Beautiful Plans: I think we have a winner people!

And by winner I mean location/venue for our wedding! Yay!

This weekend we drove to Great Western (in between Ararat and Stawell) to visit Allanvale homestead and we were seriously impressed! Annie the owner/manager was super busy setting up for another wedding (and it was a wet weather day so they were having to do things last minute) but she let us just wander around the entire place and this is what we found…

First we’ll start in the main living areas of the homestead, or the ballroom…

The room is actually a lot bigger than it looks in this picture but it has antique furniture from the 1920s (when it was built) in every room. I’m not sure if it’s the original furniture but it certainly looks like it. What I especially like in this photo is the little bits of detail Annie goes to with her events. You might not be able to see but there are tea light candles in glass holders dotted all around the top of the wood panelling in this room. Imagine it at night with candle light, beautiful!

This is the spectacular kitchen with a lot of original fittings. There’s even a scullery…

This was one of my favourite rooms. I think it’s the old pantry but it gets used as a storage room for crockery and glassware etc. but look at all those glass jars! Just like I imagined for the flowers!

More living spaces with the original fireplace and built in bookcases…

It’s all the little details Annie has attended to that make this place so beautiful.

And the bedrooms…

I love this! Annie hand-makes name tags for the doors handles so that everyone feels welcome and knows which room belongs to them. So shabby chic!

Winking smile

Note: flowers in jars!!!

Gorgeous tub!

This is another kitchen in the other end of the house for guests that stay. Check out that original stove and oven! Simply immaculate and the feel of this kitchen was just so light and welcoming I wanted to sit down and have a cup of tea!

See!

Check out this brass bedframe! (I’m sure they’ve changed the mattress since 1920 though!) This was the top music room, SUCH a unique space and I’m not even sure I can describe it. This room and the adjoining balcony is the only second floor part. See the wood panelling behind the bed? Those are doors that open on top of the ballroom. The musicians would play up here opening the wood doors and I imagine the balcony so that music could be heard down below in the ballroom and out into the garden. Now it’s a very cute bedroom!

This is the balcony…

Just to break up the house tour a little bit these were the favours for the wedding that night. Brown paper bags with a tiny little peg on top of each all stamped with a personalised stamp for the occasion! How cute?!

And the flowers… You will see these featured on the tables later on in the marquee however these flowers were taken from the beautiful expansive gardens on the property and are included in the hire costs.

Now, let me take you out back to the shearers quarters…

Check it out! Annie restored these genuine shearers quarters and they are now beautiful yet rustic accommodation. International friends if you are hoping for an Australian experience at our wedding than keep watching!

The kitchen complete with original fireplace and stove. Love, love love the table!

Living area…

And dining! (Look long wooden tables with bench seats!!!)

And bedrooms, again with the shabby chic darling details!

This wasn’t the best photo but the only one that I took that really shows what they’re like, fairly small because the living area is so nice!

And what’s this you may ask? This is the shower block! impeccably clean but rustic! Australian bush style!

Open-mouthed smile

And here’s the boy outside the loos!

The views all around the property…

Portaloos for the wedding that day… We’ll have to get some of them…

And onto the marquee…

How gorgeous are the table settings! Annie put the flowers you saw earlier on these table to finish them off right after I took this photo.

The marquee had a hessian underlay which we loved. I found out later it belonged to Annie…

Here’s a wider perspective shot of the inside of the marquee! Loved it! Dancefloor looked great!

And I loved this idea (can you tell I loved this entire venue?!!!)

Smile

Simon and I were thinking of not having assigned seating but if we do we will definitely go with this idea!

A wide shot of the head table (minus flowers).

And a close up of the candelabras…

And this is where the drinks etc. are served from. One of the things that sold me on this venue was the flexibility with the catering and the drinks. Annie encourages bridal parties to supply their own drinks and we are totally happy with that as we want a non-alcoholic wedding. I know, I know, there will be those of you out there turning your nose up or rolling your eyes but neither Simon or I drink and we think we can put on a pretty fun party without it!

We are hoping to serve some really nice iced teas and flavoured lemonades instead. Perhaps something like this.

Winking smile

This is a cute idea that I’m sure many of you have seen before. Disposable cameras dotted around the marquee on different tables and chairs. I have discovered some fun games that means your pictures won’t be wasted, check this out;

It was originally posted here.

So out of the marquee and onto the gardens before I leave you (this has been an unusually long post). Obviously, as I said, it had bee raining but the gardens looked only more magical with droplets of water glistening everywhere.

Here is the pool, just after I took that shot Annie ran up and said, you took a photo before it’s even been decorated, I thought it looked pretty clean and lovely myself! Much cleaner than the pool at Mont Salvat that had a fork at the bottom of it!