Riverina, New South Wales

The Riverina spreads across southern New South Wales between the Murrumbidgee and the Murray, taking in Wagga Wagga, Griffith, Leeton, Narrandera, Gundagai, Junee, Culcairn and Temora. It is irrigated farming country — rice, citrus, wine and wheat — and the wedding landscape reflects that: river red gums along the Murrumbidgee, vineyards around Griffith, and wide open paddocks with the Snowy foothills on the horizon.

Venues run from historic homesteads and woolsheds to cellar doors, riverside reserves and grand old country halls and clubs in Wagga Wagga and Griffith. Kimo Estate above Gundagai and Round Hill Homestead at Culcairn are among the best known, both offering ceremony sites with long views and on-site accommodation. Many Riverina venues are working properties, so marquees, generators and bring-your-own catering are common.

Griffith brings a strong Italian-Australian heritage to the region’s food and wine, and family celebrations there are often large, late and generous. Wagga Wagga, the largest inland city in New South Wales, carries most of the region’s supplier base — photographers, florists, hire companies and hair and makeup artists — and services the surrounding towns.

Autumn and spring are the popular seasons; summer is hot and inland, and winter mornings are foggy along the river. The region is reached by the Hume and Sturt Highways, with regional airports at Wagga Wagga and Griffith, and it is an easy drive from Canberra, Albury and Melbourne, which is why many suppliers travel in for the weekend.