Canapés Under the Sea: Celebrating at Melbourne Aquarium

If there's one thing the team at VenueNow loves, it's showing off the country's most jaw-dropping and unique venues to event planners and corporate clients. Our latest event, hosted by SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium, showcased exactly how unique an event hosted in an aquarium can be – especially one in Melbourne. 

For those who work in the world of high rises, behind a desk and on the nine-to-five train, events in which clients are entertained and shown a good time are hardly a new concept. To those on the receiving and the organising end, it’s something of a fact of life.

As you can probably imagine, if there’s a group of people that knows this, it’s the VenueNow team. Which is why we were determined to ensure our latest event was a couple (make that MANY) notches above ‘average client event’.

At our most recent exclusive event for clients, our guests were greeted by the SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium’s outdoor courtyard, a charming space framed by the Yarra on one side, and trains clattering overhead to Southern Cross Station on the other. A pop-up bar, a Pimms station and canapés were on hand to take the atmosphere from ‘just having finished work’ to ‘let’s have an amazing night’.

VenueNow Corporate Business Development Manager Lauren Carlyle was on hand to kick off proceedings – and let everyone know that the night’s best Instagram post would receive a Shark Dive Xtreme voucher. Luckily, the Aquarium is nothing if not filled with an almost ridiculous amount of photo opportunities.

The first stop in our food-and-marine-life journey was the ‘Antarctica’ space. It’s funny, one obviously knows that an aquarium is probably going to be filled with animals and marine life, but it was still a delightful surprise to walk in and be greeted by penguins – even if you’re a member of the VenueNow team and completely expecting it. The photo snapping begun, even if fresh prawns, oysters and a seafood mousse made it difficult to choose what to do first.

Next, guests were led through passageways filled with glowing fish and seahorses to the ‘Coral Atoll’ space, a large function space ideal for gala dinners – with a giant tank, smack in the centre of it. Let’s call it the fish tank from Romeo + Juliet on steroids.

Looking out onto the Yarra and Southbank, the Coral Atoll is a popular venue for larger-scale events. And though the view was a good one, the huge crocodile and scores of fish were by far the most snapped attractions. It was at this point that the marine biologist on hand proved to be an amazing addition to festivities – who knew that fish facts would be such cackle-inducing conversation starters?

The next stop on our journey was dinner, albeit down a path surrounded by stingrays, sharks, and waving divers. If ever there was a time to stop and take endless selfies, it was that one.

There’s something to be said for any private dining space that makes a group largely consisting of event professionals (VenueNow included!) gasp audibly when they walk in. Hats off to the team at the Aquarium, because their Fish Bowl dinner set up achieved just that. Surrounded by sharks, rays and countless fish, we dined on Mt Leura lamb with pumpkin purée, kale and ricotta arancini, jus plus a winter slaw.

We say again, it kind of made the VenueNow cohort forget we were attending an event hosted by our own team!

And lastly – after saying hello to a five-metre long crocodile – we ended up on the Upper Deck for a cheese station, a Tokay bar and roving desserts, to watch the Crown fire display. Not sure if this is a slight to the fish, but the chocolate and salted caramel profiteroles could be a highlight of the night.

Many thanks and excellent vibes to the wonderful team at SEA LIFE Melbourne Aquarium for hosting us – we can’t speak highly enough about the team there!

If you’d like to chat to the team about your next event (or marine life), head to their VenueNow listing and make an enquiry.