Belen & Geoff’s Ardour Milton Park Wedding

Belen and Geoff first met when they were 19 through mutual friends, although looking back, they realised they’d probably crossed paths plenty of times before they actually spoke. Eight years later, Geoff proposed at Lake Tekapo, waking Belen at 5am to watch the sunrise. It was their first sunrise together and, despite Belen’s well-known dislike of mornings, she said yes.

Ten years after they first met, they celebrated their anniversary by getting married at Ardour Milton Park in Bowral. They had stayed at the property previously and loved the gardens and bath house, so when they first started planning a small ceremony with just their parents and siblings, it was an easy choice. As the guest list grew, they decided to keep the venue and celebrate the weekend with their closest family and friends.

One of the big advantages of Ardour Milton Park is that the entire wedding can take place in one location. With accommodation onsite, Belen and Geoff were able to get ready in separate rooms that morning before eventually meeting in the garden for their first look. I liked the idea of a first look on this occasion as it meant Belen & Geoff could get their portraits done prior to the ceremony commencing. Ultimately this meant more they were able to spend more time celebrating their anniversary and wedding with their guests following the formalities of the ceremony rather than spend that time taking photos.

So naturally, from their first look, we moved around the property for their portraits, making use of the gardens, mature trees and historic parts of Milton Park. Once we had done enough exploring, the couple parted ways to get ready for their ceremony which was held in Tulip Lawn. The styling for Belen & Geoff’s wedding was inspired by Bridgerton, which felt like a natural fit for the setting. There was plenty of elegance without the day feeling overly formal, and the historic character of Milton Park provided much of the atmosphere itself.

Once the ceremony wrapped up the couple enjoyed their canapé and cocktail hour with their guests before heading into the The Orangerie for their reception. From here, the evening really started to unfold with plenty of laughter, good food, a few emotional moments and, of course, plenty of dancing. But before I headed off they took a brief break from dancing to get some flash heavy editorial style portraits in the hall ways of the hotel. This rounded out their coverage nicely and was the perfect finish to a perfect day.

Scroll through their day below and if you would like to see more of our Southern Highlands wedding photography use this link.