Intimate Winery Wedding At Mount Macedon

Kesh & James planned a gorgeous intimate celebration – the couple wanted to celebrate with a small group of their nearest and dearest, including their beautiful pup Mishka! Smith + Archer captured their intimate winery wedding at Mount Macedon Winery, and Kesh tells us about their love story and their wedding day…

James and I met on the Tinder dating app almost 6 years ago then James proposed to me on a trip to South America in 2019. We were in Peru, doing a one-day hike to Machu Picchu with a group of travellers we met on the tour. After hours of hiking, on the top of the Sun Gate James proposed and I had no idea it was coming. He could not say anything he planned to say because I started screaming out of shock and happiness and mix off all emotions. I don’t even think he got a chance to ask anything. The whole thing was recorded by the group we travelled with and they treated us to a cake and bubbles afterwards. So grateful for all of them. James had the ring box packed in a sock the whole trip. Thinking back, I now know why he never let me near his backpack and was very agitated each time I was trying to organise his backpack. Peru was our last stop in our four weeks holiday. He was not sure where to propose and eventually decided that the Machu Picchu hike is the place. It was the best day for us apart from our wedding day.

James picked his suit and best man’s from Eddy Elias in Geelong.

I picked my dress from Raffaele Ciuca, Zavana Couture (ZC 322). I loved the style and design and the feeling when I put it on. The team at Raffaele Ciuca was a pleasure to work with and picking my dress was one of my favourite parts of the whole wedding process.

I had my sister-in-law as my bridesmaid and James had his youngest brother as his best man. James’s other two brothers were meant to be the rest of the wedding party but because of COVID, they could not be here from Ireland.

I was down the aisle with my dad to “1000 Years” by Christina Perri. We felt a lot of love during our ceremony and our celebrant, Erin McMahon from Sweet Wonderful You, was the best. She made it so easy, simple and special for us. We kept it simple and didn’t have any readings.

Our beautiful girl Mishka – our golden retriever dog – was probably the most special part of the day. We lost her a few months after the wedding. Having her at our wedding was the best!

We picked Mount Macedon Winery. It is a beautiful place tucked in the Macedon Mountains. We had a garden ceremony followed by a feast meal reception at the winery. The food was amazing and everyone to date talk about how tasty it was. The sunset on our wedding day was one that I have never seen before. It was special for us and all our guests. The owner and the staff at the winery were absolutely amazing and were very helpful, understanding and accommodating. I am so grateful to the venue for allowing us to have our beautiful dog there. We wanted a venue that allowed us to have our girl with us.

The table and aisle decorations were done by us, as well as the wedding signs. I got them from Etsy and printed them from Snap. The invitations were online and nothing was printed.

Our photographer Ali from Smith + Archer was great, so helpful and understanding.

We went for very simple with flowers. Gisborne Cottage Florist did the ceremony florals, bouquets and buttonhole flowers and flowers for Mishka. Venue and aisle decorations were done by us with help from a friend of mine. All floral decor was baby’s breath except my bouquet was roses and James’s buttonhole flowers had a rose.

For our first dance, we did not do any prior practise and just went with the flow. We danced to “Say You Won’t Let Me Go.” We danced through the night – I was on the dance floor the whole time!

Our advice would be just to enjoy every moment of the wedding day. The day just goes so quickly even though you plan for those few hours for many months and years.