Ancestry and Elegance at Coombe Yarra Valley
Denuree and Hinushkar’s wedding was a vibrant, joy-filled celebration that unfolded across two meaningful days, thoughtfully honouring both their Tamil and Sinhalese heritage. From an intimate backyard Kalyanam ceremony at home, surrounded by family and tradition, to a timeless Poruwa ceremony and reception at Coombe Yarra Valley, every moment felt deeply considered yet effortlessly full of heart.
Set against beautifully styled florals and the stunning grounds of Coombe Yarra Valley, their second day carried an unmistakable sense of elegance and ease, brought to life by an incredible team and the natural beauty of the estate. Their faces say it all – completely present, overflowing with joy, and so clearly in love at the moment they became married.
From traditional attire and carefully chosen modern touches, to meaningful music and unforgettable cultural rituals, every detail reflected their story, their families and the life they are building together.
Captured beautifully by Packing Light, this is a celebration to soak up and enjoy.
The meeting.
The short story is that one of our mutual friends, Kylie, introduced us to each other. The long-ish story is Dee had not spoken/seen Kylie for about 10 years since Year 8 of high school. In 2019, Kylie was working as a lifeguard with Hinu. One day, Dee (Denuree) woke up to a Facebook message from Kylie that basically said, “I’ve recently become friends with this guy I work with, and he reminds me a lot of you. He’s super funny, down to earth, loves a good meme, and I don’t know if you’re still the same as I remember, but I think you two would be perfect for each other.” The rest, as they say, is history!
The one.
We don’t think there was a single moment; it was more a series of moments throughout the first few months of dating, followed by more and more moments over the years of, “Yesss… this is exactly why you are the one for me in this lifetime and every lifetime after.”
The proposal.
Over to Hinu…
Denuree and her family were returning back to Melbourne after a 2-week trip to Japan. I told her I would pick her up from the airport to take her on a day trip to celebrate her birthday (which was coming up in two weeks). Little did she know, I had booked another flight out of the Melbourne airport for us to fly to a place we have always wanted to visit, Uluru. As a surprise, her sister and cousin were also tagging along. Denuree had no idea where she was going, so I told her to pop her headphones in, and her sister/cousin secretly boarded the plane at the back, before we went in, so they wouldn’t cross paths.
When we landed in the Northern Territory, she had no idea what was happening. She asked me, “If I was crazy when I booked this, and if this is way too crazy for a birthday.”
A few weeks prior, I had asked her friends to take her out “window” dress shopping, and I surprised her with that dress at the hotel. After getting ready, we were driven to a far-off dune overlooking Uluru for an intimate outdoor dinner called Tali Wiru, under the stars.
After dinner, I had organised a stargazing tour to take us on a private journey around Uluru at night, where they had set up a beautiful spot for me to propose. When we arrived, they gave me the sign, and we walked down a quiet path lit by small lights. I handed her a letter I had written, and when she reached the end, I was down on one knee.
We’ve always wanted to have a special place that was ours, and I think we found it.
Side note: I didn’t answer my phone the whole time this was happening, and the proposal didn’t happen until around midnight. Her sister and cousin thought we’d been kidnapped until we showed up back at the hotel!
End of story – Hinu.
Planning process.
We had about a year and three months leading up to the wedding, and we received lots of great advice from friends and family who had recently gotten married. They shared that it’s really important to pace yourself and slowly chip away at the planning.
From the very beginning, we did everything together. Prior to getting married, we didn’t live together, so it was nice being able to see more of each other and spend time after work, or whenever we could, planning our wedding. We would send each other ideas and inspo pics throughout the day from blogs and other weddings we came across.
We started a Pinterest board super early on and downloaded a wedding planner template from Etsy, which was an incredible lifesaver. It included different tabs for run sheets, budget, guest list, vendors, packing lists, seating charts, contact information, gifts and timelines, which helped break down tasks into stages like 12+ months before, six months before, and so on.
It was so cool planning the biggest day of our lives together. We loved visiting venues, meeting with our amazing photographers at our house to chat through the day, getting our friends and family involved, taste-testing cake and food, and even practising dancing for the first time (just one month before the wedding!).
It all felt a little surreal, knowing we were planning one of the biggest days of our lives, and we really enjoyed every part of the process.
Style inspiration.
We were actually really lucky to have not one, but two special days to celebrate our wedding with all our family and friends. Denuree is Sinhalese Sri Lankan, and I am Tamil Sri Lankan, so it was really important to us to honour both of our cultures.
We had a small Tamil Kalyanam ceremony in our backyard on 30 January, followed by a Sinhalese Poruwa ceremony and reception at the beautiful Coombe Yarra Valley on 31 January.
For our Tamil ceremony, we wanted to honour Hinushkar’s Hindu background with beautiful bold colours and an intimate home celebration filled with warmth and light. For the following day, we embraced Denuree’s Sinhala heritage with a traditional Poruwa ceremony at Coombe Yarra Valley.
We wanted the two days to feel distinctly different. While the backyard ceremony was vibrant, intimate and deeply personal, the celebration at Coombe Yarra Valley was designed to feel timeless, elegant and classic. Coombe Yarra Valley was the absolute perfect venue to bring that vision to life.
The ceremony.
There were so many special moments across both our Tamil Kalyanam ceremony and Sinhalese Poruwa ceremony.
For the Tamil Kalyanam, being able to get married at Denuree’s childhood home was incredibly meaningful. So many of our family and friends came together to transform the backyard into a beautiful celebration space. One of the most significant moments was the tying of the Thali, a necklace gifted to the bride that symbolises the merging of two lives and the commitment we were making to each other. When Hinu placed the necklace around my neck, our guests showered us with rice and flowers in celebration.
To help our family and friends follow along with the ceremony, we created a program booklet explaining the meaning behind each ritual. It not only helped our guests feel connected to the experience but also deepened our own understanding of the significance behind each moment.
Although we come from different cultural backgrounds, it was beautiful to see the connections and similarities between the two ceremonies. During the Poruwa ceremony, Denuree received another necklace, along with a surprise necklace, both intended to become family heirlooms for future generations. We also had three of Denuree’s younger cousins sing the Jaya Mangala Gatha, offering blessings and protection for our marriage.
In both of our cultures, there is a strong emphasis on honouring the ancestors and family members who came before us. At the same time, having grown up in Melbourne, we wanted to incorporate some modern wedding traditions too. We exchanged personal vows, shared our first kiss, and had our celebrant work alongside our cultural celebrant to ensure we could create the ceremony of our dreams.
The outfits.
Denuree: For the Tamil ceremony, I was really excited to honour Hinushkar’s culture by wearing two traditional Kanchipuram sarees. The Kanchipuram silk saree, also known as a Kanjeevaram saree, is a type of silk saree made in the Kanchipuram region of Tamil Nadu, India.
As the bride, I wore two different sarees in green and red. I decided to keep the colours a bit of a secret from Hinu, although I think my family and I let it slip a few times! My mother-in-law actually had the second saree sent to Sri Lanka in the final month and a half before the wedding for the hand embroidery work.
For the Poruwa ceremony, I was excited to wear a Sinhala saree, just like my mum once wore, paired with a veil. This white lace saree featured intricate hand beading and embroidery. We also had a custom veil made in Sri Lanka with matching embroidery inspired by the saree border.
Being born and raised in Melbourne, I’d also always wanted to wear a classic wedding dress. I was looking for something timeless, elegant and comfortable enough to dance in! I absolutely loved Emily May Bridal. I had such a positive experience with them and ended up choosing my wedding dress on the very first day of shopping.
Hinu: For the Tamil Kalyanam, I wore a green kurta with a white vetti and green border for my first outfit. For the second outfit, I wore a pattu veshti and sattai (a white silk shirt and white vetti). I wanted to keep my traditional look classic and timeless.
For 31 January, I wore a custom suit by Wei at Oscar Hunt Prahran – a black linen double-breasted tuxedo with a black linen bow tie. In my normal line of work, I don’t wear suits often, so it was exciting getting my first proper suit for the wedding. I also had a lot of fun choosing the fabrics, buttons and finer design details throughout the process.
Favourite moment.
Impossible to pick one moment, so we picked a few!
Being able to celebrate both our cultures and honouring it fully with our loved ones.
All our friends and family came to help us in whatever way they could to bring our wedding, particularly the Hindu ceremony, to life.
Saying our private vows back-to-back to each other without seeing each other and just spending as much time with each other through the day.
Walking down the aisle and seeing all our incredible family and friends all there to celebrate our day.
Our dance floor started without us! This was absolutely crazy, but while we were out taking photos, we heard such great songs being played; we later found out that a few people in between meals came out and then suddenly everyone was on the dance floor at 7pm! We couldn’t believe it.
The speeches! Our incredible wedding party and family did some amazing speeches that literally made us tear up so many times.
Meaning of marriage.
As we write this, it has now been three months since we were married. We have waited so long to get married, and it feels so exciting to finally be husband and wife and join our lives together – waking up each day thinking about how we can make each other’s day a little bit better. Understanding that as we grow older, we will change as people but continue to show up for each other every day.
Wedding soundtrack.
For the Tamil ceremony, we walked down the aisle to a traditional Hindu wedding band featuring unique drum and woodwind instruments. For the second day, Hinu walked down the aisle with his parents, accompanied by traditional Sinhalese Kandyan dancers.
I (Denuree) really wanted to walk down the aisle to Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, performed by a cellist and violinist. It honestly felt so surreal for both of us — there were a lot of emotions! During the marriage certificate signing, the cellist and violinist played Clair de Lune by Debussy.
Our first dance was to Best Part by Daniel Caesar ft. H.E.R.
We chose this song because we’d heard it so many times throughout our seven years of dating, often during important moments, so it felt like the perfect song for us to dance to. We also had the opportunity to do a private practice dance outside at Coombe Yarra Valley before our first dance, which was such a great way to calm the nerves.
Funny stories (or near disasters).
LOTS of funny stories.
We didn’t see it, but during our photoshoot in the garden we heard that some guests (Hinu’s mum and uncle) had already started a dance floor pre-dinner, and soon everyone was out dancing. Our DJ pulled us aside later to tell us about it – we couldn’t believe we missed it!
During the ceremony at Coombe Yarra Valley, Hinu placed a necklace on me, which is a key part of the ceremony. We realised we had forgotten to give the necklace to the celebrant, so our incredible bridesmaid had to do a quick mid-ceremony run to retrieve it. Little did I know, my mother-in-law had also organised a surprise second necklace, so instead of one, I ended up with two gorgeous necklaces. The celebrant even made a funny joke about sometimes it being worth the wait.
As part of the traditional Poruwa ceremony at Coombe Yarra Valley, Hinu and I exchanged beetle leaves back and forth seven times. We accidentally lost count during the exchange, and the celebrant said we were up to the sixth round, accidentally making a “6–7” joke while we were getting married! Everyone had a good laugh.
Planning surprises.
I think we were a little surprised by all the small details that need to be organised to really bring the day to life, outside of the big milestones like booking the venue, vendors and buying the dress.
There are so many little things, like remembering to organise any cash payments for vendors on the day, creating a photo inspiration list for your photographers, and putting together separate run sheets for your vendors with the relevant information they need. Doing this ahead of time really helped us have a much more relaxed wedding day.
Words of wisdom.
Make a joint email address! It will save loads of time and will make it easier to find all your vendor email threads.
Buy a wedding planning Etsy template! They are really cost-effective (ours was about $20) and saved a load of time and helped with planning. I also think it’s a really great way to support local vendors. We found it was far better than the physical books that don’t quite capture all the info and doesn’t allow you to edit or make changes.
Do the planning together and set aside days each week to come together and slowly chip away at the planning activities.
Ask for help from friends and family! Trust me, they want to help, so make sure to lean on friends and family with any DIY activities
Try to make wedding planning fun by going somewhere to do your planning. We went to the Berwick Botanic Gardens with two camping chairs and sat there while we planned on our laptops. We actually ended up seeing a wedding one of the days we were planning!
Denuree and Hinushkar’s Vendors
Ceremony and reception venue: Coombe Yarra Valley. What can we say, Coombe Yarra Valley was our absolute dream wedding venue. When we booked, we booked having fallen in love with the gorgeous gardens, beautiful ceremony options, and the feeling we had walking through the estate. What we didn’t realise was that we would get such incredible support from their event management team to make sure we had the absolute best day possible. Coombe Yarra Valley’s wedding planning resources made everything 1000% easier for us and they continued to do everything to make sure our guests had the best time as well. The day ran so smoothly, we didn’t feel stressed at all and just got to enjoy it all! Our guests couldn’t stop raving about how lovely the staff were, how gorgeous the venue was and how incredible the food was!
Celebrant/Officiant: Rashan (cultural celebrant) and Shamini (legal celebrant) worked together seamlessly to bring together the perfect wedding reception for us, doing run throughs of the ceremony and they just made us feel at ease. Our guests loved that they explained every step of the ceremony.
Photography: Packing Light – where to begin! Alysha and Andy were our first wedding vendor decision. Their photography style, how they work together, energy they brought on the day was just amazing! They were everything we wanted in our photographer and we couldn’t be happier. We felt so comfortable with them. Alysha spent so much time coming over to our house and planning our day with us and running through our runsheet; they also recommended our videographer!
Videography: Sunnyside Films (videographer 30 Jan) and Lachy Films (videographer 31 Jan). Paul and Lachy were just incredible to work with. They had such similar energy to Alysha and Andy, and we were just in love with their video style. Our guests couldn’t stop raving about how friendly they were on the day.
Florist: Pretty Wild Flowers – Irene was just incredible. She helped us create a mood board for both days and got that the two days had quite a different feel and really helped us capture it through the flower design. She absolutely nailed it.
Hair / Makeup: Beauty by Hasini who did the bridal makeup, did such an incredible job on the makeup and hair, she is so incredibly talented, and was able to do the perfect natural glam makeup look for my wedding day. The bridesmaid makeup artists, Beauty by Malsha and Artistry by Flo, also did such a wonderful job on makeup and hair for the bridesmaids; the girls loved their look and felt so comfortable and looked so beautiful. Seda Silk did such a wonderful job draping all of our sarees; nothing moved at all throughout the day, and we all just felt so beautiful.
The dress(es) / bridesmaid’s sarees: Choosing my dress at Emily May Bridal was the easiest decision with such a gorgeous range of dresses, and such incredible staff who helped me try on and find the perfect dress. For the white saree I wore for the ceremony, I purchased my saree and custom veil from Shalika’s bridal range from Saree Galore. She was so helpful in selecting the perfect saree with hand embroidery work.
Suits: Had the best experience with Wei from Oscar Hunt Tailors creating my custom suit. I wanted a different feel for my wedding, and he absolutely nailed it with my suit.
Cake: Malli Bakes – made the most delicious two-tiered wedding cake; our guests couldn’t stop raving about how beautiful it was. Patty was so lovely to work with, and created the most delicious cake within our budget!
Entertainment: Hearing Hey Jack play Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros as I walked down the aisle will be a memory I will have forever; they were just perfect, and DJ Russy brought all the vibes for the reception.
Transport: Pete’s Classic Garage. We had so much fun taking photos in Pete’s 1965 Mustang convertible and driving off saying bye to our guests on the drive from the venue.
