There was a definite football flavour when star AFL player Mason Redman tied the knot last week with his fiancée Emma Shepherd in the grounds of his historic Millicent home.
With almost 140 guests looking on, the couple pledged their love for each other on a perfect summer afternoon.
Emma chose a traditional and elegant long white wedding dress and veil while Mason opted for a dark two-piece suite.
The bride and her bridegroom each had four attendants and they were drawn from the ranks of their friends and family.
An important part of the marriage ceremony was undertaken by their dog Barney as he was the ring bearer.
At the conclusion of the wedding ceremony, a visiting DJ ramped up the music while a meal was served in a large marquee in the grounds.
Not surprisingly, lobster was on the menu as the groom’s father, paternal grandfather and Redman great grandfather have all been professional fishers.
The newlyweds are currently honeymooning in Tasmania.
Emma hails from Kongorong and is a registered nurse at a Melbourne hospital.
Mason has become a popular figure at Essendon since playing the first of his 143 games with the Bombers as a teenager in 2006.
His prodigious talent and bold personality had been developed at the Millicent Saints and Glenelg Tigers and he was the 30th selection at the 2015 AFL national draft.
The Bombers have certainly embraced the gutsy defender with the “Red Dog” nickname as 17 past or present players witnessed the wedding.
Current Essendon players Jordan Ridley, Zach Reid, Xavier Duursma, Darcy Parish, Harry Jones, Andrew McGrath, Angus Clarke and Jaxon Prior were present along with former Bombers Sam Draper, Dyson Heppell, Dylan Shiel, Jayden Laverde, Kaine Baldwin, Sam Weideman, Shaun McKernan, Jackson Merrett and Mitch Brown.
Millicent last had an AFL wedding in December 2002 when 182-game veteran Jason McCartney exchanged vows with local Nerissa Vanderheyden in St Alphonsus Catholic Church.
The bride has a Dutch ancestry and is the eldest child of Marlene and Ardri Vanderheyden.
As the church is in Millicent’s main thoroughfare, dozens of well-wishers gathered outside for the Saturday afternoon marriage service.
McCartney played at the elite level with Collingwood, Adelaide Crows and the North Melbourne Kangaroos from 1991 until 2003.
The wedding came only 62 days after McCartney was seriously injured in the terrorist attack on a nightclub in Bali.
He received significant burns to more than 50% of his body and was placed in an induced coma for six days.
The couple have two sons with McCartney maintaining his close involvement with the AFL by working as the general manager/head of football with the Greater Western Sydney Giants.