Bawley Bush Venues

Cockatoo Room

The Cockatoo function Room is 100sqm with a timber truss cathedral ceiling that opens to a 50sqm veranda and 40sqm foyer between it and the catering kitchen and the new Casuarina Lounge. Cockatoo can seat up to 85 seated diners and the veranda a further 30. It contains a wood fire, PA systems, stage lighting, decoration wiring/hangers and a rising stage. Chairs and tables for 120 are stored on trollies at the rear of building ready for customised set-up by guests.  All internal finishes are timber ...  it is indeed a beautiful setting for a wedding reception decorated by you as you want. 

​

Casuarina Lounge

This is a pic of one three sections of the Casuarina Lounge room.  It is the perfect place for guests to relax and socialise in before or after the main events. The camera here is looking south through the foyer doorway towards the disabled bathroom and through the window to the Cockatoo Room. This lounge section lies adjacent to the commercial kitchen on right.  Casuarina contains lounge or, optionally, dining seating for 30+ people. It has a rustic feel with a wood heater and even a TV.  The room provides upstairs access to a "green" room ...a private escape or get-readyroom and a utility room ...for event principals or caterers. Casuarina  also has level rear access to a ladies powder room and also to a covered veranda of 40sqm.

Ceremony Arbor

Our ceremony arbor, pictured here on the sweeping lawns overlooking Lake Willinga, is just one option brides and grooms can elect to use for their ceremony. Other options include choosing any other location and decorating it with whatever temporary, removable  safe and light structures desired....the adjacent pic gives just one idea.  Should it be preferred or if the weather looks doubtful then there is always the option to use the Cockatoo Room or the marquee, if erected, for the ceremony. There is no permanent seating at the arbor or elsewhere on our lawns but guests are welcome to relocate whatever chairs are needed from our storage area to their chosen ceremony site. Note that celebrants always have their own sound equipment, at any location the ceremony can be heard.

Dome Marquee

Our hexadome white fabric marquee option is currently the subject of an application to Council for use by up to 120 wedding guests. Approval hopefully in 2020 but that cannot be guaranteed. Its 175sq m size will allow space for musicians and a dance floor.  A winchable truss which can be decorated at ground level has basic waterproof, dimmable, colour-selectable, strip-lighting attached. A laser ball and basic led spotlights are also available. Guest principals will be free to add lighting and other decorations and hire preferred furniture as desired. Flooring will be roll-out heavy-duty plastic event flooring and brides will be free to hire a suitable third party dance floor of their choice. When the marquee is to be used for reception purposes then the Cockatoo Room could be used as a chapel or simply as a social space.

Lawns

Bawley Bush Retreat has large graded lawns adjacent to both the function room and to the dome marquee that then sweep down past the ceremony arbor to the lake. Most couples do choose the lawns for their ceremonies. The lawns are big enough to be used for open air /alfresco celebrations or for games or for placing a preferred marquee hired from a third party if such is preferred to ours. Outdoor events too have a maximum person  limit of 120# but note are subject to the Council application mentioned above being successful. Note, outdoor music has significantly tighter volume restrictions than indoor. This may be an important consideration for you...ask about it.

Nearby beaches

A popular beach setting for wedding ceremonies and photos followed by a Bawley Bush reception is the Bawley Point Beach Reserve just 3km drive away.  Other excellent nearby beach ceremony venues are North Beach, Cormorant, Gannett, Murramarang and Shell Beach. Pretty Beach (10 minutes) and Pebbly Beach (25mins, where the surfing kangaroo pics went viral) are possible venues within Murramarang National Park .  The Gantry and headlands of Bawley Point are beautiful barren rock areas with dramatic sea views. If you are water babies these  could provide a relevant backdrop for your wedding or post-wedding photos. note: before holding your ceremony on a beach or reserve you must obtain Council permission, small fee involved.