Jack + Lily - Rowlee Wines

Knowing they wanted to marry somewhere near Jack's hometown, Lily and Jack began searching for wedding venues in and around Orange and the Central West region of NSW. When they came across Rowlee Wines "it was the perfect venue and an absolute no brainer", said Lily.

With European-style gardens and superb in-house catering, they created a celebration at Rowlee within their budget that had it all (including espresso martinis, chocolate chip cookies from Cut Lunch Deli and live music courtesy of The White Tree).

Captured by the one and only Ripple Weddings, check out this absolute stunner of a wedding below.


How did you and Jack meet? As 18-year old new university students at Sydney Uni - coming up to 11 years ago!

The venue: Rowlee Wines in Orange NSW - Jack grew up in a small town called Cumnock about 45 minutes from Orange, and we knew we wanted to get married somewhere near home, despite both of us currently living in Sydney.

Orange and the Central West is a special place for both of us, and as soon as we stumbled upon Rowlee Wines, it was the perfect venue and an absolute no-brainer.

Wedding vibe: We were so grateful to have our most special people all in one place, and we wanted the day to be filled with love, happiness, and FUN! The whole day had such a special vibe to it, we wouldn't change a thing.

Best wedding planning resources? Wedshed (obviously!) and we can't thank our beautiful Wedshed co-ordinator Charlotte enough, who was with us during the lead up and on the day. I also loved The Bridal Journey on Instagram for inspo.

Wedding splurge
Photography and videography - Eddie and the Ripple Team are the BEST!

Wedding save
Wedding cars and a wedding cake - my beautiful friend Libby who owns Cut Lunch Deli in Sydney made us stacks and stacks of her famous Chocolate Chip Cookies, that paired perfectly with Rowlee's Espresso Martinis.

First look?
No, we went old school! We wanted to see each other for the first time down the aisle.

Best thing you ate or drank on the day?
This is an impossible question because Rowlee and the catering team went above and beyond! If we had to choose - the Aperol Spritz during cocktail hour and the pork and apple skewers went down a treat, can't go wrong.

Aisle song
"Magic", by Coldplay. Shoutout to our amazing celebrant Kiah who made the whole ceremony so natural and special.

Party starter track
My beautiful bridesmaid sung a first dance song, which went straight into Mr Brightside with The White Tree Band. We were genuinely concerned the floor was going to cave in, it was SO much fun.

Ceremony or reception (which won)?
These questions are MEAN! Both!

On-budget or over-budget?
Thankfully on budget as we were realistic in our planning from the get-go. We knew what we wanted to prioritise vs. save on.

Honeymoon destination?
Vomo Island in Fiji - highly recommend!

Expectations vs. reality: I used to work in corporate events and helped plan my sister's wedding in 2022 - so thankfully we were pretty well prepared! We knew for certain that we wanted a wedding co-ordinator on the day, and we don't regret this cost for a second. It sounds cliche but our wedding day was beyond our expectations - nothing can really prepare you for all the special moments and memories.

Best thing you did? This questions is IMPOSSIBLE to answer! Every single aspect of the day was the best thing we did! Besides the big, obvious things, we wrote hand-written personalised notes for all of our guests. Jack's sisters (who were also my bridesmaids) also secretly organised the Off The Hook Wedding Audio Guestbook which ended up being such a special (and equally hilarious) momento.

Hit (or near) miss: I accidentally said Jack's middle name wrong during her vows - so that's a great start.

If we had our time again... So many people had warned us that the day goes by very quickly - so we were actually overly-conscious of this. However, it still went SO fast and we wish we had taken even more moments to take it all in.

If I had my time again I'd also take more time to take in the flowers because Jardine Botanic completely exceeded my expectations! They were breathtaking.

CREDITS: Photos and video Ripple Weddings // Venue Rowlee Wines // Celebrant Modern Rituals by Kiah // Planning and coordination Wedshed // Florist Jardine Botanic // Cake Cut Lunch Deli // Stationery and signage Mila and May // Bridal gown Karen Willis Holmes // Bridesmaid dresses Sir the Label // Robes Kat the Label // Suits and ties P. Johnson // Rings Percy Marks // Hair Parlour O // Makeup The Future Mrs // Music The White Tree // Marquee JD Events.