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The Love Story of Ellie and Ross

Ellie Gonsalves and Ross Scutts

She is one of the most recognised Australian beauties, best known for her L’Oreal and GUESS Jeans campaigns, her appearance in Yellowtail’s Super Bowl commercial and the Hollywood film, Fighting With My Family. While Ross, an entrepreneur, also takes on the role of consulting partner with Ellie, for their businesses, making them quite the power couple.

Their story reads like a film script, beginning as friends in their teens, to then falling deeply in love after sharing many of life’s challenges. Thirteen years on and this wonderful couple are ready to say I do.

Calleija is thrilled to be part of their love story and we could not resist sharing it with you too below. We are so grateful Ellie and Ross chose Calleija and allowed us to share the journey of their wedding ring creation as well.

How did you meet?


While we lived down the road from each other and went to the same school our entire lives, we only met when he visited my year ten business class for his presentation on entrepreneurship. I was fifteen and he was twenty. Ross had become very successful in business after high school and my teacher invited him to speak to our class after learning about his story in the newspaper.
As soon as he walked in all I could think about was how good-looking he was. When the seminar was over he asked if anyone wanted to speak with him about their plans after graduating or needed any advice, to come down and talk to him — so I went and talked to him.
I realised as I was walking up to him I had no idea what I wanted to do when I left school, so I panicked and said I wanted to own my own fashion business.  We sat and talked for a while and at the end, he gave me his card and said, “Let me know if you want me to put you in contact with a few people who have successfully done this.”
Two years later I saw him again while I was out with friends, and he remembered me! We got along so well, that a few months went by and I fell completely in love with him.

Ellie, how did you know Ross was the one?
I think love is a connection, trust, understanding, and accepting the other person for who they truly are while elevating them to be the best person they desire to be. Love is not about buying or taking, it’s about giving.

Ross and I were good friends, to begin with, but I fell in love with him so quickly because Ross really completed all of those relationship ideals for me.

Ross, how did you know Ellie was the one?
That’s a tough answer for me to put into words…. I think I would have to say that on our first date, I knew I wanted Ellie to be by my side for my life. We connected on so many levels and we respected each other.

Ellie, can you tell us about one of your most romantic memories?
It was absolutely no doubt in my mind the day we got engaged. I went to Australia Zoo to feed Graham the Croc to celebrate being on Big Brother VIP. I wanted to win the Big Brother prize of $100,000 for Wildlife Warriors (founded by Steve and Terri Irwin). It turned out Ross and the Irwins had other plans… Plans I later found out were in the making for a couple of years.

We were standing in the “crocoseum” as Terri, Robert and Chandler said, “Let’s bring out Graham!”  The crocodile was on the screen and it glitched and appeared to malfunction. I was standing there thinking, “Of course the one day I come here to feed a croc something goes wrong.” Then I heard our song, “Love Story” by Taylor Swift play over the speakers and I turned around to see Ross walking out of a cloud of smoke. He was in a completely different outfit to what I saw him in ten minutes before with a Calleija box in his hands. I started crying, and I think Ross was already crying as he was walking out. He got on one knee and asked, “Will you marry me?”  Of course, I said yes!

Nothing will top that moment.


Ross, can you tell us about the proposal and choosing Calleija?
From early on I had a lot of different thoughts on ways to propose and when, but I always felt like I would know the right time.  The proposal at Australia Zoo was planned about six years prior.  I spoke to the Irwins and they were super excited about the idea.

Unfortunately, over a period of about five years, Ellie and I both lost our Dads, which changed our situation and probably even the importance of a wedding at that point in time.  It wasn’t until we had moved back from California and settled on the Gold Coast, that we felt like we had a bit of a rhythm back. I started to make plans in early 2021.

 A few months after this, we found out Ellie was going to be on VIP Big Brother playing for the Australia Zoos Wildlife Warriors foundation, so I thought this would be a perfect set-up to have her visit the Zoo and celebrate her time on the show by feeding a crocodile. A proposal would be the last thing on her mind. 

I had managed to keep this a complete surprise for Ellie for a number of months and I couldn’t imagine being able to do that with anyone else like the Calleija family. It was such an amazing journey to work with people who generally care about the stories and journeys they are part of. 

From the moment I walked into Calleija by myself, with no appointment, to now with our last few meetings designing our wedding bands, it has honestly been such an amazing journey.  As much as it was important for us to feel comfortable and trust Calleija, it’s also nice to know that anyone who is introduced to Calleija will also feel a similar connection. Calleija honestly made one of the most important days of my life, something super special, but also so easy.  

Ellie, can you share what inspired your engagement ring design?
Ross and I have been together for thirteen years and we always knew we were going to get married, so we had a whole album of our ‘dream everything’ for a wedding and engagement ring design. I know thirteen years sounds like a long time and a lot of people don’t know this, but Ross had previously put down a deposit on a ring seven years ago right before my dad passed away while we were living in America. When my dad was no longer here, he decided it wasn’t the right moment as his dad also became terminally ill. It was a really hard time for us. We’ve had a lot of losses, and challenging times but knowing that now, I’m glad he waited to propose when he did. 

Ross had previously asked my dad for permission to propose, so when it came to the design, I knew I really wanted the initials R for Ross and D for my daddy so it was symbolic of the past, the present and our nod to him. I also knew I wanted a pear-shaped diamond.

What are you both excited about most for your future together?

Ellie: I am very excited about our wedding day. I have had thirteen years to plan, so it’s going to be a beautiful day that really celebrates us. I’m also excited to share even more extraordinary memories of travelling together, celebrating milestones with our businesses and doing things that just make us happy.

Ross: I’m just excited about the journey ahead.  Life can throw some interesting things at you sometimes, and I’m honestly just excited I get to do that with Ellie. I look forward to sharing that each and every day.

John Calleija with Ellie Gonsalves and Ross Scutts