Harry and Anna's garden wedding at Mayfield Vineyard in Orange, NSW was painfully beautiful - elegant styling, a historic homestead and endless rows of grapevines. Roaming geese, exotic trees and dresses born from dreams. Fairytale stuff.   

Given Harry's ties to the region (his family are from Orange and his Grandmother remembers attending parties at in her younger years), Mayfield provided the perfect setting for their whimsical wedding. 

"We always wanted to get married in Orange, where Harry grew up and where his family are from. We wanted a venue that felt like a home wedding, without all the work that goes along with a home wedding! Mayfield fit the bill perfectly, it really is the most beautiful yet understated venue", said Anna. 

Captured by Lens of Rosie and featuring a line-up of first-class vendors and suppliers (The White Tree and Institchu, we see you) this NSW wedding is full of inspiration. 


How did you and Harry meet? We first met at the Walgett Bachelor & Spinsters Ball (BnS) in 2012. Harry pretended he was a chopper pilot from the NT, which I knew was a total fabrication. Unsurprisingly, love didn’t blossom till a few years later at a 21st where we fell while dancing on the dance floor in the early hours of the morning which resulted in a trip to the hospital and several stitches in my lip. 

The proposal: Harry proposed at dinner with both our families present. The proposal was a total surprise to everyone that was there, except Anna's parents whom Harry had asked for permission to propose. 

We both work together on my family's farm near Walgett, NSW and jeweller options are limited in the area. Harry waited till I was away for a weekend and drove to Lannah Dunn in Toowoomba, a 1,060km round trip, to pick a ring on his own. 

The venue: We always wanted to get married in Orange, where Harry grew up and where his family are from. We wanted a venue that felt like a home wedding, without all the work that goes along with a home wedding! Mayfield fit the bill perfectly, it really is the most beautiful yet understated venue. We fell in love with the gardens and the grounds, it really just felt like us. The wines are good too!

Harry’s Grandmother, who accompanied us to our first viewing, also remembers attending parties at the Mayfield Homestead when she was our age. 

The vibe: We wanted everything to feel very whimsical. I had my heart set on having the reception in the garden at the homestead from the first moment we viewed the property. Everything we chose there after was inspired or centred around the garden.

Traditions (adopted, adapted or ditched): We opted for a traditional ceremony at the St Joseph’s Catholic Church. For us, the tradition and formality of a church wedding was important. We really enjoyed taking the time to participate in the wedding preparation course with our Priest, Father Greg. Harry’s family also have a long history with the church, dating back to the late 1800/ early 1900s, which was also really special for us.

For our reception entrance, rather than a traditional entrance, our MC also spontaneously decided to invite all our guest to form a tunnel into the marquee for us to run through. We aren’t very good dancers so this saved us having to pull out any embarrassing moves for our entrance. 

Hit (or near) miss: The bow I wore in my hair at the reception had quite an adventure! I had always wanted to swap out my veil for a bow for the reception. Melinda made me three different options to pick from on the day. However, after much stress about forgetting to pack the dress, these fell out of the garment bag and didn’t make it to Orange. In the chaos of the wedding morning, somehow Melinda managed to create and sow another one for me. It was carefully placed on the kitchen homestead ready to be swapped out. However, when it came time to swap it out it couldn’t be found anywhere! 

Much stress and searching from the bridal party followed. We soon worked out that, as it had been left in the kitchen, it had been confused with a decoration for the knife for the cutting of the cake. We cut the cake during the canapés and hadn’t noticed. We licked a little cake off the bow and fastened it into the hair like nothing had happened!

I also had a run in with an espresso martini on the dance floor which resulted in a massive brown stain down the front of my dress. I’d never planed on a dress change but luckily I had popped in my hen's dress just in case. I have heard lots of similar stories with other brides so perhaps that’s a good piece of advice to other brides - make sure to have a back up option handy in case of an emergency!

The outfit/s: My dress was created by the exceptionally talented rural dressmaker, Melinda O’Donoghue. I was incredibly fortunate that Melinda agreed to make my dress, particularly as she is trying to retire! The main fabrics were Inbal Dror purchased from Studio Fabrics, Sydney. 

Melinda was there on the wedding day to make sure my dress fit perfectly. She even created a bow for my hair on the wedding morning out of spare fabric! I wanted the dress to encapsulate the magical feeling of the gardens at Mayfield, to be classic with a little bit of a twist. Melinda helped me capture this perfectly! Melinda also made my mum's dress.

Harry's suit was made by Institchu.

The bridesmaids wore gorgeous gowns from Needle & Thread.

I'll always remember... Seeing Harry’s grin while I was walking down the aisle. I was so nervous before and Harry’s smile melted it all away. 

Standout vendors: All of them! Feel bad not giving every single one a plug.

Melinda O’Donoghue, my dressmaker, she is a superstar and we are so so lucky to have her in the bush making rural brides dreams come true. I will forever cherish the memories of my time spent creating a dress with Melinda.

Nat from The White Place Events was our coordinator and she was a god send. Our literal fairy godmother. She made every wish a reality and worked so hard in the background to make sure everything ran smoothly. Couldn’t recommend her more highly.

Our photographer, Heidi from Lens of Rosie. Heidi is such a warm, vivacious person and it translates so much in her work. She went above and beyond with what she delivered.

Our florist, Adelaide from Potter Studio. I booked Adelaide a month out from the wedding. I had no idea how idea how expensive flowers were, I gave Adelaide a ‘beer budget’ to work with on the florals and she somehow managed to deliver ‘French champagne’.

Our caterers, Eat Your Greens. Lovely down to earth people serving great food.

Our band, The White Tree were awesome and James Newcombe our videographer was also faultless. I booked him a week out from the wedding and he happened to be available. 

Kata Lane marquees are second to none. 

A Beauty Freelance for anyone looking for makeup in North West NSW.

Soundtrack: Aisle song: "Stand by Me", by Tracey Chapman. Registry: "Friendship", by Chris Stapleton. Recessional: "Two Strong Hearts", by John Farnham. Wedding party entrance "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", by The Proclaimers. First dance: "Somebody Like You", by Keith Urban.

Words of wisdom: Things will, without a doubt, go wrong. Remember the purpose of the day - you are there to get married to the love of your life! As long as you achieve that, everything else is a bonus. Enjoy it. After it’s all over you’ll wonder why you wasted energy stressing about silly little things. 

CREDITS: Photos Lens of Rosie // Video James Newcombe Weddings // Venue St Joseph’s Catholic Church (ceremony) Mayfield Vineyard (reception) // Priest Father Greg Bellamt // Florist Potter Studio // Catering Eat Your Greens // Cake Cakes by Drew // Bridal gown Melinda O’Donoghue // Accessories Sybella Jewellery // Bridesmaid dresses Needle & Thread // Suits Institchu // Bow ties and shirts M.J. Bale // Rings Lannah Dunn Fine Jewellery // Hair Abbey Taberner // Makeup A Beauty Freelance // Music The White Tree // Transport Parker’s Wedding Cars // Bar staff Wonderbar RSA Services // Coordination and styling The White Place Events // Marquee Kata Lane