About
The story behind
Elegant Occasions.
Meet Jelka Jurinovic and the Hallam studio that brings wedding planning, event styling, flowers, cakes and hire together for Melbourne families.
The founder
Jelka has always noticed what makes people feel looked after.
Long before the showroom, Jelka Jurinovic understood celebrations through family. In the Croatian village where she grew up, gatherings were built from food, flowers, music and the care of making guests feel welcome.
That way of seeing people followed her into nursing, family life and eventually events. She learnt to listen first, stay steady under pressure and pay attention to the small details that change how a room feels.
Elegant Occasions grew from that mix of service, stamina and beauty. Today the Hallam studio brings planning, styling, flowers, cakes, balloons, decor hire and complete room transformations into one guided experience.
The beginning
One family function changed everything.
In the 1980s, Jelka was asked to organise a family celebration. She wanted it to feel beautiful and coordinated, so she travelled across Victoria for days trying to find decor that belonged together.
By the time everything was sourced, she was exhausted. The search had taken the joy out of the lead-up, and she knew other families would feel the same pressure when they were trying to plan something important.
Elegant Occasions grew from that experience. The idea was simple: give families one place where they could find guidance, hire pieces, styling, flowers, cakes and practical help from people who understood the whole event.
Every celebration is welcomed with care, patience and the belief that beautiful moments should feel effortless.
Care and discipline
Service came before styling.
Jelka's nursing background still sits underneath the way Elegant Occasions works. Families are listened to carefully. Decisions are explained clearly. Details are prepared early so the day itself feels calm.
That matters in weddings and family celebrations. People are often excited, nervous and making more choices than they expected. Jelka's role is to steady the process and help the room come together without making the family carry every piece alone.
The studio is decorative, but it is not only about decoration. It is about service, timing and the quiet work that lets guests walk in and feel that everything has been thought through.
Trained hands
She kept learning until every part of the room made sense.
As the business grew, Jelka kept studying the parts of an event that families usually have to source separately: tourism and event management, wedding planning, floral design, cake decorating, balloon artistry, special effects, window dressing and display.
She became a qualified cake decorating teacher and national competition judge, and learnt from Australian and international event designers including Preston Bailey, Colin Cowie and David Tutera.
That is why Elegant Occasions can look at a cake, a table, a backdrop, a bouquet, a seating plan and a room layout as one setting. The pieces are not chosen in isolation. They are chosen for how the celebration will actually work.
The studio today
One studio for the whole celebration.
The Hallam studio was built to remove the scattered search Jelka once went through herself. Couples and families can bring the occasion, guest count, venue and ideas, then work through the choices with one experienced team.
Today, Elegant Occasions brings together event planning, styling, flowers, cakes, balloons, stationery, decor hire and room setup. Some families come for one feature. Others ask for the whole celebration to be guided from the first idea to the final placement.
Either way, the work starts in the same place: with care for the people gathering, and respect for how much the day means to them.
From one family function to thousands of Melbourne celebrations, the work is still personal.