School camp transformation into a wedding venue | A Current Affair

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]From obstacle courses and tube slides to wedding vows, it's the rise and rise of school campsites transformed into picture-perfect wedding venues. For kids, it's a mountain of fun. For loved-up couples, it's affordable and memorable.

[00:00:18]Campfires, canoes, bush bashing, you're on school camp.

[00:00:23]Or are you?

[00:00:25]Every single time [music] it blows my brain that we just go from a school camp on a Friday to a wedding venue on the weekend.

[00:00:33]>> From an obstacle [music] course through the tube slides, a giant split-level maze, and weddings on the weekends.

[00:00:40]We've had everything from um nature weddings through to uh a full medieval celebration with sword fighting and um costumes.

[00:00:52]When students aren't scaring these parts, brides and grooms are tying the knot. And their guests sleeping over in the dorm rooms. That's a cool I can work with that.

[00:01:04]>> At the start I was like tell me more and then I saw the photos and I was like oh my gosh it's so cool.

[00:01:10]Jeremy and Amy are a part of Lincoln and Jess Bond's wedding party. What did you think when they said we're getting married at school camp?

[00:01:18]I thought is it a school camp I've been to cuz that would be weird. I like the idea of 3 days as opposed to a 6-hour event. They [music] helped transform this Victorian bush camp. So my dad has been making signs um and I'm almost finished. Saturday, the wedding was a go under the glimmer of a rainbow. And come Sunday, they all packed up so the school kids could move back in. Being able to hire the place for 3 days and sort of almost make it a bit festival-like was was fun. Um like incredible fun.

[00:01:52]>> [music] >> Kate Hope runs the camp, Sunny Stones. I imagine lots of couples want this.

[00:01:58][music] Oh, absolutely. And it just transforms, you know, at night, comes alive. So, for couples, it's bring everything in. It is DIY. [music] Yes. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. They transform however they want, whatever their style is.

[00:02:14]So, when they're not busy getting ready for the wedding day, [music] they can be out doing activities. Yes. Absolutely.

[00:02:19]They could be canoeing, they could be doing hot building, they could be doing archery. And yeah, we [music] can basically tailor like a school camp program for them. And while school groups are still Kate's bread and butter, they're now hosting 20 weddings a year. They [music] walk in and they just go, "Oh my god, this place is amazing." And like, this cannot be a school camp.

[00:02:42]Emily Cordell [music] is manager at Woodhouse Adventure Park in the Adelaide Hills. They host 35 weddings a year in between scouts and schools. We love um seeing the wedding couples uh getting on the activities like our maze or the tube slide [music] uh for their first looks or for their bridal party photos.

[00:03:05]It's a trend helping [music] some camp providers fill a growing concerning gap.

[00:03:11]As of this year, our data showed us that 50% of children were not going on camp per year.

[00:03:18]That's a national figure across all states. CEO of Australian Camps Association, Peter >> [music] >> McDougall. There's a number of factors, things like cost of living, significant issue across the board.

[00:03:32]It's rising insurance costs. It's teachers' time in lieu. The rising amount of children suffering anxiety does make it difficult for them [music] um to stay away from home. The weddings are definitely supplementing the loss of income from the reduction of school children attending [music] camps.

[00:03:51]Uh so, that's it's helping them stay afloat. [music] I think people want to come here because they are looking for something unique.

[00:04:01]>> [music] >> For Lincoln and Jess, food trucks meant they could keep adding guests and the price per head didn't change. I think we were adding people to the guest list up till like, you know, a month beforehand.

[00:04:11]It's an odd couple, but it seems to be working. Couple of guys got on the got on the climbing wall, actually. I think the rock climbing wall got a bit of use.

[00:04:20]And I think the playground got a bit of use at some stage as well.

[00:04:23]>> [music]