The Summer Showcase

Sunshine Coast Hinterland – The Old Dairy Maleny

Brought to you by – Hinterland Tourism and Maleny Wedding Festival

Well, COVID-19 has done it again. Shut Brisbane down along with our annual Sunshine Coast Summer Showcase by Hinterland Tourism Sunshine Coast which was scheduled for the 9th and 10th Jan 2021.

It is the biggest showcase on the Sunshine Coast for weddings. It is the perfect opportunity for couples to head to the Sunshine Coast Hinterland for a weekend full of love. Being able to view 10 gorgeous Sunshine Coast venues across the Sunshine Coast hinterland and meet all the many wonderful suppliers we have based on the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane regions.

After a very, very rough year for those in 2020 with small business, which is what the bulk of our wedding industry here on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland is, we were ready for a HUGE weekend. Ready to meet all these newly loved up couples and meet and greet those who were revisiting again after postponing their weddings in 2020. Suppliers and couples alike were all overly excited for this weekend.

Personally, I saw tears and many tears. I may have shed a tear or 2 myself once it was decided to postpone the event. Tears were shed for the loss of not meeting couples, the opportunity to book in weddings and keep businesses afloat, for the hours that go into preparing such an event and lastly the money spent. Those with perishables such as florists and catering teams who spent literally thousands to showcase their gorgeous works and to say they could not, was heart wrenching.

To say it has been a heartbreaking and soul-destroying weekend is an understatement. I am feeling for everyone. With so much sadness we need to flip this and make it good. So, we managed to work with the 2 venues we were at and pull off 2 STUNNING and quite different photo shoots. We were going to be sharing our love at the iconic ‘The Old Dairy Maleny’ inside their beautiful, elegant barn and over at brand new Sunshine Coast wedding venue Mali Retreat owned by Lisa Curry and Mark Tabonne which is a rustic styled barn set amongst the beautiful Sunshine Coast hinterland landscape.

One thing I have learnt is those who I did get to work alongside are ALL incredible people. The Sunshine Coast wedding community banded together to ensure all our works were displayed and did not all go to waste. With some Brisbane suppliers in lockdown, they were not able to make it up so we used our Sunshine Coast wedding supplier contacts and used locals to get the job done. I have always said for any dream to work it needs teamwork and that we did.

Our first shoot we were so fortunate to have worked alongside not one but 2 incredibly talented women who photographed our works. To have 2 photographers work alongside one another was amazing. Just shows if you get married on the Sunshine Coast you know we all have your back when it is wedding day.

Thank you to both Angela and Shae for your beautiful sneak peek galleries and sharing them so quickly.

This blog features all the love at ‘The Old Dairy Maleny’ in Maleny.