Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Wedding

Blue Mountains Wedding Photographer Images by Kevin

It was April 2020, the year where COVID-19 changed everything about wedding photography forever.

Everything was in lockdown, and no one could leave their homes except to buy groceries, and get essential things done like getting a haircut and your nails done.

When toilet paper flew off the shelves and people were even fighting for it!

The Australian and New South Wales government restricted weddings to only 10 people, so a lot of weddings were being cancelled or postponed.

It was a pretty sad and tough time for myself and my wedding photography clients who had to change their plans due to something out of their control.

Angie and Johnny contacted me as their wedding was meant to be in April, and they wanted to still get married at the Blue Mountains Botanic Gardens with just their parents at the ceremony.

I was more than happy to be their wedding photographer and also be witness their very small but intimate ceremony.

Camellia Cottage Mount Tomah

Camellia Cottage is a hidden gem in the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden. Located in the heart of the Garden, literally in the garden itself, Camellia Cottage was in my opinion the perfect place to elope.

It has its own private camellia garden which no one has access to but your wedding party where you can setup your wedding ceremony.

Amongst the garden are beautiful flowers which were out in bloom and makes for a stunning backdrop for wedding photography

The Cottage is newly renovated and feels like a home away from home. You’re right there inside the Blue Mountains World Heritage Area. It has room for 5 bedrooms and a lovely fully stocked kitchen. Certainly enough room for everyone.

The Cottage is surrounded by green hedges and secret driveway. You even have to ask one of the rangers for directions because it’s so tucked away from view.

But once inside, it’s a little hidden oasis all to yourself!!

I didn’t know you could hire out a cottage right inside a UNESCO World Heritage site. It’s a pretty cool thing to know and I’m certainly going to be coming back here myself one day with my family for a Blue Mountains getaway.

You can even book your next stay here, click in the link here Camellia Cottage

The Tea Ceremony

Angie and Johnny decided to have a traditional Chinese tea ceremony to pay respects to their parents inside the cottage before having their ceremony in the lawn.

It was a touching ceremony and you can tell how close they are to their parents, and how much they really love them.

The Wedding Ceremony

Now to the wedding ceremony. Small in size, but huge on love, emotion and tears. It certainly packed a real punch to the heart and tears were flowing freely throughout the entire tea ceremony.

Joyce from Crepe Bouquet was the celebrant for this wonderful occasion, and she conducted the ceremony in both Mandarin and English.

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Even though they could not invite all of their friends and family to be present at the wedding ceremony, they had those who were closest to them which made for a very special moment.

Certainly was pretty cold in the garden that day! Everyone was rubbing their hands in preparation for signing the marriage documents. Even the pen stopped working because the ink was a bit cold!

Once the wedding ceremony was over, the sun was beginning to set in the Blue Mountains. We had to quickly go out for our location photos.

Wedding Photography Locations

There is certainly no shortage of stunning wedding photography locations, all within a short stroll from the Camellia Cottage.

During Autumn the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden comes to life, with all of the amazing oranges and yellow colours come out to greet us.

Each season in the Garden offers something special from warm autumnal tones, the emerging colour of spring, the cool greens of summer or the bare delights of winter.

You don’t need to walk that far to find some stunning wedding photography locations within the grounds. We did all of these photographs within 30mins and we were taking our time, playing around and trying to stay warm at the same time!

There was a rock garden with a stunning view of the entire Megalong Valley which we all stopped at and enjoyed the cool autumn breeze that greeted us. The air was crisp and fresh.

And to end the day, we had the most magnificent sunset in the Blue Mountains. I just love the blue and pinkish hues in the sky and the mist of the eucalyptus trees in the air. Just stunning.

So to sum it up, it was such an honour to be part of this intimate wedding ceremony

It certainly was one to remember for the times, when we couldn’t have a proper sized wedding.

One day we are going to look back at these photos and think of how crazy of times it was we lived in during 2020 and how our lives changed forever. Where hand sanitiser was a necessity, and staying 1.5 metres apart was the thing to do!

I wanted to thank the amazing team for making the day possible for Angie and Johnny.

Joyce Li – Wedding Celebrant http://www.crepebouquet.com.au

blue mountains wedding photographer- www.imagesbykevin.com.au

Check out more of my work https://imagesbykevin.com.au/blog/

To book your Blue Mountains Botanic Garden Wedding Ceremony contact the team at Mount Tomah at tomah@rbgsyd.nsw.nsw.gov.au