Jenna & Nick: A Summer Wedding at Avalon Castle

Jenna and Nick married at Avalon Castle, the ivy-covered bluestone castle in Cockatoo on the edge of the Dandenong Ranges, on a hot Saturday in February 2026. It was a relaxed day and a family one. Their children were part of everything, from the dressing table to the dance floor, and the flower girls and page boy all but ran the show.

We were there from one in the afternoon until nine at night, and the whole day happened in one place: getting ready in the castle's rooms, a ceremony under the timber pergola in the garden, photographs on the lawns, and dinner and dancing in the hall upstairs. The sun was strong, the gums threw long shade across the grass, and the guests spent the afternoon under small white parasols.

Jenna having her hair done in front of a lit mirror in the getting ready room

Getting ready in the castle

When we arrived, Jenna's lace gown was hanging on a white wall and the afternoon was moving at its own pace. Jenna sat in front of a mirror ringed with bulbs while her hair was pinned up, still in her white robe and laughing. Out on a timber bench against the stone wall, two of the bridesmaids, in red satin pyjamas, clinked their glasses. A little girl in pink climbed up to the dressing table to watch, and later Jenna and her girls piled onto the four-poster bed in her room, under a pair of heart decorations, for a few minutes off their feet.

Black and white photo of Jenna’s lace wedding gown hanging on a white wall

Two bridesmaids in red satin pyjamas clinking glasses on a timber bench against the stone wall

A little girl in a pink dress laughing with Jenna at the dressing table while her makeup is done

Jenna smiling in a white robe at the dressing table, a wall clock behind her

Black and white photo of Jenna and her bridesmaids lying on a four-poster bed with heart decorations above

Close up of hands doing up the buttons on the back of Jenna’s lace gown

Into the gown

The flower girls had their turn at the mirror too. Jenna did one little girl's lipstick herself, and the girls in their white dresses held their round white bouquets. Then the buttons down the back of Jenna's lace gown were done up one by one. She stood for a moment by the window in the quiet of the room, and then checked her hair in the mirror one last time beside a bridesmaid, the two of them reflected in the ring of bulbs.

Jenna putting lipstick on a flower girl at the lit mirror

A flower girl in a white dress smiling and holding a round white bouquet

Black and white photo of Jenna in her gown standing by the window of the guest room

Black and white photo of Jenna and a bridesmaid from behind, reflected in a mirror ringed with bulbs

A man kneeling to help a page boy in a cream suit get dressed in the groom’s room

Nick and the groomsmen

Nick and his groomsmen got ready in their own room, all in cream linen suits with white rose buttonholes. The page boy wore a smaller version of the same suit, and one of the men knelt to help him get dressed. Shirts were buttoned, a buttonhole was pinned on, and one of the groomsmen added a cap and sunglasses to the look. Out in the garden, against the dark stone walls and the greenery, the groomsmen and the page boy could not keep straight faces for long.

Two of the men buttoning their white shirts in the groom’s room

A white rose buttonhole being pinned on a cream jacket in the groom’s room

A groomsman in a cream suit, cap and sunglasses holding a drink by the door

Nick, his groomsmen and a page boy in cream suits laughing in the garden

Black and white photo of Nick, his groomsmen and a page boy in front of the stone wall

Under the parasols

The ceremony was outdoors, in the garden below the castle. White chairs stood on tiers of timber decking set into the lawn, with market umbrellas over the rows and tall gums all around, and a flower cart near the castle wall offered cold drinks, parasols, fans and bug spray. The guests needed all of it. They took their seats under white parasols and laughed while they waited. Under the timber pergola, Nick stood with his groomsmen, the page boy and the bridesmaids, and looked up towards the castle for Jenna. From the air, the whole garden looked like a small clearing in the forest.

Guests laughing under white parasols on the ceremony deck, the castle behind them

Nick, his groomsmen, a page boy and the bridesmaids waiting under the timber pergola

Nick in his cream suit looking up as he waits for Jenna under the pergola

The garden ceremony from above, guests on the timber deck under market umbrellas among tall gums

Jenna stepping out through the arched red door of the castle

Out through the castle door

Jenna came out through the arched red door of the castle, her long train spread behind her, and down the stone steps into the sunshine. She walked the curving garden path towards the deck arm in arm with an older man in a grey suit, past the rows of guests and their parasols, to where Nick was waiting under the pergola.

Jenna’s long train spread out on the paving as she walks outside the castle

Jenna walking down the stone steps from the castle door with her train behind her

Jenna walking along the garden path to the ceremony arm in arm with an older man in a grey suit, the guests watching

Close up of a ring going onto a finger during the ceremony

The ceremony under the pergola

Jenna and Nick stood hand in hand under the pergola, the bridesmaids and flower girls on one side and the groomsmen and page boy on the other, with the light coming down through the timber beams. During the vows one of the groomsmen had his hand to his face. The rings went on, and then Jenna put her hand to Nick's face and pulled him in for the kiss while the whole bridal party clapped.

Jenna and Nick holding hands under the timber pergola with their bridesmaids, flower girls and groomsmen

Jenna and Nick facing each other during the vows, a groomsman with his hand to his face beside them

Signed and cheering

They signed at a little glass table in the garden, Jenna watching Nick put his name down. As soon as it was done, the two of them and the whole bridal party threw their arms in the air under the pergola. Then everyone moved up to the castle steps, under the ivy and the arched windows, and did it again for us with the bouquets in the air.

Nick signing the marriage certificate at a glass garden table, Jenna beside him

Jenna, Nick and the bridal party raising their arms under the pergola after the ceremony

Jenna, Nick, the bridal party and the children on the castle steps in front of the ivy

The bridal party throwing their arms and bouquets in the air on the castle steps

Jenna hugging a little girl in a white dress on the lawn after the ceremony

Family on the lawn

After the ceremony, the lawn filled up. Jenna hugged one of the flower girls, the guests gathered on the castle lawn for one group photograph from the drone, and then came the family photographs on the driveway in front of the castle and the tower. The bridal party lined up against the ivy with the children in front, and friends came over for photographs of their own. The flower girls found their way back to the flower cart.

Every guest gathered on the castle lawn for one group photo, taken from above

Jenna and Nick with a large group of family on the driveway in front of the castle

Jenna and Nick with the bridal party and the children in front of the ivy-covered castle

Jenna and Nick with a guest in a green dress in front of the castle and its tower

Flower girls by the flower cart and its painted sign offering cold drinks, parasols, fans and bug spray

A flower girl twirling a white parasol on the lawn

Parasols and the castle driveway

The children made the late afternoon theirs. Three of them stood in a row with their white parasols in front of a dark green hedge, then broke ranks to spin them on the lawn. While the guests had a drink in the shade, Nick and one of the flower girls walked back along the castle driveway together, the trees closing in overhead.

Three children holding white parasols in front of a dark green hedge

Nick and a flower girl walking along the castle driveway

Jenna and Nick walking into the reception hall, laughing, guests at the long tables either side

Into the hall

The reception was upstairs in the castle's hall, set with long timber tables, white chair sashes, chandeliers and a bridal table in front of a curtain of fairy lights. The bridal party walked in to the guests cheering from the tables, and Jenna and Nick followed, laughing all the way down the middle. Over dinner Jenna sat down with some of the older guests, a table of younger guests posed for us, and the flower girls were already practising their moves on the timber floor.

Guests at the long tables watching the bridal party walk into the reception hall

Jenna sitting with older guests at a long timber table during dinner

A table of young guests smiling at the camera during the reception

A flower girl pulling a face on the timber dance floor

Black and white photo of the white cake being cut at the reception

Speeches and the cake

The speeches were made in front of the bridal table, under the fairy lights and the neon sign. There was plenty of laughter, the bridesmaids included, and the whole bridal table raised its glasses. Nick took the microphone with Jenna smiling beside him. Then the white cake was cut.

A guest giving a speech in front of the bridal table, the bridesmaids laughing

Black and white photo of a speech in front of the curtain of fairy lights at the bridal table

Black and white photo of the bridal table raising their glasses during the speeches

Nick speaking into the microphone at the bridal table, Jenna smiling beside him

Black and white photo of Jenna and Nick dancing close during their first dance

The first dance and the dance floor

Jenna and Nick had their first dance on the timber floor under the chandeliers, close together, with their guests in a ring around them. It did not stay a first dance for long. The floor filled with every generation of the family, from the flower girls to the oldest guests, and from above it was a crowd of arms in the air between the long tables. Jenna danced with a child in her arms, and Nick danced with their guests until the end of our evening there.