A seafoam dress, weather witch and no music curfew: Inside Georgia and Ollie’s Rubicon Valley wedding

as told to daisy henry

“I was much more comfortable amongst the reams of colourful silks.”

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.

Like many of the best love stories, Georgia and Ollie Aldous started as friends. The pair first met 12 years ago at Melbourne University, when they lived in adjoining rooms on campus. Towards the end of their first year, they soon moved out and into a sharehouse in Brunswick with four other friends. “It didn’t take long for us to do the thing that all our friends warned us against: dating a housemate,” Georgia reflects. Ten years later, Ollie surprised Georgia by proposing while they were hiking in Germany.

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Though the couple entertained the idea of eloping, they soon realised what they really wanted was a party. “We wanted our wedding to feel like a big country dance, with no music curfew and a space for our guests to sleep,” Georgia says. This led them to Camp Jungai, a school camp in Rubicon Valley, around two hours from Melbourne.

“It was a blank canvas, which sounded perfect at the time but we really didn’t know what we were getting into,” she reflects. In the months leading up to the wedding, their friends and family rallied, collecting wine glasses from op shops, painting signs, hole-punching eucalyptus leaves and even hiring a witch to fend off the rain.

On the day, Georgia wore a two-piece silk set from Melbourne label Van Der Kooij with a detachable train made by her mum, while Ollie wore a brown double-breasted suit from P. Johnson. After their ceremony, they enjoyed a Greek feast before surprising their guests with a B2B set using their new DJ alias, Dos Aldous. “There’s nothing like trapping 160 people in a room to support your debut.”

Fashion Journal: Hi Georgia and Ollie! Congratulations on your beautiful wedding. How did the two of you meet?

Georgia: We met on the first day of uni in 2014. We were living on campus at Melbourne University and by chance we were allocated rooms next to each other. We shared a few drunken smooches throughout the year but mostly remained good mates. At the end of our first year, along with four other friends, we scored a lease on the six-bedroom sharehouse of our dreams – the infamous Pink Palace, a barbie pink terrace house in the heart of Brunswick. We concealed our worries about moving in with our ‘unrequited’ crush and went for it.

We drew names out of a hat to allocate bedrooms and once again were sharing a wall and happened to have the only two rooms on the second floor. It didn’t take long for us to do the thing that all our friends warned us against: dating a housemate. We’re pretty glad we didn’t listen to them!

We’d been together for about 10 years but marriage wasn’t really on our minds. We were too busy having fun, building a glorious community of friends and generally fumbling through our twenties. In late 2024, we were hiking in Germany when Ollie got down on one knee. It was so unexpected that I thought he was tying up his laces, so I just kept walking. By the time I realised what was happening, I had to run back (while screaming yes).

How did you approach wedding planning?

When we got engaged, neither of us had any idea what we wanted. We kept flipping between ideas: Should we elope? Do we do courthouse and a restaurant? In the end we realised we were kidding ourselves – we wanted a big old party to celebrate 10 years of our big old love (and so did our families!), so the search for a venue began.

We wanted our wedding to feel like a big country dance, with no music curfew and a space for our guests to sleep. We soon ended up looking at school camps, and when we walked into Camp Jungai, we instantly knew it was the place. We felt such a connection to its towering eucalyptus and lively birdsong.

The camp was built in the ’70s, had a big main hall, commercial kitchen and bunk beds for 150 people – which was everything we needed. We also thought it was funny that you had to cross the Rubicon River when entering the site. Like Julius Ceaser, we were crossing the point of no return.

It was a blank canvas, which sounded perfect at the time but we really didn’t know what we were getting into. Luckily, we have an amazing community of friends and family around us who really rallied. In the months leading up to the wedding, people made 50m of fringing, cut down giant bamboo to make light poles, hole-punched buckets of eucalyptus leaf confetti, collected 250 wineglasses from op shops, hired a witch to fend off the forecast heavy rain (which was successful!) and grew masses of flowers.

We had a small army of helpers take Friday off work to come and help set it up in 12 hours of beautiful madness. We painted signage, made mountains of focaccia, strung up endless lights, batched up cocktails, set up tents and my aunty Reba worked tirelessly on weaving together the florals. It truly was a community effort and we’re still overwhelmed by the formidable generosity and kindness of our people.

Tell me about the day itself. How did the ceremony unfold?

We were dead set on having the ceremony outside. We decided on a beautiful spot down by the lake among the rustle of the phragmites reeds. We had a huge bridal party who kicked the ceremony off by coming down the aisle in a big group to ‘Love Takes Miles ‘by Cameron Winter, and we each followed with our parents while ‘No Machine’ by Adrienne Lenker played.

Camp Jungai is on beautiful Taungurung Country and it was important to us to honour this and the Traditional Owners, so the ceremony began with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony from Uncle Peter. We also wanted to make lots of space for our loved ones to participate, so we had a friend as our celebrant, another telling our love story and another reading a poem.

Afterwards, all 160 guests walked back up to the main buildings, where two more of our friends kicked off the festivities as MC’s. There was a surprise raffle for all the guests; prizes included a piece of wall from our first sharehouse, some wedding merch and first prize was the naming rights to our second, as of yet unborn, child. God help poor ‘Cleaver’ Aldous.

After dinner, our guests helped us push back all the tables and we did our cake cutting, a first dance and speeches. With the help of DJ extraordinaire, Barry Sunset, we made the most of the ‘no curfew’.

Your wedding dress was so beautiful! Where was it from and how did you decide on it?

Thank you! It was a set from the incredible Van Der Kooij, with a special addition made by my lovely Mum. I found wedding dress shopping completely overwhelming – it’s not what was promised in the rom-coms. I tried on lots of beautiful white dresses but I felt like I was playing dress-up. Meeting Tash, the designer behind Van Der Kooij, at her studio was a game changer. I was much more comfortable amongst the reams of colourful silks than the polished wedding stores I’d been to.

Tash is a genius who takes so much care using quality silk and meticulous construction. She is truly a master of her craft. A lot of her pieces can be mixed and matched, so I ended up selecting a top, skirt and long silk scarf in a beautiful seafoam blue.

In a chaotic manner not unfamiliar to me, 10 days before the wedding, I confided to mum that I was regretting not having a train on my dress. I think a lot of parents would tell their daughters to get over it, but instead my mum helped me track down the last few meters of fabric in Melbourne and sewed me a detachable train to wear during the ceremony.

What was your beauty look like on the day?

I just wanted to keep the makeup simple and natural, but I still needed professional help and makeup artist Ellie Zuker absolutely nailed it. Thankfully, the curly Gods gifted me with a great wash day the morning of the wedding, so I was able to wear my natural curls, expertly tamed and pinned up by Kim Traveras.

What about Ollie’s outfit?

Ollie: The world of suits was pretty new to me, so I turned to our most stylish friend, who wisely suggested P.Johnson. The brown double-breasted number was paired with an Italian silk shirt with a ’70s collar, belissimo! In a very touching tribute to my grandpa Normie, who died a week before the wedding, my cousin made a brooch using some fabric from his beloved kilt. Vale Normie.

What did you do for food?

Cooking and sharing food with our loved ones is a big part of our life. We wanted to create the feeling of a giant sharehouse dinner. There was no seating chart or interruptions with speeches. The Grecian Kitchen prepared the most incredible Greek feast, including fresh salads and goodies cooked on-site over coals. Everyone grabbed a plate and took a seat at the long tables. It was such a thrill to see everyone from different parts of our lives mingling over a meal.

How did you capture the wedding?

This is our favourite question because we get to wax lyrical about our gorgeous photographer Jess Grilli from Sentient Studio, who we simply cannot recommend enough. We knew we wanted a mix of film and digital photography but more than that, we really wanted someone we felt comfortable with. Jess was a beautiful presence and made us feel so comfortable. She got bitten by a fire ant in the middle of the ceremony and didn’t miss a beat – what a baddie.

We didn’t have a videographer, and instead had a handycam that floated around the guests all day. We just wanted a little memento to feel like our family home videos and it worked a treat.

Did you have any other fun or unique quirks about your wedding?

At the end of the ceremony, we surprised our guests with the announcement that Ollie decided to take my last name – take note, boys! In the months leading up to the wedding, we’d also learned how to DJ and did a surprise B2B set using our new DJ alias, Dos Aldous. There’s nothing like trapping 160 people in a room to support your debut.

And during the dinner, we walked around with some Limoncello we made with our elderly Italian neighbours. It was a great way to say a quick hello to all our guests.

Looking back, what was the best part of your day?

Marrying each other!