Rippon Lea Estate

Overview & Vibe

Rippon Lea Estate is one of Melbourne's grandest wedding stages — a National Trust mansion in Elsternwick wrapped in fourteen acres of Victorian pleasure gardens, complete with ornamental lake, fernery, orchard and sweeping lawns. It's heritage romance at full scale, ten minutes from the bay.

Setting & Style

Couples choose from multiple ceremony locations across the gardens — lakeside lawns, the lush fernery or beneath century-old trees — before receptions in the estate's magnificent ballroom, on the pool terrace or across the lawns. The polychrome-brick mansion and its period drawing rooms give portraits a true nineteenth-century backdrop.

Ideal For

Couples wanting classic garden-estate grandeur — heritage architecture, established gardens and space for intimate vows through to celebrations of more than 200.

The Need-to-Knows

• Hosts intimate ceremonies through to events for more than 200 guests.
• Ceremonies are booked through National Trust Weddings & Functions; ballroom receptions are catered by Showtime Event Group until the end of 2026, then Peter Rowland Group from 2027.
• Spaces include the ballroom, pool terrace, historic lawn tennis court and multiple garden ceremony sites.
• 192 Hotham Street, Elsternwick — nine kilometres from the CBD, near Rippon Lea station.

Standout Feature

Fourteen acres of authentic Victorian pleasure gardens — lake, fernery and mansion in one estate, a backdrop no styled venue can replicate.