Gabrielle and Greg at Roundhill Retreat

Roundhill Retreat

An April afternoon in Obi Obi, white flowers beside a dark timber cabin, and green hills stretching away behind it. Gabrielle and Greg’s elopement at Roundhill Retreat brought their ceremony and celebration into one place in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland.

Their story began at a festival in Johannesburg. Both South African creative directors and agency owners, they spent years as friends before working together brought them closer. A shared approach to work and life became the foundation for their relationship. Greg later proposed aboard their houseboat in Noosa, with a ring collected on a secret early-morning trip and a video of their time together.

For their wedding, they wanted a modern, elegant setting with white flowers and the hinterland around them. Roundhill Retreat brought those elements together: simple architecture, broad windows and rolling paddocks just beyond the door.

A cabin, a bouquet and the hills beyond

Before the elopement, Gabrielle wrote to us:

“Thank you for everything, we are beyond excited and you have been a dream to work with!”

Britt brought the team and plans together so the couple could arrive ready to enjoy the day. And there was one moment that said so much about how personal those plans had become. When Gabrielle saw the flowers by Mrs Gibbons, she cried. They were exactly what she had hoped for.

White arrangements stood on tall plinths outside the cabin, with flowers gathered at their feet. Her bouquet carried the same palette into the photographs. Against dark timber, pale gravel and green hills, the flowers had room to stand out.

Inside, Greg’s white jacket hung beside the fireplace and Gabrielle’s dress waited above the bath. Her Shona Joy gown had long sleeves and an open back tied with fine straps; Greg wore Norfords with a black bow tie. The cabin’s windows made the surrounding landscape part of these quiet preparations.

Vows in Obi Obi

Hayley Hart led their ceremony beside the cabin. Gabrielle and Greg held hands, shared vows and exchanged rings between the white floral arrangements. Then came a kiss, her bouquet lifted into the air, and the wide smiles of two people who had just married.

George Bowden’s photographs follow them back inside to the window seat, then out through the long grass. Greg carries Gabrielle through the paddock; they walk hand in hand with the cabin behind them, and pause together looking over the hills. There are close portraits with her bouquet, a softly blurred walking frame, and room in the wider photographs for the place itself.

The celebration stayed at Roundhill Retreat, with catering and beverages by Alan Dawes. Later photographs find them close together at the courtyard table, white flowers around them and festoon lights overhead. As the light fades, the cabin glows against the trees.

More of Gabrielle and Greg’s story, in their own words, accompanies George’s photographs.