About This Venue

A truly incredible wedding venue, where colonial history and romantic, whimsical gardens meet the bay.

Tanilba House (c1831), is a unique and beautiful state heritage listed homestead, set on 3 acres of stunning gardens, overlooking Port Stephens in Tanilba Bay. At Tanilba House you are able to have your ceremony, photos and reception all in one amazing place.

Meaning “A place of White Flowers” Tanilba exudes romance, informal elegance and rustic character. The property offers a variety of beautiful settings for your wedding ceremony and reception plus an amazing range of photography locations. This includes a 35m long arbour covered in flowers and vines, a glorious fig tree cathedral surrounded by rainforest, a collection of whimsical garden areas and a collection of historic structures.

The grand homestead itself is convict built of locally quarried stone and is the oldest home in Port Stephens. It includes expansive reception rooms with 50 cm thick walls and 3 metre ceilings and has been restored over the last few years. The ambience is of rustic charm and elegance, with a historic all weather conservatory, colonial surround verandahs and a magnificent 1920’s flower shaped stone driveway. At night the estate takes on a ethereal, magical feeling with 1,000’s of fairy lights flickering throughout the garden and conservatory and extensive lighting bringing the garden to life.

Props on the property include the original convict gaol, the 1920’s “Temple of the Stork”, a wishing chair, a selection of heritage gates, stone chairs, many stunning flowering trees etc. Quiet waterfront parks are a short walk from the house – with Sunset Park renowned for dramatic evening sunset shots over the water only 300 meters away.

Wedding facilities have been added to the venue to make your wedding a complete success. These include a rustic dancefloor/ stage, a vintage bar with refrigeration and claw foot bath esky, plus a historic shop front photo booth area.

We cater for a variety of wedding formats depending on your guest numbers. We do full packages that include catering and celebrant, small wedding intimate dinners and elopment style garden weddings plus bespoke wedding venue hire.
All our package choices have a broad list of inclusions as follows:

• Venue hire
• Tables and chairs configured to your wedding vision (set up and packed down)
• Ceremony seating
• Wedding Arbour
• Signs
• Rustic bar
• Dance floor
• Choice of ceremony and reception locations
• Wedding management
• Present/cake/signing tables
• Lawn games
• Choice of drinks options
• Rustic styling choices (does not include fresh florals)
• Bridal room and on site accommodation (optional)
• Chandelier hire (optional)

Tanilba House is fully licenced and all our weddings have the option of a purchased drinks package, a bar tab or BYO.

Tanilba House is located in Tanilba Bay on a peninsula which is almost an island, surrounded by water and several quiet waterfront parks. It is a little known paradise known for its magnificent water views, teeming birdlife and local koalas located halfway between Newcastle and Nelson Bay. With a wealth of waterfront and national parks to explore and the bay on your doorstep, it is the perfect option for a destination wedding. Accommodation options are plentiful either walking distance from the property or within a few minutes drive. The local resort offers guests the option of staying all together in one place with facilities to have breakfast all together the next day.

As environmental conservation is a priority for us, at Tanilba House waste is kept to a minimum and we aim for almost all disposable materials used in our weddings to be minimised. We also reuse and recycle where we possible. Water used is from a water tank where appropriate.

We will always be proud supporters of the LGBTQIA community.

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