Swans, angels and Van Der Kooij: Inside a joyful Melbourne wedding

“As soon as I saw the famous Van Der Kooij sleeves, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted.”

Here at Fashion Journal, we make no secret of our love of weddings. We’re suckers for a bit of romance and have a soft spot for weddings that do things differently, whether it’s a Las Vegas elopement, a tropical getaway or a Town Hall celebration.

Matilda Elgood met her now-husband, Alec, around five years ago, through a friend of a friend. Alec was working at the cinema when Matilda went to see a movie. There was immediate attraction, so naturally, she tracked down his social media to “get the ball rolling”, and the couple eventually began dating. Several years later, while planning a trip to the US in 2022, they made the mutual decision to get married. “Our first stop was LA, so we got some portraits done at the iconic Tom’s One Hour Photo,” Matilda remembers.

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For some brides, choosing a dress can be the most intimidating part of planning a wedding. But for Matilda, it was the first thing she decided on. “Before we had a date or a venue, I’d already had my first appointment,” she tells me. “As soon as I saw the famous Van Der Kooij sleeves, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted.”

With a knack for crafts and sourcing secondhand, Matilda also incorporated some DIY elements into the big day. “I [made] our invitations, our wishing well, some place card holders in the shape of olives for the lunch, the welcome sign, our ring box and lastly, I hand embroidered ‘Darling Alec’ and ‘Darling Matilda’ on our pyjama shorts for us to sleep in the night before,” she says.

When it came to planning the wedding itself, the couple opted for an intimate civil ceremony at the Old Treasury Building in Melbourne City with two witnesses, followed by a lunch and reception at Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca in Fitzroy. “For our lunch, we had 30 of our immediate family and closest friends and then for the reception, we had just under 80 people. It was nice to have a range of different levels of intimacy throughout the day.”

Fashion Journal: Hey Matilda! How did you meet Alec and how did the proposal happen?

Matilda: We met the old-fashioned way. Alec worked at the Sun Theatre in Yarraville and a mutual friend of ours (who used to work there) took me to a movie and Alec was working that night. After the meeting, I tracked him down on socials to get the ball rolling.

We didn’t really do a proposal; we were planning a trip to the US in 2022 and in the planning of that, we pretty much decided we were engaged. Our first stop was LA, so we got some portraits done at the iconic Tom’s One Hour Photo to show when we got home to share the news.

What venue did you choose for your wedding and why? 

For the ceremony, we decided to do an intimate civil ceremony at the Old Treasury Building with only our two witnesses. We’re not big on PDA and we didn’t want a lot of attention on us during such an intimate moment, so we decided to do it just for us. Most people saw us kiss for the first time on our wedding day.

For the lunch and reception, we loved the vibe of Rocco’s Bologna Discoteca in Fitzroy. We knew we wanted a restaurant reception and once we toured Rocco’s and saw all of the little pockets people could hang out in, we knew it was the right fit.

How many guests did you have at your lunch and reception?

For our lunch, we had 30 of our immediate family and closest friends and then for the reception, we had just under 80 people. It was nice to have a range of different levels of intimacy throughout the day. Although 80 isn’t a micro wedding, it can be small on the grand scale of weddings and we wouldn’t have it any other way. We really knew everyone who came and that made it all the more special.

Where was your outfit from and what was the process of sourcing it like?

My lunch outfit was a polkadot top and bottom from Sezane, and it was probably the trickiest one to decide on. I had a few directions but I was really happy to land on something that fit the vibe of the venue and something I would wear (and have worn!) again. It’s a popular two-piece, so I had to buy it in a size bigger than my regular size and took it to a tailor to get the right fit.

My wedding dress was actually a top and skirt by Van Der Kooij, and I changed into a short skirt later on in the night. I tried to be really instinctual with a lot of my decisions. Having too many options can make things more confusing and I didn’t want to be paralysed over making the ‘right’ decision. Getting a dress with Van Der Kooij was one of the first things I decided on. Before we had a date or a venue I’d already had my first appointment with them.

I knew I wanted something that was of the style of a city wedding and didn’t want a traditional wedding dress. As soon as I saw the famous Van Der Kooij sleeves, I knew that’s exactly what I wanted.

What kind of beauty and hair look did you go for on the day?

I don’t do full on make-up often and I can be a bit particular when it comes to my hair (I’m a naturally curly hair girl), so I was a bit nervous about the process. But Sara from Tonic Agency did such a great job.

I love the look of face framing pieces on other people, but I’m a serial tuck-behind-my-ears without even noticing gal so I knew my best bet was to do that intentionally with a half-up, half-down look. I also wear loose waves in my day-to-day life, so doing something similar made me feel like myself. Similar to my makeup, I wanted to feel like me so I made sure my inspiration photos were people who looked like me with similar tones.

What about Alec’s outfit?

Alec actually wore a black suit he already owned but we jazzed it up with some vintage accessories. He loves country music and the whole country aesthetic, so I found him horse cufflinks on Etsy to bring that in. Cherubs were a bit of a repeated motif throughout the wedding so I also found him a vintage cherub brooch.

We loved Bode’s applique suits and looked for a similar style, but nothing measured up as well so we compromised with a horse embroidered jacket from Found for his lunch outfit instead.

What did you do to celebrate after the ceremony?

Right after our ceremony we had all of our close friends join us on the steps of the Old Treasury Building for photos before we headed off for more portraits. After that we had about 45 minutes just the two of us in our room at the Windsor Hotel before we had to leave for the reception, which was very much needed to recharge after a really long day already. At the reception we kept things pretty casual, with only a few formal elements. We did a speech, a cake cutting and a first dance. The rest of the night we just ate and had fun with our favourite people.

What kind of food did you have on the day? And how did you choose the cake?

Choosing the food was a challenge because Rocco’s has so many great options. We wanted to create a good balance for those attending the lunch and the reception. For lunch we had a four-course meal with the headlines being zucchini pasta forno, crispy porchetta and a mixed berry and mint sgroppino.

For the reception we had a mix of canapes (compressed melon with prosciutto, a broccolini and romesco tartlet, fried focaccia, zucchini bites, crispy chicken ribs with salsa verde and chocolate budino tartlets). We also had an amazing grazing and cheese table. And finished the night off with Rocco’s famous subs.

Every celebration should include a Mali Bakes cake in my opinion. She does the best flavours and the most beautiful icing! Sadly for our guests we didn’t actually serve it at the reception, instead we took it with us on our mini-moon to Daylesford and ate it every day for almost a week.

And what did you do for entertainment?

In terms of entertainment, we just had our amazing DJ Emma from Little Wolf Entertainment. We briefed her that we were indie kids of the 2010’s and she delivered, notably with a full dance floor sing along to Florence and the Machine to close out the night.

Did you have any craft or DIY elements to the wedding?

I love to make things, so I had to make an effort to take it easy and enjoy the process. I DIY’d our invitations, our wishing well, some place card holders in the shape of olives for the lunch, the welcome sign, our ring box and lastly, I hand embroidered ‘Darling Alec’ and ‘Darling Matilda’ on our pyjama shorts for us to sleep in the night before.

We love to shop vintage or secondhand, some of our favourite days are spent scouring through our local Vinnies or doing the trek down to Geelong to spend hours in the vintage market, so I had to include some secondhand finds into our day. I sourced a lot of the vases and decor from Facebook Marketplace and found a lot of vintage swan vases which are now my pride and joy, and a few cute angel additions. Swans and angels were repeated motifs throughout our wedding from the paper invitations and signage to parts of our outfits.

How did you capture the event?

We had Miranda Stokkel join us for the entire day and she was the most incredible photographer. We love film so she shot a mix of digital and film for us. She knows exactly how to get the best out of everyone and has an incredible eye for detail. We’ll have to have a vow renewal every few years just so we can work with her again.

Did you have any other fun or non-traditional quirks about your wedding?

A non-traditional element (although I think it’s becoming much more common) we decided on was we spending the night before together and getting ready together in the morning. We also changed into our wedding outfits later on together. I understand why some people prefer to be separate for the grand reveal but it was much more relaxing being together just the two of us, especially when time starts to slip away and hair and makeup is running over time and stress levels rise a little.

Keep up with Matilda here.