Marnong Estate: 2026 Victorian ABIA Wedding Awards Runner-Up in Four Categories

Couples have rated Marnong Estate, a Melbourne wedding venue in Mickleham, among Victoria’s best in four categories at the 2026 ABIA Wedding Awards. Between them, they cover almost the entire wedding day.

Updated 7 October 2026

Plenty of wedding days are spent in transit. A church, then a bus, then a reception room across town, then a hunt for taxis at midnight while the guests from interstate try to remember the name of their hotel.

At Marnong Estate in Mickleham, the day stays put. Vows in a garden. Dinner above the valley. Bed in a cabin by the vines. Nobody gets back in a car.

That idea has now been tested by the people best placed to judge it. Marnong Estate, a Melbourne wedding venue set on a 1,200-acre vineyard and farm estate in Melbourne’s north, was named runner-up in four categories at the 2026 Victorian ABIA Wedding Awards: Ceremony Venue, Wedding Reception Venue, Wedding Accommodation and Function Coordinator. The results, released on 6 October, cover almost the whole of a wedding day: where couples marry, where they celebrate, where everyone sleeps, and the people who hold it together.

It is not the first time. A year earlier, Marnong won Wedding Reception Venue outright at the 2025 Victorian ABIA Wedding Awards. This year it finished runner-up in that same category, and was named runner-up in three more.

The ABIA Wedding Awards, run by the Australian Bridal Industry Academy, are now in their 28th year in Victoria, and more than 220 businesses made this year’s shortlist. The awards draw on what couples report after their weddings, rating the suppliers they actually booked. A place on the podium is not a judge’s impression from a single visit. It is a verdict from people who married there, delivered after the bills were paid and the photographs came back.

Meagan Avellino and Anthony put theirs plainly: they “couldn’t have found more friendly and attentive staff to help us celebrate our big day and night.”

The ceremony spaces

Couples choose between three places to marry, each set with 50 seats. The Secret Garden, an open-air space wrapped in the estate’s gardens, holds 200 guests, with room for 150 standing. The Green Grove brings that greenery indoors behind glass and holds 150, with 100 standing. The Lookout Marquee, sheltered but open to the view, faces the mountains and holds 100, with 50 standing.

The reception rooms

The signature room at this Melbourne wedding venue is The Angliss. It sits upstairs, seats 200, holds 300 standing, and looks out across rolling farmland to the Macedon Ranges. At sunset, the view does the decorating.

Mariam Ajami and Ali’s review begins there. “From the breathtaking views to the beautifully presented reception space,” they wrote, “every detail was absolutely perfect.”

For a different mood, The Woolshed is rustic and close, a room under a ceiling of fairy lights that looks across the hills, seating 110 or holding 200 standing. Smaller weddings can stay in The Green Grove, the glass room where the vows were said, which seats 80 for dinner, or 120 standing.

Lorena Bazzano and Troy first saw the Woolshed dressed for a wedding at one of Marnong’s showcases. “When we saw it set up we fell in love with it,” they wrote in their review, “and we fell in love with it on wedding day.” Their guests’ verdict, as they reported it: “a 10/10.”

The food comes from an estate that cooks to a standard. Wedding menus are prepared by events chef Natalia Arisa, on an estate that is also home to La Vètta, hatted for a second year running in The Age Good Food Guide. The wine is grown on the property, in the Sunbury region, and poured within sight of the vines. Mariam Ajami and Ali wrote that their “guests are still talking about how delicious every course was.”

The person who holds it together

Function Coordinator is the one category of the four about a person rather than a place. It rewards what couples never see: the calls returned, the run sheets rebuilt, the wet-weather plan ready before anyone asks. At Marnong the award belongs to the events team, under sales and events manager Anna Reza and senior wedding and events coordinator Carleen Wickham. For couples weighing up a Melbourne wedding venue, it may be the award that matters most.

“They were professional but also made the night so fun!”

Carli O’Keefe and Brandon, married at Marnong Estate

Melbourne wedding venue accommodation: the morning after

The night does not have to end at midnight. For couples who celebrate in The Angliss, the estate’s restored heritage house, The Homestead, and its four suites are reserved for the wedding party. Ten vineyard cabins, each with two bedrooms and a private ensuite, add 20 more rooms, look south over the vines and sleep up to four apiece. Guests flying in from interstate land 15 minutes away. Nobody needs a taxi home.

By breakfast the camels are grazing in the lower paddock and the peacocks have the lawn to themselves.

The couple wakes on the estate where it all happened. Nobody got back in a car.

Congratulations to Anna Reza, Carleen Wickham, Natalia Arisa and the whole events team, and thank you to every couple who took the time to rate their day. These awards are yours as much as ours. — Marnong Estate