It is easy to understand why Mitchell Gaffney and Maddy Edsell selected the stunning Wandin Estate as the location for their nuptials.
The serene vineyard is located in the Hunter Valley, a region well known for hosting weddings of couples beginning new chapters in their life. The land is dotted with stands of eucalyptus trees.
There are images of Gaffney and Edsell slicing into a three-layer cake, as well as another showing Edsell cruising the estate’s grass in a convertible VW Beetle.
She waves with one hand to her loved ones while beaming.
Some guests who attend weddings at Wandin Estate can stay there in one of the seven self-contained villas, while others leave to go to their homes or other places to stay in the neighbourhood.
The big white bus that was supposed to take scores of people from Gaffney and Edsell’s wedding never arrived.
About 50 kilometres northwest of Newcastle, it tragically overturned at 11.30 p.m. on Sunday while attempting to navigate an off-ramp close to the Hunter motorway.
More than 20 individuals are hospitalised, including one who is in serious condition, and ten people are deceased.
The driver, who is 58 years old, was detained. Payment is anticipated.
According to police, the bus was travelling in the direction of Singleton, a 35-minute drive.
Many of the wedding guests, including the newlyweds, are thought to have resided in Singleton, a town of 16,000 inhabitants on the banks of the Hunter River.
Gaffney and Edsell were both Australian Rules football players with the Singleton Roosters.
It is believed that Gaffney joined the team after relocating to the north from Melbourne, the city where he and Edsell had grown up.
Players from Melbourne’s Warrandyte Cricket Club, where Gaffney once played, were also guests at the wedding.
Up until a few years ago, Gaffney and Edsell lived in the Warrandyte neighbourhood in Melbourne’s northeast.
Up to nine active players and their partners were on the bus when it crashed, according to Warrandyte Cricket Club president Royce Jaksic, who spoke to The Sydney Morning Herald.
According to Jaksic, several wedding attendees had “some minor injuries, like a broken jaw or a broken collarbone.”
But you know, I think we’ve been fortunate in this one, compared to the ten people who unfortunately lost their life, he added.
“If you do the maths, they have had a very lucky break. Just crossing our fingers and toes that no one else perishes.
Many well-known people, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, sent their condolences to the victim’s family.
“It is so cruel, so sad, and so unfair for a joyful day like that to end with such terrible loss of life and injury in a beautiful place,” added Albanese.
“People hire buses for weddings in order to keep their guests safe, and that just adds to the unimaginable nature of this tragedy.”
Premier Chris Minns called the incident “a terrible, terrible event in the history of New South Wales,” while Albanese called it “horrific” and noted the profound scars it will leave behind.
