Montrose House Wedding

Everything about this Montrose House wedding was fun... The bride's super cute shoes, the hilarious band of groomsmen, the copious amounts of confetti, incredible lawn games, jaw dropping musical items... just everything!

It's no secret that I always love photographing weddings in the southern highlands. If you're looking for a list of Southern Highlands Wedding venues I've collated my favourites here.

Montrose House is far and away my favourite place to be holding a camera in my hand. This venue has it all. Under new ownership now I'm sure it's about to get even better. Formerly known as Montrose Berry farm, a working berry farm that made some of the best pies you could ever hope to fill your face with. And jams that were absolutely to die for. This venue has been hosting weddings for 30 years and it's such a beautiful estate to host your wedding at. I can't recommend it highly enough.

Jess and Jacob really know how to throw a party and the temperature gauge on the dance floor was definitely a testament to that. I haven't sweated so hard on a DF in quite some time.

I'm also pretty sure this wedding comes close to taking the record for most thoughtful pre-wedding letters and gifts handed out between the bride and groom and their families and bridal parties. It's always such a lovely way to set the mood for the day and always provides so many beautiful moments.

I think sometimes the getting ready proceedings just fly by so quickly and the couple have no time to stop and think and be present and get really excited about what's about to happen. Those little moments reading a note or unwrapping a gift from your fiancé are really special and give the time and space to get the emotional temperature just right before the ceremony.

I'll stop rambling now so we can get to the photos. Enjoy!

If you're wondering how to have a perfect sparkler exit like this. There's a few things to keep in mind.

Number 1: Pick a venue that's not in a bushfire zone if you're doing it in summer. Some venues, particularly country venues can be a tricky spot to play with fire in summer and you should absolutely respect any and all fire bans that are in place.

Number 2: Buy the long sparklers! The 30cm sparklers you'll commonly see burn out so fast by the time you get to the end of your arch everyone at the other end of the tunnel will have lost their sparkle. Which is not at all what you want.

Number 3: Sparklers don't give off a huge amount of light. If you can be in an area that's got some ambient light to help out as well. That'll help a ton! Montrose House usually has a beautiful long string of festoon lights along this pathway out of the barn. Which makes it so much easier to photograph these moments in the dark.

Number 4: The speed of your exit is really important. Don't run too fast because even the best camera's struggle a little bit in dark situations. Focussing on a moving target in the dark is a lot easier if it's moving slowly. So don't run out like crazy. Enjoy the moment. Take your time. Also.. Stop for a moment for a kiss or something on the way. That gives me at least one moment when you're not charging at me to nail a shot like this without having to stress out too hard.

Finally. Make sure you're huddle of friends and family sending you out into the night aren't standing too close together. If you can't both comfortably fit between the people you're just going to get a photo of whoever is front. Which is definitely not what you're after! The width of the path here at Montrose House is a good guide size for how wide your tunnel should be.