The Long Game

They were never meant to like one another. “I had dated one of Jans’ best friends and he had dated one of mine,” Olivia Groome recalls with a laugh. “So we were destined to not like each other!” But fate, as it often does, intervened. Jans Fraser turned up at Olivia’s sixteenth birthday party, and somewhere between the laughter and the music, the pair realised they “fancied the hell out of each other — secretly.”

"He asked me to be his girlfriend in front of the canteen of my primary school,” Olivia remembers. “Because where else do you hang out on a Saturday night?!” Jans, still just seventeen, thought she was “intriguing” and had the most unforgettable eyes. Olivia thought him “so handsome, and such a gentleman.” And what began with adolescent bravado became a love story that would span eighteen years, a brief pause in their twenties, a proposal in Portugal, and eventually a wedding in the Hunter Valley that felt less like a production and more like an elegant, heartfelt dinner party.

“He asked me to be his girlfriend in front of the canteen of my primary school.”

The longevity of their relationship is not lost on either of them. “Having met so young, our relationship has been through many iterations,” Olivia reflects. “It’s come a long way from those early days where you’re simply young and in love. We’ve essentially grown up together, and that hasn’t always been easy.” There were “years we were in sync, and ones where we had to step up and work hard to communicate and understand one another.” But this, she says, is the essence of partnership: “It can be whatever you want it to be, and we love that.”

Even when Olivia lost her mum suddenly, soon after the pair had moved to London, their ability to pull together at such a difficult time is testament to the strength of their partnership. “That was our most challenging moment,” she tells me. “We were finally settling in when it happened and what followed was a very rough period of grief that tested our relationship to its core.” She pauses, “but we came out the other side stronger and more connected than ever.”

Now living in Sydney after several years in London, they share a black Labrador named George and a home they’ve lovingly renovated. Jans admits that some of his happiest memories are the simplest ones: “Working with our builders, doing jobs together on the weekends, and now enjoying the space Liv has created. She’s made it feel like a holiday in our own home.”

If their early courtship was tinged with teenage boldness, their engagement, years later, carried a rustic kind of magic. While living overseas, Jans planned a summer trip to Portugal, booking a stay on a rural farm in the south. “Think long summer days, local food and donkeys outside of your window,” Olivia says, smiling.

Jans arranged horse riding on the beach — “hilarious to watch Jans trot along,” Olivia teases — and later suggested they feed the donkeys. “I spotted this table set under a Carob tree and said, ‘Isn’t that lovely, someone has organised that for their partner.’ And he just said, ‘It’s for you, Livvy.’ He dropped to one knee — I still had carrots in my hand!”

The ring was as considered as the moment itself: designed in East London, an antique old mine cushion diamond set with baguettes on a gold band. “It was so different to anything I’d ever seen,” Olivia says. “I truly cherish it.”

By the time they began planning their wedding, they knew what they wanted. “It had to feel like a big dinner party with all our favourite people,” Olivia explains. Timed with their return to Sydney, it would be as much a welcome home and reunion party as it would be a celebration of matrimony.

The vision was timeless and English in sensibility, filtered through Olivia’s eye as an interior designer and antique dealer. “I did approach it a little like a project,” she admits. “Mood boards, colours, fabrics. I wanted the day to reflect the timelessness of English interiors, but also feel personal.”

They found Redleaf Wollombi, an Italianate estate in the Hunter Valley, where gardens unfurl like rooms in a house. Jules from This Space Events guided them through the complexities of planning from abroad. “She was truly a godsend,” Olivia says. “Without her, it would have been quite a different experience.”

Their wedding day began unconventionally. At first light, Olivia and Jans were legally married in an intimate ceremony with only Olivia’s sister and closest friends present. “It was incredibly intimate and truly so special,” Olivia says. The larger celebration followed later, with their friend officiating the symbolic ceremony. “Having our best friend stand up there and tell our story — we laughed, we cried and to this day we’ve never seen it done at another wedding.”

Guests gathered in black tie. Jans wore a dinner suit by P. Johnson; Olivia, a gown by Bowie Rae — classic, structured, yet light enough to dance in, with a split at the leg and carrying a quiet sensuality. She accessorised with her late mother’s tennis bracelet. “It was probably the most sentimental piece,” she says softly. “It’s something my sister also wore on her wedding day, and I hope if I’m lucky enough to have a daughter, she may wear it on hers.” She wore her mother’s fragrance too — Diptyque 34. “It felt like she was with me.”

The gardens bloomed with hydrangeas, her mother’s favourite flower. “I wanted masses of hydrangea everywhere,” Olivia says. “It was just another way to have her there, woven into the details.”

The reception unfolded as they had dreamed: long tables, candlelight and the easy rhythm of conversation. The décor was layered with pieces borrowed from Olivia’s sister’s store, Shades of Pale, alongside their own furniture. “It felt like we were hosting a party in our own home,” Olivia says.

Dinner was prepared by Cook & Waiter, wines were poured generously, and speeches offered many emotional and memorable moments. Music came from a live band and DJ, who filled the night with what the couple lovingly calls their “parents’ music” — the classics. “Everyone knows them, everyone loves them, and it sets the tone for a great party,” Jans says. They walked down the aisle to Van Morrison’s Days Like This, and later the dance floor never emptied. “Our first dance was with everyone,” Olivia smiles. “Exactly as we wanted it.”

What remains most striking about their story is its continuity: a love that began in adolescence, was tested, paused, then deepened, and it is still unfolding. “Liv is the kindest, most loving soul I have ever known,” Jans says. “Sure, she’s gorgeous and makes me laugh like no-one else, but the size of her heart wins, every day.”

And Olivia, looking across at her husband, says simply: “He makes me feel like the centre of his world. That never gets old.”