Naomi and Matt had an amazing Bendooley Estate Book Barn wedding in the town of Berrima, Southern Highlands.
The overcast day provided some of the best light I’ve had so far this year! This was also one of the last weddings of 2020 before COVID-19 struck and caused global chaos. I’m hanging to go out and shoot again, especially after putting this nice wedding together for you to read.
The picture below pretty much sums up the day!
What made you choose the Bendooley Estate Book Barn?
Matt was born and raised in the Southern Highlands, and was still living there when we first started dating. Weekends away in Bowral are some of our best memories from the early days of our relationship so we always knew we wanted to get married in the Highlands. We looked at a number of the beautiful venues in the area but couldn’t go past the romantic charm of the Book Barn and the warm, helpful Bendooley staff.
What tips can you provide for another couple looking for a wedding photographer?
You spend a lot of time with your photographer on your wedding day – so they need to be someone you get along with and trust.
We loved Dan because he was easy-going and had a wicked sense of humour. He captured all our favourite moments on the day in a personal and candid way.
Any other tips for planning a wedding?
Book in the big things early – It’s amazing how quickly vendors book up. We booked in most of the big things (florist, photographer, DJ etc.) about 12 months in advance and managed to secure our first choice for most vendors.
Bring family or friends along to the tasting. The menu tasting was just about our favourite part of planning the wedding. Sharing the experience with our families made it even more memorable.
Don’t sweat the small stuff. We were determined to enjoy the day and not worry about things that didn’t go as planned. It can all feel a bit overwhelming during the planning stage and hard to imagine how it will all come together. On the day all you really notice / care about is being around all the people you love and the person at the other end of the aisle.
Did anything happen on the day that wasn’t planned?
Our cake didn’t show up! It was an honest mistake by our vendor who was super apologetic once she realised her mistake. We laughed it off – luckily Bendooley do an awesome dessert platter so there were plenty of sweets for our guests and it made for some good comic material for our MCs.
Instagram/Facebook/Word of Mouth?
What was the best route to finding great vendors? We chose almost all our vendors via word of mouth. It was either from friends or recommended by Bendooley Estate.
We couldn’t have been happier with our vendors. It made a big difference having vendors who knew the venue and had done multiple weddings there. They knew exactly what they were doing, who to contact and the rules of the venue, which meant a lot less work for us!
An Amazing Bendooley Estate Book Barn Wedding
Thanks for reading through the info and viewing my photographs of the day! Here’s some of the vendors who helped out on Naomi and Matt’s wedding:
Photography: Dan Cartwright Photography, Makeup: Ethix, Venue: Bendooley Estate Book Barn
I love photographing Southern Highlands weddings, especially at Bendooley Estate. Here’s another wedding from the southern highlands. If you really like my work and a feel some sort of connection with it, please see the links below:
