AFL star Christian Petracca marries Bella Beischer at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens - after his shock footy injuries

Christian Petracca has tied the knot with his girlfriend Bella Beischer in a romantic ceremony in Melbourne.

The AFL star, 28, and the lawyer exchanged vows in front of their nearest and dearest in a lavish ceremony at the Royal Botanic Gardens on Friday afternoon.

Photographs shared to Instagram from the big day showed the couple making a luxury exit from the ceremony in a vintage cream Mercedes.

The newlyweds couldn't keep the smiles off their faces as they beamed from ear-to-ear while being farewelled by their family and friends.

Bella looked every inch the blushing bride in a gorgeous strapless white dress, while she clutched a bouquet of flowers in one hand.

Christian cut a suave figure in a traditional black tuxedo as he sat in the driver's seat and headed off with Bella to start their married life together.

The couple then headed off to Nick Russian's popular venue Bar Bambi for further celebrations into the night.

A whole host of Christian's teammates from Melbourne Football Club were in attendance including captain Max Gawn, Jack Viney, Clayton Oliver and Jake Lever.

Also among the guest list were Christian Salem and Charlie Spargo as well as former players Angus Brayshaw, Alex Neal-Bullen and James Harmes. 

Christian and Bella got engaged in October 2022 when the footy star popped the question during a high-end trip to Lake Como in Italy.

The couple had been dating for two years before Christian proposed after they began dating in January 2020, with their romance blossoming during the Covid pandemic. 

Bella is a highly-credentialed lawyer, who Christian describes as an 'amazing support' and someone with 'great values who is ambitious and competitive'.

And he has no doubt been leaning on her for support this year as he has had a very difficult few months after he suffered a shock footballing injury.

Christian was left with four broken ribs, a punctured lung and lacerated spleen when Collingwood's Darcy Moore accidentally kneed him on June 10.

The sickening incident, that was likened to a car crash, ended his season and he is still dealing with the trauma from the accident.

'The surgery in general was probably a really traumatic experience,' he told The Howie Games podcast in August.

'Being awake for it, internal bleeding, wasn't able to be put to sleep under anaesthetic — I can think of every single thing that happened through that time.

'Couldn't feel (being cut) but I remember lashing out to the surgeon and got quite claustrophobic.'

He also revealed that he was asked to give his fiancee Bella's number to the surgeon because they feared he wouldn't make it through the procedure.

'I didn't know at the time, I was drugged up, but Bella came to the ICU the next day and basically said that at three in the morning we got the number off the surgeon because he called to say you (Petracca) might not make it basically,' he said.

'He's in critical condition, because there was internal bleeding and everything, so he's in serious and critical condition.'

'For me, it was more that that hit home rather than the actual injury itself.'

Christian revealed he was seeing a trauma physiatrist to deal with his mental health issues after the accident.  

'(I'm talking through) a lot of stuff. The self-doubt, the trauma, not the incident, just the trauma and stress of everything,' he shared.

'I've been in and out of hospital three or four times through emergency.'

In September, Christian told how he was trying to get himself back 'physically and mentally to the person I was' with an overseas trip to Austria for a training camp.

He skipped the Demons' best and fairest to join athletes at a Red Bull training camp, but said he expected to join teammates on the first day of pre-season later this year.

Melbourne said Christian had been cleared by his surgeon to increase his heart rate from a previous limit, which had meant slow progress in his comeback.

'It'll be awesome probably from a mental point of view, getting back to that confidence in myself and my body, ready to attack day one of pre-season,' he said.

'For me it's just been the most amazing experience, being able to use their facilities and have access to some of the best high performance people in the world.

'I want to be able to compete and get back out on the (MCG) in round 1 for the fans, and be really excited to run back out there.'

Melbourne fitness boss Selwyn Griffith said the Demons had been able to have input into his training regimen while in the Red Bull camp.

Christian, who was widely reported to have pushed for a trade from Melbourne after dissatisfaction with the club's direction, said he had participated in 'really robust discussions' with the club's leadership.

'I think for me, the conversations I've had over the past two or three months with the club have been really healthy,' he said.

'We've had really robust discussions. I think that's awesome.

'Like any workplace or any footy club, you have these conversations throughout the year and you just want to make the environment a really good one that we love coming to work.'

The star midfielder had publicly made clear he would remain with the Demons via a club statement.