A Touch of Pure Country Charm and Heart
When life gets busy or moves too fast, many feel the call to escape into nature. Here, people reunite with themselves recentering on what matters most: human connection. So why not carry this spirit into your wedding day? Join Melbourne Wedding & Bride’s Alice O’Brien as she discusses with Angela Apted, co-owner and wedding and events coordinator at Shaws Road Winery, as they gain an insight into how the countryside creates a charming wedding atmosphere.
Photography courtesy of Colour Captured Photography
Location, location, location. A common motto when booking holiday accommodation. Following the idea that location really is everything lends itself quite nicely when booking the venue of your wedding. The venue influences everything. From dictating whether it’s an outdoor or indoor wedding to the decorations and theme for the day. Most notably, a venue beautifully carves the atmosphere of the wedding it holds. And it’s the atmosphere that a couple and their guests remember most. Taking the spotlight as an option for couples’ prioritising how their wedding feels, and fondly known for its inviting allure, are rural-based venues. These venues are where human connection is central; guests can fully immerse themselves in the moment. Distractions from everyday life melt away while wind softly rustles the leaves and songbirds’ whistles float through the air.
Set among the northern slopes of the Yarra Valley, Shaws Road Winery encapsulates all the charm of a true country wedding venue. In way that’s hard to explain, Angela says the estate “makes people feel at home” with “a warmth that’s difficult to recreate.” Maybe the difficulty lies in the simple fact that the natural beauty of the Yarra Valley cannot be recreated.
The Beauty of Natural Beauty
Set amongst the rolling hills of Arthurs Creek, with sweeping views across the surrounding countryside and the Kinglake Ranges, sits a rustic winery, arguably one of the most charming in the local area. The natural backdrop of Shaws Road Winery is unrivalled in its beauty, with its sweeping views that frame ceremonial areas and landscaped gardens that spill out from the restaurant terrace. It’s a character-filled landscape and it’s one of the main draw cards for couples who choose to celebrate at the winery.
“Unlike many venues, you don’t need to leave the property for photographs … couples can move between the vineyard, gardens, open paddocks, tree-lined spaces and scenic lookouts, all within a few minutes’ walk,” says Angela
Between each scene, from sweetly scented vines to the expansiveness felt when standing in the middle of an open field, being surrounded by nature is what creates the atmosphere where a couple and their guests can relax into the day. Much like the changing environment, the seasons also bring their own essence. “Summer offers long evenings, golden sunsets and lush green vines” whereas “autumn transforms the vineyard with beautiful warm colours,” explains Angela. Coming as a surprise to some, for Angela, “winter has
become one of [her] favourite times for weddings with crackling fireplaces, rich seasonal menus and cosy spaces” but “spring has such wonderful energy about it as the gardens are in bloom, the vineyard bursts back to life.”
But no matter the season, each sunset that fades behind the soft rolling hills is, and Angela doesn’t put it this lightly, incredible. The golden hues cast a delightfully warm glow over the Winery and, just maybe, this is the reason why people always comment on the sense of peace. Because this slice of idyllic countryside does have a distinct spirit, crafted and cared for by Angela and the family.
Please Raise A Glass
As stated within its name, Shaws Road Winery, is home to a winery. Once you step inside, you will find a combined cellar door and restaurant, offering wine tastings and a curated food menu, along with two B&B farmhouse style apartments offered as on-site accommodation. The team love catering to weddings, and Angela guarantees “exclusive use of the winery, allowing couples and their guests to truly make the venue their own for the day.” From a seated reception and relaxed cocktail-style celebration to an intimate family affair, the space is easily versatile to fit any wedding day vision. Venue versatility, thankfully, is common for couples to find – so, what makes Shaws Road Winery different?
More than its beauty and more than its adaptability, the difference is found deep in its very roots. With hand-picked fruit from estate-grown vines, each bottle of wine from this 1500-acre farm is proudly made on-site. This, according to Angela, also sits at the “heart of the experience” for weddings. And every good bottle deserves an equally good plate of food.
“Food is designed around generous, shared feasting, celebrating seasonal local produce … carefully curated to complement our wine,” explains Angela.
Food and wine are central to any celebration, meeting in the middle of lively conversations and shared laughter. In this atmosphere where
wine glasses clink and the day bleeds into night, wedding connection thrives. But, boiled down to its core, is this venue’s country charm truly just a result of its physical elements? No matter how much beauty the landscape holds or how good the wine and food taste, can there be something else to it?
The Atmosphere’s Beating Heart
Shaws Road Winery is a family-run winery, with Angela overseeing all weddings and events while her husband, George Apted Junior, cares for the vineyard alongside his own father, George Apted Senior. Together they take enormous pride in creating a welcoming place for couples to celebrate love. When asked how her family creates such a homely presence, Angela simply had this to say: “we know every corner of the property because we live and work here every day.”
This winery is not just family-run, it’s a family home, a piece of the family’s history. And as anyone does for their own homes, Angela alongside her family “understand how light changes across the vineyard, the best photo locations, how the venue flows and what little touches make a real difference.” The family’s deep connection to the venue, or in their eyes their home, “makes planning personal, flexible and much less stressful for couples.” The atmosphere of country venues is craved and crafted by the humans behind its doors. For Angela, “Shaws Road Winery is lived in and loved every time of the day, and [she] thinks couples really connect with that.”