Surrey Wedding Photographer at the Luxury Country House of Lord Beaverbrook
Private Birthday Celebration at Beaverbrook Luxury Country House Hotel
One of the things I love about my job is witnessing families I photograph go though different milestones in their life, including big birthdays. On this occasion, my clients invited me to Beaverbrook Country House near Leatherhead to capture their loved one’s 80th birthday celebration. It was an intimate family lunch followed by cake and family time at Beaverbrook’s stunning gardens.
Nestled in the gently rolling Surrey hills near Leatherhead, Beaverbrook feels at once grand and welcoming. A place where you sense the stories of the past quietly echoing through the corridors, mingling with the laughter and excitement of celebrations unfolding today. Beaverbrook is the quintessential English country house, a former home to William Maxwell Aitket, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, a press mogul and a friend of Winston Churchill. Formaly known as Cherkley Court, the house was build in the second half of the 19th centrury for Abraham Dixon, a metal exporter. The house was acquired by Lord Beaverbrook in 1910 who lived there for the next 50 years and enterntained many well known figures such as Winston Churchill, Bonar Law, H.G. Wells and many others. From the late nineties, for a couple of decades, the house went through restoration, changes in menagement and ultimately in 2017 opened as “Beaverbrook” - an exquisite country house hotel and a space that hosts weddings and parties of all kinds.
And it was a wonderful venue for the milestone birthday gathering I photographed. The family made a booking for a private dining space inside, a room decorated with wood panneling and elegant mahogany furniture. It was a lovely space where the family could enjoy a meal and instantly feel relaxed. After blowing candels on an impressive mustang shaped cake, we stepped outside for family portraits.
Wedding Photography at the Luxury Home of Lord Beaverbrook
In addition to being a venue for private gatherings, events and parties, Beaverbrook’s elegant interiors and 470 acre gardens can be hired as an intimate wedding venue. Working as a wedding photographer, I am always drawn to venues that feel authentic, where the atmosphere is as important as the architecture. Beaverbrook is exactly that sort of place. It is grand and sophisticated yet warm and welcoming. From the moment I stepped in, the staff greeted me with warmth and kindness, directing me to where I needed to go.
I was inspired by the beautifully decorated gardens, seeing photo opportunities in every nook and corner. For a couple who wishes to have their wedding portraits taken here, the choices are limitless. From the stunning view of the surrounding Surrey Hills, to the stone garden temples, wide garden paths thoughtfully planted and alive with seasonal colour, views of the house itself - t - there is something for every taste.
If you’re thinking about Beaverbrook for your wedding or celebration, I can wholeheartedly recommend a visit. Take a walk through the gardens, linger over tea in the Morning Room, and imagine how your day might unfold. It really is a place where memories are made.
Surrey Wedding Photographer
My name is Mina, I am a professional family and wedding photographer working across London and Surrey. As a wedding photographer, I strive to capture the emotion and unique personalities of my clients during their wedding day. I use documentary style photography to portray the day unfolding, working with natural light to create relaxed, candid shots of you and your family and friends having a good time. My photography style is unobtrusive, professional and fun. I will give direction for big group shots and intimate couples shots to make sure I get the best possible picture, but otherwise I work quietly and discreetly to capture natural moments of you and your wedding party enjoying themselves. Please visit my wedding photography page for more information.
Get In Touch
If you’d like to talk more about photography at Beaverbrook or any other Surrey venue, I would love to hear from you. Please get in touch by sending an email to mina@minamilanovic-photography.com or fill out the contact form below.
Intimate Small Wedding in Surrey
The wedding industry has been hit hard by the pandemic with so many weddings postponed multiple times last and this year. Very few weddings went ahead, and those that did had a changed format.
This couple decided to go ahead with their wedding, while keeping with the goverment guidlines at the time of the event. It was a small and intimate wedding, with only family and closest friends present. There was something so nice and special about photographing a small wedding. It was all about what really matters - the couples’ love and dedication to each other. It was lovely to observe interactions between family members and friends, and document this special day for them.
The wedding started with a pricate ceremony at St Michael’s and Angels church in Michleham. After exchanging their wedding vows, the newly married couple and the wedding party headed to the family home, where the garden was used as an intimate wedding reception venue. It was a chilly spring day, but everyone wrapped up warm and enjoyed drinks and canapes in the place meaningful to the couple.
This wedding provided me with so many nice opportunities to capture intimate moments. If you are planning a small wedding, and are considering hiring a professional small wedding photographer who will capture the laughter, joy, tears, small details, and clinking of the glassses then send me an email to discuss your requirements.
Surrey Wedding Photographer | Post Wedding Photo Session at Wotton H
Wotton House Wedding Venue | Surrey Wedding Photographer
Wotton House is a stunning country estate hotel nestled in the beautiful Surrey countryside. This elegant country estate combines history, beauty and a sense of quiet grandeur that makes it a joy to photograph. Surrounding the house are Grade II listed Italian gardens, so picturesque and beautiful they invite you to pause, breathe and enjoy the surroundings. Wotton House is one of the most elegant Surrey wedding venues I had the privilege to work in, capturing moments of love and connection between two people in such timeless surroundings.
Outdoor Wedding Portraits
Wotton house was the perfect setting for a recent post-wedding photoshoot, a quiet and romantic continuation of this couple’s wedding story. Just a few days before, the couple got married in an intimate, private ceremony in London, and took a short break following their wedding at this picturesque and serene spot. The couple was interested in doing a post-wedding photo session to mark this special time in their lives, and to capture memories of their stay at Wotton house.
The entire session was held outdoors as the gardens provided so many beautiful backdrops for photography. It was an overcast spring day, slightly grey and misty but the light was perfect - even and soft. We started the session in the Grade II listed italian gardens, by one of the majestic temples, incorporating beautiful stone sculptures into the photographs.
We continued our walk through the gardens, exploring little corners and spaces, taking our time and enjoying the process. As a professional wedding photographer, I often find post-wedding sessions to be especially meaningful. Free from the pace of a wedding day, there is space for deeper connection, for unhurried moments and natural emotion to shine through.
Wedding Portrait Photography
We next came to a section of the garden called the Fernery or Grotto. This site was nearly demolished in early 2000s but luckly English Heritige and Mole Valley County Council stepped in to ensure that this space would be restored. And what gorgeous addition to the garden it is, making it a perfect backdrop for our couple portraits. For these portraits, I gently posed the couple, and asked them to have a chat about something they remember from their wedding day. I love how relaxed and happy they look, remembering some of the details of their wedding day.
Walking further along the gardens, I spotted a picturesque bridge I wanted to incorporate into the portraits. The Tillingbourne river is an important part of Wotton House history, as back in the day it used to power more than 20 mills along the stretch running through the estate.
The second part of the photoshoot was spent in a quiet corner of the house, next to a pond backing to some caves, allowing me to use natural shapes to frame the photographs and saturating the frame with the most gorgeous of green shades.
A quick outfit change for a few more casual shots around the gardens.
Finally, we couldn’t finish the couple photo session without incorporating Wotton House itself into the photographs. For this last set of photos, I positioned the couple in front of the house using an old oak tree to frame the couple and took a few images there. These are some of my favourite photos from the shoot, they both look very relaxed, happy and in love! The perfect ending to a wonderful stay at this finest of wedding venues in Surrey.
Wotton House Wedding Photogaphy
Although this wasn’t a typical wedding photography coverage, it was a genuine pleasure to spend time with this couple, wandering the grounds and sharing in their quiet joy. As a Wotton House wedding photographer, I was struck again by the elegance of the venue, from the soft light falling through the garden’s archways to the peaceful atmosphere that surrounds the estate. It is truly one of the finest wedding venues I’ve had the privilege to photograph in Surrey.
Secret Surrey - Wotton House on the BBC
To hear more about the beautiful Wotton House gardens, the myth of the kangaroos and more of the house’s curious past, please listen to this short BBC Sounds programme.
Surrey Wedding Photographer
Working as Surrey wedding photographer, I photograph not only weddings but couples who wish to document their engagement, holiday, an anniversary or another important date in their relationship. If you wish to have a couples photoshoot, an engagement photoshoot or would like to discuss an upcoming wedding, please get in touch. I would love to hear from you! I work across Surrey, London and the South East and also travel further afield. I look forward to hearing from you!
Photography Gift Vouchers
Looking to get a meaningful gift to a newly wedded couple? Look no further! My photography gift vouchers make wonderful gifts for any occasion! Gift the newleyweds a gift that will be meaningful and one they will treasure in years to come! Contact me or go to my gift vouchers on line store to learn more.