Shai and Pat got married at Oneday Estate on the Bellarine Peninsula, about fifteen minutes out of Geelong, on a relaxed October afternoon that suited them perfectly. If you’ve met these two, “relaxed and fun, go with the flow” is exactly how they described their wedding day when I asked them about it, and that’s precisely how it played out.
Oneday sits on 80 acres with 14 under vine, and the whole place has this handcrafted, rustic character to it. Recycled timbers, old stone, a reception room the owner built by hand. It’s the kind of venue that already has personality before a single flower goes up, which makes it a genuinely fun property to shoot on.
What I love about shooting here
Oneday gives couples a genuine choice of ceremony spots around the property, but Shai and Pat said their vows at The Walkway, the treed laneway that gives the ceremony a real country touch. Their day ran through the afternoon, with the ceremony starting around 3:30, and having Oneday’s own reception hall as the wet weather backup meant there was never any real pressure hanging over the day, just a calm, easy afternoon either way.
Their dog Daisy was part of the ceremony too, which is always one of my favourite things to photograph. Nothing beats a dog in a bow tie barreling up the aisle.
How the day came together
Shai and Pat kept prep simple, with Shai getting ready at home in Leopold and Pat based nearby in Ocean Grove. They skipped the first look, choosing to save that moment for the aisle instead, and kept the day moving with no big whole-group photo at the end, which suited a guest list of around 65 to 70.
The wedding party walked in at 5:15pm and went straight into their first dance to “New Normal” by Cooper Alan, no messing around with formalities in between. Cake cutting came just before dessert, keeping the party rolling rather than pausing it.
What stuck with me most about this one was how much these two just enjoy each other. Pat’s proposal story alone tells you everything: three rejections at Kmart, a bottle-smashing bid for attention at an 18th birthday, and years later a ring box that ended up upside down at Lake Mulwala because he’d overthought which knee to kneel on. When they told me what they wanted to remember from their album in ten years, they said family photos and candid moments, the real stuff rather than the posed stuff. That’s exactly what a day like theirs delivers.
Shai summed it up better than I could afterwards, saying that even though we’d never actually met in person before the day itself, within fifteen minutes it felt like we’d known each other for years. That’s the whole job for me. Slot in, feel like family, and let the two of you just be yourselves.
Planning an Oneday Estate wedding?
Three packages, prices published, starting at $2,500. Your full gallery is delivered within 21 days, guaranteed. If it’s late, you get a $500 credit towards an album or wall art.
