Montrose House Wedding Photographer

Montrose House was built around 1861 and stayed with the Badgery family for roughly 150 years as their summer retreat, before it was renovated into a wedding venue. It sits between Bundanoon and Sutton Forest, a short run from Bowral, with 33 acres of English gardens around the homestead. Around two hours from Sydney, ninety minutes from Canberra, and far enough off the road that once you are through the gate the rest of it goes quiet.

The grounds are the reason I look forward to this venue, and they are never the same twice. Old established trees, seasonal blooms, manicured lawns, water features, a pine forest, an orchard and a hazelnut grove. Spring gives you blossom and new growth and a garden that reads soft in almost any light. Summer runs hot and bright through the middle of the day, so the shaded corners and the tree lines do the work until the evening opens up. Autumn turns the deciduous trees and drops the sun lower and warmer through them, which is the best light the property gets all year. Winter strips it back to structure, bare branches, frost on the lawn, and the pine forest sitting dark and still, which photographs better than most couples expect. There are several outdoor ceremony areas, which means the ceremony can sit where the garden is doing its best work on your particular date rather than where the diagram says.

Then it comes indoors. The barn takes the reception, with a reception hall and a garden bar alongside it, so drinks and dinner and dancing can spread out rather than sit in one room all night. The Montrose Cottage and the Retreat mean you and your people can stay on site, get ready without a drive, and keep both ends of the day slow. Because the property is yours exclusively, there is nobody else moving through the grounds and no handover to work around. It makes for a slower day, and slower days photograph better.