Terracotta, Plum and Bougainvillea - Kat & Angus at Hillstone St Lucia
Some venues already feel like a secret. Hillstone St Lucia is one of them.
Tucked into the bend of the Brisbane River at St Lucia, Hillstone is one of those venues that stops people mid-scroll when they discover it. An established garden ceremony space dripping in green vines and creepers. Dark timber pews. A gravel aisle framed by decades of growth. And somewhere in the grounds, a beautiful bougainvillea so deeply red it looks like it was placed there specifically for wedding portraits.
When Kat and Angus got married there in July 2026, they brought a floral concept that matched the venue's moody, garden-rich character perfectly. Rich, warm, textured, and a little wild. This one had us completely from the very first stem.
photo by: Todd Hunter Mcgaw
Venue: Hillstone St Lucia
The palette: autumnal warmth meets garden drama
The palette was built around a deeply considered autumnal range - burnt orange, terracotta, peach, blush, deep burgundy and rich plum, threaded through with dark foliage and trailing greens. Not the predictable version of those colours, either. This was layered and complex, the kind of palette that photographs differently in every light and gets richer as the day goes on.
It's also a palette that belongs to Hillstone in a very specific way. Against those deep green vine walls and that gravel garden setting, warm terracotta and burnt orange don't just work - they sing.
Venue: Hillstone St Lucia
photo by: Todd Hunter Mcgaw
The ceremony: vintage urns in a garden made for them
The ceremony space at Hillstone is genuinely special. An open pergola structure wound through with established creepers and vines, dark timber overhead, lush green hedging on every side. It's the kind of space that feels like it took thirty years to grow into what it is, and it did.
For a space like this, we knew traditional plinths with standard arrangements would feel out of place. Instead, we chose two large white ceramic embossed urns - vintage in character and substantial in scale. These were placed on draped white plinths either side of the ceremony position. The white ceramic against the deep green backdrop created a contrast that was quietly striking. No arch overhead competing with all that beautiful growth. Just two generous, considered arrangements and the garden doing what it does best.
Both urns were filled with the same rich autumnal palette: burnt orange cymbidium orchids, deep black calla lilies, blush and cream garden roses, white lisianthus, and trailing green amaranthus - with each arrangement taking on its own character depending on which stems came forward. That natural variation is part of what makes loose, abundant arrangements so beautiful. No two look exactly the same, and in a garden space as established and organic as Hillstone, that quality feels completely at home.
Trailing green amaranthus spilled from both urns, softening the edges and keeping the arrangements from feeling too formal. In a space that took decades to grow, a little wildness is always the right call.
photo by: Todd Hunter Mcgaw
Venue: Hillstone St Lucia
The bouquet: moody and completely her own
Kat’s bouquet was one of our favourites from this wedding. A loose, textured mix of terracotta garden roses, deep burgundy blooms, white orchids, scabiosa, and dark foliage - generous in scale, wild in feeling, and unmistakably her. Against that clean white column gown, the contrast was everything.
The bridesmaids in their deep plum satin carried their own versions of the same palette, slightly softer, slightly more blush-forward, but cohesive with the overall look without being identical. And the Groom’s buttonhole: a single cymbidium orchid bloom, was one of those quiet details that makes a whole look feel considered from every angle.
The reception: candlelight and considered detail
Inside, the reception tables were styled with a quieter version of the same warmth. A mix of single-stem bud vases in clear glass - peach and coral roses, soft and unfussy - alongside low ceramic pedestal arrangements with the fuller mixed palette. Blush taper candles ran the length of the tables, and by the time the evening came in, the whole room glowed.
It's an approach we love - varying the vessel scale and keeping the palette consistent, so the eye moves down the table and finds something slightly different each time without ever feeling disjointed.
photo by: Todd Hunter Mcgaw
Venue: Hillstone St Lucia
Why Hillstone St Lucia deserves more attention
We'll be honest - Hillstone St Lucia is one of Brisbane's most beautiful and most underrated wedding venues, and we don't get to work there nearly as often as we'd like. That garden ceremony space is genuinely unlike anything else in Brisbane. The established greenery, the gravel, the timber, the sense of age and character - it creates a backdrop that most venues spend decades trying to manufacture and never quite achieve.
If you're getting married at Hillstone and thinking about your florals, we want to hear from you. This venue has a specific character and it rewards a florist who knows how to listen to a space. Rich palettes, textured vessels, loose and layered arrangements - everything that Hillstone calls for is exactly what we love to do.
Thinking about booking Hillstone for your wedding?
We'd love to talk through your floral vision for this space. Bring your wedding date, any inspo images and your ideas - we'll take it from there.