News
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Chateau News
8th May 2013
BIG NEWS!!! We have just been awarded the Australian Bridal Industry Academy Designer of Dreams 2012 Award for Best Wedding Reception Venue in Australia. This is a National Award and takes into account performance over the last four years. We are also pleased to announce our National results in the four other categories we were nominated for. We were awarded 1st for In House Wedding Advisor amongst Victorian Venues, 4th Australia wide for In House Master of Ceremonies, 4th Australia wide for Ceremony Venue and 6th Australia wide for Function Coordinator. It’s a credit to our staff and an acknowledgement of the standards we strive to achieve.
Another Award! We are excited to announce that in the State 2013 Australian Bridal Industry Awards we were awarded Victoria’s Best Master of Ceremonies. This award is voted on by the couples who have been married at Chateau Wyuna and it’s an honour to receive this award knowing it’s our couples who believe we deserve it! We were also a finalist in 4 other categories including Ceremony Location, Reception Venue, In-house Wedding Advisor and Wedding Coordinator. Congratulations to our whole team!
All evening sit down wedding receptions are now 6 1/2 hours, including one hour for your ceremony (Luncheon receptions are 5 hours). This means you will have plenty of time to socialise and hit the dance floor!
The fairy lights over our dance floors are a big hit. They come up a treat in photos!
The guest lounge in the Burgundy Room is also proving to be a popular place for guests to relax and socialise.
We now offer for sale an extensive range of bonboniere. You select from our range and we organise the rest. You can view what is available at our facebook page – just click here.
We will be running our traditional Christmas Day Luncheon again! Click here for details.
We’re now on Facebook! Our aim is to use it as another way to share information, respond to questions and display photos of real weddings. We will also use it as a way to promote new articles posted to the Blog on our website. We hope you find it of interest. Click here to visit Chateau Wyuna on Facebook.
Our decision to include placecards and personalised menus has been extremely well received. Brides are appreciating the chance to have us do what can be a stressful and time consuming task that usually has to be done in the days immediately before the wedding when the guest list is finalised. It’s one less thing they need to worry about!
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The importance of being on time
Your wedding day is going to fly by so fast! It will be over before you know it. The best way to ensure you don’t miss out on anything is to be well planned and stick to a schedule.
A lot of people think that the bride should arrive 15-20 minutes later than scheduled. In practice this is not ideal. The best thing will be to arrive on time, remembering dresses need to be straightened out, lipstick needs a touch up and a veil needs to be laid out. Photographers will no doubt take photos of you getting out of the car, and of the bridal party before they walk down the aisle. All this takes time. So even though it seems traditional to arrive late, it’s more appropriate to arrive on time and allow 5-10 minutes to prepare for the ceremony. You don’t want to be in a rush, and you don’t want to keep guests waiting too long (remember they will have arrived typically 30-45 minutes before you).
If there is a delay (eg. with taking photos) this will affect what time guests are seated, what time entree is served, what time speeches are, what time the cake is cut, etc. Most venues will work around such issues as they arise. The difficulty is that the end time of the reception will not be adjusted in response to time delays. This ultimately means running late will result in less time for dancing and socialising, which is naturally an important part of the celebration!
So our advice is to set and keep to a schedule on your wedding day, both for the sake of yourselves and your guests.
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Facts about photobooths
9th April 2013
Having a booth set up for photos is a great way to ensure people are being snapped at your wedding without having to formally gather family members and friends together during the reception. They are ideal for large or small weddings and add a bit of excitement to the environment. Most booth companies provide props for guests to use in photos as well as options for black and white or coloured images.
However, when looking for a photo booth company, we suggest you always select full time businesses as opposed to part time because they have another business to take care of and may just be into photo booths to make some quick money. Full time photo booth companies will ensure you get the best in customer service as well as quality photos.
You can ask to see the booths before deciding on them or not, and this will determine if their equipment is of a high standard. You should also always ask for previous work samples and don’t just settle for what they tell you. Good photobooth companies won’t have a problem showing you samples, however a less professional company will prefer to talk more about it than actually show you.
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Special Offers
29th August 2012
OFF-PEAK SEASON (May, June, July & August)
Evening receptions include a Professional DJ or Premium Beverage Upgrade.
SHOULDER SEASON (January, April, September & December)
Evening receptions include our unique Lollie Buffet or sumptuous Dessert Buffet.
PEAK SEASON (February, March, October & November)
Evening receptions include bonbonierre from our standard range or a chauffeur transfer to your complimentary accommodation.
These specials are available for all packages except the Earle Cocktail and Chateau Deluxe Packages, and only apply to bookings made on or after 1 September 2012.
PLACECARDS & PERSONALISED MENUS
We now offer to do your placecards and personalised menus – if you would like! There are several alternative designs for you to choose from. The offer is intended to help you with what can often be a stressful and time consuming task that usually needs to be done in the days immediately before your wedding when your guest list is confirmed.
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What do we do with our cake?
29th May 2012
Usually after formally cutting your wedding cake the venue will distribute it to your guests. You may ask them to provide it on a platter for each table with some cake bags on the side so people can eat it with their tea and coffee or take it home. Alternatively, it may be packaged up into bags or small boxes and handed out to your guests, usually by the venue’s staff – although this is sometimes done by your bridesmaids. Most importantly, beware of ‘cakeage’. This is a charge per guest imposed by the venue for cutting up and distributing your wedding cake. While we do not have this charge at Chateau Wyuna, some venues will add it as an extra.
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Don’t forget to have a rehearsal
Rehearsals are a great way to ensure everyone knows what to do at your ceremony. Since the bride and groom will need to be in specific places at the start of their ceremony, they will not be there to remind people where they need to be and what they need to do. So we suggest you involve your bridal party in a rehearsal (at least to the extent this is possible), as well as the person operating your music.
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Don’t people want to come to my wedding?
28th May 2012
Nowadays people are very slack in responding to wedding invitations. So don’t take it personally if by the time of your RSVP not everyone has replied! You therefore need to have your RSVP date early enough to give you time to personally contact those you have not replied.
Read More »
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Is it OK for some of the wedding cake to be fake?
20th April 2012
Absolutely – in fact it is quite common. With the advent of several television shows showcasing decorative cake making, peoples’ expectations for the visual impact of cakes is increasing. Having some of your cake as fake (ie. polystyrene) is a good way to save money on the cake itself and spend more on the decorative aspect. If you are concerned you will run short of cake you can arrange for some ‘slab’ cakes to be delivered separately to the venue and cut up for guests. Guests will not know the cake they are given was not part of the display cake.
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How should you leave your reception?
Farewelling the bride and groom at the end of the reception is the culmination of the celebration. At Australian weddings the traditional way to leave the reception is straight after a farewell circle. This is where the guests form a circle and the bride and groom farewell each person individually. This is a nice touch, but can take a long time if you have a large number of guests – time you could otherwise spend on the dance floor! An alternative is to have your Master of Ceremonies organise your guests to make an archway which the bride and groom then walk through. This is quicker than the farewell circle, but not by a lot as it can take some time for your guests to be organised into the archway. The quickest way to depart is to have everyone say three cheers immediately after a last dance. This maximises dancing time, but can be a bit abrupt. In this case the bride and groom should have the opportunity to farewell the people closest to them separately after they have left the other guests. So there are lots of options!
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How can you save money on your reception?
20th March 2012
Venue costs are a significant part of any wedding budget, usually because food and drinks are being provided to all of your guests for a significant amount of time. The equivalent cost at a restaurant or using external caterers would also be substantial. Nevertheless, there are ways you can spend prudently. Here are some ideas.
Use your wedding cake as dessert. It can still be served individually, but the cost charged by the venue should be less. Just make sure you supply a large enough cake to ensure everyone receives an adequate portion.
Pay for drinks on consumption. If you do not believe your guests are likely to drink much alcohol you should arrange with your venue to remove the costs of alcohol from the package and reduce the price accordingly, but then provide a tab so alcohol can still be made available and paid on consumption. Non-alcoholic drinks should still be provided, including tea and coffee.
Only provide two courses. Most people only eat a main course and dessert every day of the week for their evening meal. Removing an entree or soup course should save some money without risking your guests going home hungry.
These options will not be suitable for everyone, but may prompt some thinking.