Fall in love with the simplicity of tying the knot in a peaceful winery at Melbourne's Yarra Valley. Steve Lau and Melissa Chew chose the picturesque Stones of the Yarra Valley to throw a summertime wedding.
"We couldn't have asked for a better wedding – the weather was a perfect 24 degrees with a light breeze. Lucky we have great images to remind us of this. We highly recommend you to invest in a good photographer and videographer; it's worth it!" said Melissa.
They held an intimate soleminisation at the property's quaint chapel followed by a rustic-themed reception at restaurant, The Barn, for 180 guests. The bride shares more the details here.
How did the two of you meet and what was the proposal like?
We had met at church through a mutual friend. Coincidentally, Steve's housemate was a senior of mine in dentistry school. Steve proposed to me at Geelong where we had our first date.
Tell us a little bit about the wedding.
Because Steve's Malaysian and I'm from Singapore, we still adhered to Chinese wedding customs. We had traditional gatecrashing games organised by the bridesmaids, followed by a tea ceremony and luncheon at my place. We had food catered by Blake's Feast who did an amazing job. More importantly, a coffee cart and champagne to fuel everyone up for the day! After lunch, we made our way out to Yarra Valley where the girls got ready at a beautiful property in Badger Creek (Botanica Editions), while the boys got ready in Gruyere (Big Yarra View). Dinner was Aussie-styled shared entrees, mains and roaming dessert trays. The Baker Boys Band entertained us throughout the night.
Can you share with us details of the wedding prep?
We had a lot of guests coming in from Singapore and Malaysia, so we decided to create a website to help everyone plan out their accommodation and transport to Melbourne. We worked with the local florist to dress up the venue, and were lucky enough to have peonies in late December (usually the season ends early November). We also tried to cut costs by creating props made of recycled timbre found in my parents shed. We love the big flower bomb hanging from the ceiling at the centre of the room, with our names "Steve and Melissa" in laser-cut wood.
