Where I'd throw an engagement party in the Hunter Valley

Skip the wedding circuit stalwarts, because the good engagement party venues in the Hunter Valley are the ones your own wedding planner probably hasn't cold called yet.

Start in Lovedale at Lucy's Run, a nine acre boutique vineyard where the owners still greet you at the cellar door themselves. It's tiny, genuinely family run, and the kind of place where kangaroos turn up on the lawn uninvited, which is more character than any function centre can fake.

A few minutes down the road, Tatler Wines has been run by the Isakidis family for over 25 years, with the Brokenback Ranges as a backdrop and a courtyard restaurant that handles up to 150 people cocktail style. The family's history runs back to their old Tatler Hotel, where rugby league was reportedly first codified in 1908, which is a better icebreaker than anything printed on a place card.

Head further out to Broke Fordwich, where Margan Wines and Restaurant grows most of what lands on your plate, from the kitchen garden to the estate reared lambs. It's picked up Hunter Valley Cellar Door of the Year three years running, and it can be booked for exclusive evening functions.

Just up the road, 1813 Cellar Door at Tinonee Vineyard Estate sits in a glassed in room looking straight at the Brokenback Range, with none of the tour bus traffic that clogs the main Pokolbin strip.

And in the hills above Cessnock, Mount View Estate keeps its Barrel Hall and Cellar Room for smaller, moodier gatherings, well away from the big wedding reception crowd the estate also caters to.

None of these need a wedding budget to book. They need a Tuesday phone call and a rough headcount. Get in before the group chat works out these places exist, because Broke Fordwich doesn't stay quiet forever.

Sugar Honey is the social media and advertising agency behind What's The Buzz, and wedding advertising across the Hunter Valley, Sydney and Melbourne is one of the things we do best. Get in touch at info@sugarhoney.com.au.