A Real Wedding at Coombe Yarra Valley: Veronica & Ryan's "Us, Their Way" Celebration

1 Aug

There's a moment every couple touring Coombe Yarra Valley has - standing in the Italian Garden, hedges sculpted into perfect green walls, and suddenly picturing themselves walking down that aisle. For Veronica and Ryan, that picture became real, and their day is exactly the kind of love story we hope every couple considering Coombe finds inspiring.

It was so wonderful working along side Jess Nichols - a photographer who I truly admire and love working with. She was there to capture all of the details. Read on below to be inspired x

Veronica and Ryan's ceremony in the Italian Garden at Coombe Yarra Valley

Veronica's beautiful all white flower bouquet at Coombe Yarra Valley

A Love Story That Started With a Friend Request

Every great wedding starts with a great story, and Veronica and Ryan's is one made for retelling. Back in 2015, Ryan did what a lot of people were quietly doing on Facebook - he sent a friend request to someone he liked the look of. Veronica said yes, and not long after, she said yes again, this time to a date at Siglo.

It wasn't quite a fairytale opening. Ryan turned up fashionably late, having agonised over what to wear and landed, somewhat memorably, on army pants. Not exactly the look Veronica had in mind for a first date - but his personality and sense of humour carried the night, and a second date followed soon after.

From there, life moved fast. The relationship became public news before the pair had even properly discussed it with each other (thanks to an article in the Metro!), they moved in together, and welcomed their son Oscar not long after that. Four years on, standing at the altar, Ryan and Veronica weren't there to make new promises - they were there to celebrate a commitment they'd already been living out, day after day, as partners and as a family.

It's a story full of warmth, humour and honesty - three things that also happen to define a Coombe Yarra Valley wedding.

Bride and groom walking through the gardens at Coombe Yarra Valley

Why Their Story Fits This Venue So Well

Veronica and Ryan wanted their ceremony to feel like them - authentic, unpolished in the best way, and genuinely funny. That's a brief that Coombe Yarra Valley is particularly well suited to delivering on. The estate, once home to opera legend Dame Nellie Melba, carries a quiet sense of history and elegance, but it never feels stiff or overly formal. Seven acres of established gardens give couples room to make the day their own, whether that's an intimate, relaxed exchange of vows or a full celebration with all the trimmings. Her florals were stunning and simple in their white details and shone against the black tie dress code.

For couples weighing up Coombe as their venue, a few things are worth knowing:

Three distinct ceremony gardens. The Italian Garden is the most iconic - a secluded, European-style space framed by sculpted hedges and pencil pines - but there are other garden settings on the estate, each with its own character, so you can choose a backdrop that suits your style and the season.
A reception space with real character. The historic Clock Tower restaurant seats up to 150 guests, with large windows that keep the gardens part of the experience even once you're indoors.
Food and wine grown on the estate. Coombe's menus lean on seasonal, estate-grown produce, paired with their own label wines - a genuine sense of place on the plate as well as in the photos.
A team that's done this before, a lot. The events team works with couples to shape the day around them, not the other way around - which matters when, like Veronica and Ryan, you want a ceremony that sounds like your relationship rather than a template.

Bride and groom having some fun at Coombe Yarra Valley

The Heart of the Day

What made Veronica and Ryan's ceremony memorable wasn't grand gestures - it was the small, specific details, and those details don't just appear on the day. They had a black tie dress code and has their wedding party decked out in black, so naturally I wore the same to compliment them.

In our time together planning the ceremony, I asked Ryan to describe Veronica, and he didn't just say she was lovely; he talked about her patience, her kindness, how she'd made him a better person. When I asked Veronica about Ryan, she told me about Sunday’s - the ordinary day of the week that had become her favourite, simply because it meant time with him and their family.

Those are the lines that ended up in the ceremony, word for word, because they were true and specific to them. That's the job as I see it: sit down with a couple, draw out the real story, and hand it back to them on the day in words that sound unmistakably like their own relationship rather than a template. Coombe's gardens gave that story a beautiful setting to be told in - but the story itself came from the two of them, and from the time we spent getting it right together.

Booking Your Celebrant

If you're picturing your own ceremony among the hedges of the Italian Garden, Veronica and Ryan's day is a good reminder that a beautiful venue is only half the equation - the other half is having someone who takes the time to actually get to know you, so that when you're standing at that altar, every word feels like yours.

If this is the kind of ceremony you're after, I'd love to hear your story. Get in touch to check availability for your date and set up a time to chat. Or for more inspo on weddings in the Yarra Valley, check them out here or if you’re after some more gorgeous white florals click here, or white dress inspo try here.