By Renee Wood
Lilydale love birds are encouraged to fly the nest and take themselves on a self-guided tour through the Yarra Valley as part of ‘The Wandering Wedding Expo’.
The Yarra Valley event marked for Thursday 28 April is run by Off Peak Weddings which is a division of Yarra Ranges Tourism and it’s focused on helping couples and venues make the most of midweek availabilities.
Gwen Luscombe from Off Peak Weddings said the free event is all about encouraging brides and grooms to explore various options for their big day.
“It’s really about encouraging a hosting weddings, whether it’s from elopements, to micro weddings, to full scale larger size weddings in those off peak times,” Ms Luscombe said.
The biggest focus is exploring a booking from Monday to Thursdays, as those days are generally quieter and can come with great rates.
“They might get their dream venue that they couldn’t otherwise get on a weekend, particularly now with Covid and having so many cancellations venues are quite stacked up on weekends,” she said.
Those interested can set their own schedule booking private viewings and transporting themselves between up to 15 participating locations. A main hub will also be set up at Alowyn Gardens showcasing local wedding suppliers.
Sutherland Estate in Dixons Creek is part of the day and owner Cathy Phelan said it’s a great opportunity to promote a variety of venues.
“It’s more tailored – it’s going to be more interesting for more serious wedding couples, it’ll be easy for them to get around. It will be just a really nice experience,” Ms Phelan said.
“Being one of the smaller family businesses in the Yarra Valley, we don’t have a huge following on social media.. so to be part of this with other wineries and venues around the Yarra Valley will be really beneficial to us.”
The ‘wandering’ nature of the expo comes at a benefit to both businesses and customers as they get to embrace the venue as it is.
“It’s a really nice opportunity to set up the venue so that people can see what it will look like on the day because sometimes they’re coming to a venue and, for instance, our cellar door is set up in a different way for wine tastings and sales,” Ms Phelan said.
“So we’ll set up for a function, and people will be able to see what it looks like, there’ll be able to walk around and speak to people, taste the wine that you’ll be provided with on the day.”
“You’re looking at pictures of how a venue was set up where I think when you can go out and look at the garden… you just get a better picture,” Ms Luscombe said.
Smaller, intimate weddings are becoming more popular as well- a flow on affect from the pandemic which is a perk for many smaller sites that may have been previously overlooked.
“The micro weddings concept really came out of necessity and is much bigger, which was great for a lot of the smaller wineries, who may not be able to post 150-200 people weddings, but they can very easily do a garden wedding for 50,” Ms Luscombe said.
A second Wandering Wedding Expo will be held for the Dandenong Ranges next month on Thursday 26 May, allowing couples to see what’s on offer up in the hills.
“If people wanted to look at venues in both locations, it’s just a little bit hard to cover both areas in a day, so we’ve separated out the Dandenong Ranges one for May 26 to allow people to have a look at those as well.”
For those interested, visit www.offpeakweddings.com.au/wandering-wedding-expo/
