The Victoria Room, Darlinghurst

I first went to The Victoria Room about two years ago for a hen’s night. As we indulged in High Tea and sparkling wine I thought to myself that this would be a GREAT place for a wedding.

Being perpetually unlucky in lurve, I certainly didn’t foresee that I’d be having my wedding here just a few years later.

As I am a massive stress head about nearly everything in my life, my “inner-bride” (or should I say “inner psychologist”) knew that I’d have to keep things simple or risk a stint in a padded room immediately following the wedding.

Truth be told, my ideal wedding would be in a registry office with two witnesses (or perhaps eloping to a tropical island somewhere), but The Boy really wanted a wedding where his family could celebrate with us. So really, The Boy was the bridezilla of this wedding!

The best thing about The Victoria Room for me is that the place is already so beautiful that no decorations or embellishments are needed – making things pretty stress free as far as weddings go. The dark lighting, plush antique sofas, palm trees and bamboo curtains scream romance as well as the opulence of the British Raj era. Without having to lift a finger, or stress at all, we had a perfect venue!

Our ceremony was fairly quick – about 15 minutes and then we got stuck straight into the important business of High Tea.

Following a quick toast with The Victoria Room’s Sparkling NV ($9.50 glass or $ 39 a bottle) it was on to the food.

As our reception was at 1pm we started off with some canapés, mainly to ensure that everyone had enough to eat on the day. It was really lunchtime after all.

I choose three canapés from The Victoria Room’s function menu; Zucchini and Haloumi Fritters; Prawn and; Chickpea Fritters with Saffron Aioli; and, Sweet Corn Pancakes with crisp Pancetta and Avocado Aioli.  I cannot remember how much this cost us, but it didn't break the bank.

The BFF was our candid cameraman on the day and he didn’t manage grab any piccies of these tasty morsels as they got snapped up as soon as they were brought around. The lovely staff at The Victoria Room however did bring The Boy and I a special plate of these goodies to make sure that we didn’t miss out on food altogether.

Next up is the three tier Classic High Tea ($45 per person, plus an 11% surcharge as we had a group bigger than 10 people) and it is totally decadent. Before the wedding I was a worried there wouldn’t be enough food and people would leave hungry. I even told my brother that if he was still hungry after the reception he could head to Una's across the road and fill up on schnitzel and rosti. Turns out that I needn’t have worried as we had SO much food. The towers of delectable yumminess just kept on coming out and it was impossible to eat it all.

The top tier is filled with dainty Afternoon Tea Sandwiches and I catch myself eating these with my little pinky pointing straight out (just like The Queen). I later read that is bad form to have your pinky pointing in any direction during High Tea. Oopsie – bad bride!

There are four types of sandwiches each with a beautiful filling: Chicken and Wild Herbs; Cucumber, Crème Fraiche and Dill; Smoked Salmon, Rocket, Lemon, Capers; and Watercress, Celery, Walnuts and Goats Curd. My favourite would have to be the Chicken and Wild Herbs...very tasty.

The middle tier holds what I think are the most coveted of all the High Tea goodies, the Assorted Sweeties. On this tray we have Dark Chocolate Cup with Chocolate Mousse, Cream and fresh Raspberries; Classic baked Lemon Cheesecake; Mini Christmas Mince Tarts; and my favourite, Red Velvet Cupcake topped with Creamed Cheese Icing.

Finally the bottom tier holds the Scones and Conserve. The Victoria Room serve two types of scones, date and plain, with Triple Berry Conserve and Chantilly Cream.

Last up is the beautiful wedding cake (chocolate of course) that The Boys mum made for us! All of the individual flowers are hand-made.  Well done new mother-in-law!

I have to say I loved every minute of our wedding and reception (once I got used to the excessive smiling and 40 people all taking snaps of us – I felt like I had my own paparazzi pack on the day). I can even remember most of it seeing as my mind wasn't filled with 1000 little details about 'The Big Day'.

The staff at The Victoria Room looked after us really well, both before the event and during.  The food was delicious and plentiful and I think everyone went away full and happy (though I did spy The Boy's cousin heading into Una's afterwards). 

Best of all it was a really simple, but special wedding that didn’t blow our budget or our stress levels. The beautiful venue and unique food really made it feel like a special day without either us really having to go to too much trouble.

The Victoria Room is at 235 Victoria St, Darlinghurst.