Sarah & James's Quarry Farm Wedding, a Horse and Carriage on the Farm

Table of Contents

1. A Family Day on the Farm
2. A First Look With Her Dad
3. Arriving by Horse and Carriage
4. A Ceremony Under the Big Gazebo
5. Down the Tree-Lined Driveway
6. The Fence Her Parents Stood At
7. The Shearing Shed at Last Light
8. Into the Homestead
9. The Vendor Team
10. Common Questions About a Quarry Farm Wedding
11. Planning Your Own Quarry Farm Wedding?

A Family Day on the Farm

Some weddings are built around a big guest list. Sarah and James built theirs around the people who matter most. Around seventy guests, nearly all of them family, on a working farm in the middle of a Western Australian winter, and every part of the day chosen because it meant something to the two of them.

It was a Friday in July, the kind of clear, gold winter day Perth does better than anywhere. The paddocks were green from the rains, the light stayed soft all afternoon, and Quarry Farm gave them the whole run of the property, from the gazebo down to the shearing shed.

A quick note before we go on. As always, we do not share photos of children without explicit permission from their parents, so this story sticks to the grown-ups.

A First Look With Her Dad

Before any of it started, Sarah had one moment planned that was not about the ceremony at all. Out by the old shed, her dad and her brother stood facing the other way while she walked up quietly behind them, bouquet in hand, and tapped them both on the shoulder with it.

He turned around, and his face said everything.

If you are on the fence about doing a first look with a parent, this is my case for it. It costs you ten minutes of the morning and it gives your dad a moment he will carry for the rest of his life.

Arriving by Horse and Carriage

Then came the part the guests still talk about. Sarah arrived at her ceremony in a white horse-drawn carriage, pulled by two greys across the farm, with the paddocks rolling out green behind her.

The carriage and the pair of greys came from Perth Horse and Carriage, driver in a top hat and all. Sarah keeps horses of her own, so this was never a novelty booking. These two were not hers, but you could tell straight away she was at home around them.

Both of her parents walked her in, her dad on one arm, her mum in red on the other, with the carriage and the farm behind them.

A Ceremony Under the Big Gazebo

The ceremony happened under Quarry Farm’s big gazebo, a huge open-sided pavilion on the edge of the lawn, looking straight out over the trees and the water. Rows of white chairs, a simple timber arbour dressed in the brightest bouquet-matched florals, and green hills in every direction.

Celebrant Andrea Edwards led them through it with warmth, and when it came time for the vows, Sarah took the microphone and had the whole place laughing and wiping their eyes in the same breath.

And then it was done. Married, in front of everyone they love, with the farm glowing behind them.

Down the Tree-Lined Driveway

While the guests settled in with drinks, we stole the newlyweds away, and this is where Quarry Farm really shows off. The carriage carried them down the old tree-lined driveway, a tunnel of green with golden light spilling through it, and I climbed up and rode along with them.

"We had a horse and carriage and he came with us in the carriage after the ceremony and it didn't even cross our minds that it might be weird having him there with us. It was like being accompanied by a best friend."

Then they walked it, hand in hand, just the two of them and a very patient pair of horses.

Further round the property there is a wild fig tree the size of a small house, with roots you can stand in and a standing stone beside it. The farm just keeps handing you these.

One shot we had planned never happened. Quarry Farm has highland cows, and they were high on our list for the portraits, but on the day they were nowhere to be found. Two hundred acres will do that. We let it go and used the light instead.

The Fence Her Parents Stood At

Then came my favourite kind of photo, the kind with a story behind it. Sarah wanted to recreate her parents’ wedding photo against the wooden fence, so we found the fence line, put the two of them against the rail under the big old tree, and made the next chapter of a family photo.

The Shearing Shed at Last Light

As the sun dropped, we wandered down to the old shearing shed, corrugated iron, worn timber floors and a lifetime of farm work in the walls. This is the kind of location most couples never get on their wedding day, and it gave us some of my favourite frames of the year.

Then we stepped back out for the last of the light, just the two of them watching the sun go down over the paddocks.

Into the Homestead

By the time the stars were out, the Homestead was glowing. Rammed-earth walls, a soaring timber ceiling, Edison bulbs hanging low and a whole wall of fairy lights behind the head table. Sarah’s dad had taken on MC duties for the night, and he announced them straight in off their entrance and into their first dance, to “Spin You Around”. Yes, there was plenty of spinning.

Straight off the dance floor came the cake, three tiers trailing the same bright florals as the ceremony, cut on a wine barrel with the fairy lights behind them.

Then dinner, and then the speeches, which did what good speeches do. Both sets of parents spoke, the best man had his turn, and James spent a fair bit of it wiping his eyes.

The rest of the night belonged to them and their families, mingling table to table in a room that had been full of the same people all day. This was one of the last frames I made before I left them to it.

The Vendor Team

The crew behind a very good day:

• Venue, catering and cake: Quarry Farm
• Celebrant: Andrea Edwards
• Horse and carriage: Perth Horse and Carriage
• Live painter: The Live Wedding Artist
• Flowers and decor: Creative Elegance Weddings
• Photography: Gonzalo Novoa Photography

Common Questions About a Quarry Farm Wedding

Where is Quarry Farm? At 1475 South Western Highway in Whitby, a few minutes south of Byford in the foothills of the Darling Ranges, and about 45 minutes from the Perth CBD.

Can you have the ceremony and reception in one place? Yes. The big gazebo above the dam hosts the ceremony, the lawns and Quarry Lane carry the celebration through golden hour, and the rammed-earth Homestead takes over for the reception, so the whole day happens on the farm.

Is it a good venue for photos? One of the most varied I have shot. In a single afternoon you get the gazebo and the dam, the Jacaranda-lined Quarry Lane, open paddocks, a giant wild fig tree, an old shearing shed and a rammed-earth reception room, plus the option of a horse and carriage to move between them in style.

How many guests does it hold? Around 150 seated for the reception, or up to about 200 cocktail-style. Sarah and James celebrated with around seventy of their closest people, and the space felt made for it.

Planning Your Own Quarry Farm Wedding?

If a farm wedding with room to breathe sounds like your kind of day, have a look through the full Quarry Farm wedding photographer guide to see the venue through the lens, or come say hi and we will see if we are the right fit.