. This still allows plenty of space to have a dancefloor, photobooth and more. The wet weather option for your wedding ceremony is flipping the normal set up, so guests are inside, the barn doors are opened up and the couple still appear to be outside with the gardens becoming the backdrop.
I mentioned earlier the striking black steel rings you get married under, they carry through to the inside and form an attractive feature as they house the rooms lighting, and again, provide a space to decorate with flowers, greenery or draping. A polished concrete floor, thick black steel beams with walls lined with a light oak wood panel completing the look of a modern-day barn. Behind the bridal table, there are floor to ceiling windows letting in the beautiful afternoon light.
I love that they have curtains drawn when your guests first enter, which separates the dining area with the dancefloor and bar area, and then, like magic, the curtains draw back when its time for the reception to begin after your canape hour. There’s also a big fireplace that can have its direction changed so it can warm the area where most guests are, and is a great focal point, not to mention the warmth for those autumn and winter Southern Highlands weddings.
As with the Book Barn, The venue includes a sound system with microphone available for speeches with your hired DJ being able to plug directly in with the sound filling the entire space without being overpowering.
There’s ample spots within a few minutes of walking around the well-designed gardens for your wedding photography, with beautiful pathways, a water feature at the top of the steps, the ceremony are itself, and a dirt track leading into an open paddock offering great sunset photo opportunities, particularly when we offer drone wedding photography as part of our packages.
In short, you can’t go wrong with a Bendooley Estate Wedding, whether you choose the Book Barn or The Stables at Bendooley Estate for your Southern Highlands Wedding, and I’d love to be there to capture the moments for you, so send me an enquiry today.
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