Celebrate Love at Ashton Lodge: Choosing Your Ideal Wedding Photographer
When searching for a 'wedding photographer at Ashton Lodge,' it's essential to find someone with a keen eye for this venue's unique blend of countryside elegance and historical character. Our guide dives into the best photographic spots within Ashton Lodge and showcases how a photographer's expertise can bring your wedding memories to vivid life. Expect tips on capturing the day's romance and charm, all while making sure your personal love story shines through.
Ashton Lodge Country House combines early 20th-century elegance with modern amenities and stunning gardens. It is a perfect backdrop for wedding photography, with various indoor and outdoor photo opportunities.
The venue is licensed for civil ceremonies and offers a complete wedding experience from dawn until midnight, including morning preparations, ceremonies, reception, and evening celebrations, all exclusively catered for one wedding per day.
Besides the venue's charm, Ashton Lodge supports tailored wedding experiences through pre-wedding consultations, bespoke photography plans, personal themes, decoration, and catering options to reflect each couple's unique style.
Capturing Your Special Day at Ashton Lodge
Our top priority at Ashton Lodge is to ensure an enjoyable wedding photography experience. We aim to provide you with timeless, cherished images that bring back the memories and emotions of your big day every time you look at them. You might wonder how we narrate each wedding's unique story.
Photographers blend natural reportage with traditional shots to tell your story. We capture:
the laughter
the tears
the candid moments
the planned ones
We all approach each wedding with the same attention to detail and passion. We emphasise capturing natural, unposed images that reflect the true narrative of your special day. Drawing from my experiences as a wedding photographer, I've found Ashton Lodge to be a venue that truly complements the art of wedding photography.
The Charm of Ashton Lodge Country House
Ashton Lodge Country House captivates with its early 20th-century elegance. Original period features intermingle with modern touches, all nestled within three acres of stunning gardens. The house offers 14 individually styled bedrooms with up to 33 guests staying overnight, providing a comfortable space for bridal party preparations.
This magnificent country house is an exclusive setting that provides an exceptional backdrop for your wedding photos, immortalising the beauty of your special day in every snapshot.
A Photographer's Perspective on Civil Ceremonies
Many photographers consider Ashton Lodge, licensed for civil ceremonies, a dream venue due to its capacity to host such events. The serene and beautiful setting it provides is perfect for capturing your vows' essence. The Garden Room at Ashton Lodge can accommodate up to 120 guests for a civil ceremony, catering to small and more significant intimate weddings. But the options don't stop there.
Beyond the indoor option, couples can hold their ceremony outdoors in the venue's picturesque gardens. This variety of ceremony settings creates a romantic atmosphere that we love capturing in our wedding photography.
Evening Receptions and Celebrations
As daylight gives way to evening, Ashton Lodge Country House buzzes with laughter and celebration. This beautiful venue can host up to 200 guests for evening receptions, providing:
Rustic chairs
Tables
Napkins
Fairy lights
Glassware
Crockery
Cutlery
Cake stand and table
All of these are included in the package.
The evening’s entertainment at Ashton Lodge includes:
Performances by singing waiters
Encouraging guests to partake in dance-offs and conga lines
Seasonal decor that provides paper lanterns and pumpkin centrepieces
The dance floor becomes the heart of the evening, where guests can enjoy dance-offs and conga lines, adding to the vibrant atmosphere of the celebration.
This creates a charming and themed ambience that’s a delight to capture.
Guests can revel in the joyful wedding reception environment, enjoying fizzy drinks and canapes in the bar area. This is followed by a dinner in a marquee, ensuring a comprehensive event experience. In our photographs, we aim to capture these moments filled with joy and celebration.
The Perfect Backdrop for Every Moment
Ashton Lodge Country House presents a plethora of photo opportunities. With a blend of Edwardian architecture and contemporary interiors, the venue creates an exceptional setting for wedding photographs. Each corner of the three-acre land provides a unique backdrop, ranging from sophisticated interior designs to enchanting exterior landscapes.
As an exclusive-use wedding venue in the Midlands, Ashton Lodge offers a private and idyllic backdrop ideal for capturing every moment. The venue presents diverse scenic options, including beautifully prepared indoor areas and outdoor spaces perfect for garden games and featuring pastoral backdrops.
Inside Ashton Lodge: Truly Stunning Interiors
Inside Ashton Lodge, you'll be greeted with the timeless elegance of the Edwardian era. Original Edwardian period features, including wooden floors and grand mirrors, are retained throughout the house, essential to its historic charm. These period features have been enhanced by luxurious, modern interiors.
The combination of historical period elements and contemporary design within the house offers a distinctive and grand backdrop for wedding photographs. Ashton Lodge's stunning interiors testify to the venue's commitment to preserving its historical charm while incorporating modern elements.
The Enchanting Gardens of Ashton Lodge
The enchantment of Ashton Lodge is not limited to its interiors. The country house offers outdoor wedding settings, including a purpose-built wooden wedding gazebo in its gardens, allowing for beautifully framed outdoor ceremonies. Using natural flower petals or lavender for confetti enhances the serene and elegant photo backdrop.
The scenic gardens of Ashton Lodge, spanning three acres, offer a tranquil environment and stunning countryside views, making them ideal for formal wedding photography. Unique outdoor elements like a swing and tractor, as well as diverse backdrops such as lavender beds, add variety and charm to wedding photo sessions at Ashton Lodge.
Tailored Photography for Your Ashton Lodge Wedding
At Ashton Lodge, we recognise the uniqueness of every wedding and reflect this in the photography we offer. A bespoke photography plan is crucial for encapsulating the unique atmosphere of each wedding at Ashton Lodge. The plan involves crafting a suite of services that aligns with the specific needs and preferences of the bridal couple.
Understanding each couple's desires and concerns is integral to creating a tailored photography experience at this exclusive venue. The ultimate goal of the bespoke photography plan is to capture the essence and emotion of the couple's special day at Ashton Lodge Country House.
Understanding Your Vision
Pre-wedding consultations are vital in understanding a couple's vision and mirroring their unique style in their wedding photos. During these consultations, couples can share planned details like timelines or venue photos, which are instrumental in helping the photographer understand and capture the couple's vision.
Building a trustful relationship between the photographer and the couple is also vital. It fosters a comfortable atmosphere for capturing natural, candid moments on the wedding day. An engagement photoshoot is recommended as a means for the photographer to get acquainted with the couple's personalities and for the couple to become comfortable in front of the camera, which aids in capturing authentic moments.
Crafting the Perfect Photo List
Creating an ideal shot list necessitates teamwork between the couple and the photographer. Couples should select several essential photos and moments, such as the exchange of vows, the first kiss, bride and groom shots, and the first dance, to ensure they are captured during their wedding. It’s crucial to communicate this list of must-have shots to the photographer well in advance, including detailed items such as invitations, rings, outfits, and bouquets.
Couples should appoint someone familiar with the guests to coordinate with the photographer on the wedding day to facilitate the smooth capturing of group photographs.
Embracing Spontaneity
Weddings abound with unexpected moments and surprises. Our readiness to document these authentic reactions at Ashton Lodge translates into memorable photographs. Our seasoned photographers employ techniques such as blending into the background and anticipating movement to snapshot authentic interactions and emotions during the wedding.
Capturing candid moments requires photographers to anticipate and recognise spontaneous events, adding a layer of authenticity and emotion to wedding albums. We aim to capture planned moments and spontaneous, organic scenes throughout the wedding day. These candid moments often form the most cherished memories of the special day.
Why Ashton Lodge is a Photographer's Dream Venue
Ashton Lodge offers wedding photographers an abundant canvas, enabling them to capture a mix of relaxed documentary and romantic images, accommodating various photographic styles. The setting of Ashton Lodge Country House is vital to evoking unique moments and emotions, adding depth and authenticity to wedding photos.
The Light at Ashton Lodge: A Photographer's Delight
Photographers find the natural light at Ashton Lodge genuinely delightful. It dramatically enhances the quality of wedding photography, memorably capturing the essence of special moments. With its warm and soft lighting, the golden hour is one of the prime times for photographers at Ashton Lodge to create stunning wedding photos.
Different weather scenarios offer dynamic and unique photography options, from clear skies to dramatic thunderstorms.
Variety is the Spice of Life – and Photography!
Ashton Lodge Country House boasts a range of settings, perfect for both cosy indoor and expansive outdoor wedding photography. These settings range from candid spots among guests to beautifully framed planned portrait sessions, providing creative flexibility for photographers.
Ashton Lodge's versatile settings support various photography styles, allowing each photographer to capture the wedding uniquely. Some popular photography styles include:
Documentary
Natural
Traditional
Creatively styled
From Dawn Till Dusk: A Full Day of Memories
Ashton Lodge exclusively hosts one wedding per day, guaranteeing a customised and concentrated photography experience. Photographic access to Ashton Lodge begins at 9 am and continues until midnight, capturing the full spectrum of the wedding day from:
preparations
ceremony
reception
speeches
cake cutting
first dance
celebrations
Morning Preparations and Anticipation
The bridal party begins the day in high spirits, filled with nervous excitement and joyful anticipation for the events ahead, including the wedding breakfast. The bridal suite, aglow with natural light, becomes a serene space for preparations. Throughout the morning, there are heartfelt exchanges and laughter among the bridal party, contributing to a warm and intimate atmosphere.
As the morning unfolds, last-minute touch-ups and emotional goodbyes set the stage for the transition from the quiet morning preparations, with breakfast served, to the bustling excitement of the ceremony.
The Main Event: Ceremony and Celebration
The Garden Room at Ashton Lodge seats up to 120 guests for civil ceremonies, providing an intimate yet spacious environment for the couple’s vow exchange. Photographers focus on capturing the bride and groom during these pivotal moments, ensuring that their emotions and interactions are beautifully documented. Following the ceremony, up to 150 guests can be accommodated for a formal sit-down meal, creating an opportunity for elegant and memorable photography during this part of the event.
As the celebration progresses, the venue comfortably hosts up to 200 guests for an informal gathering, capturing the joy and energy of the wedding party. This flexibility in accommodating different party sizes and settings makes Ashton Lodge a versatile venue for capturing a full day of memories.
Capturing the Party as Night Falls
As night falls, the evening light conditions at Ashton Lodge Country House provide a beautiful backdrop for photography, perfect for capturing portraits during the couple's evening sessions.
The romantic and warm ambience of sunset photography at Ashton Lodge offers unique opportunities for memorable wedding photos.
Ashton Lodge Through My Lens: A Portfolio Showcase
My work as a wedding photographer at Ashton Lodge has allowed me to compile a portfolio that reveals the enchantment and adaptability of this magnificent country house. The venue’s original house section provided a grand backdrop for the ceremony with wooden floors and elegant decor. The wedding reception included a lively atmosphere with whoops and cheers, with a marquee decorated with paper lanterns and pumpkin centrepieces. The portfolio includes real weddings that highlight the photographer's style and expertise, providing potential clients with a genuine insight into what they can expect.
The portfolio included photographs of the wedding party that started early with a surprise musical performance, leading to an energetic dance-off and conga line. These moments, filled with joy and celebration, make Ashton Lodge a dream venue for wedding photographers.
Personalising Your Ashton Lodge Experience
At Ashton Lodge, we acknowledge that every wedding is distinct, and so should the venue. Ashton Lodge Country House provides the following as part of their venue hire:
Rustic wooden tables
Chairs
Fairy lights
Other essential items
Couples can add a unique edge to their wedding by personalising these elements with their choice of decor.
Incorporating Personal Themes and Decor
Wedding stylist Marianne Taviner collaborates with couples at Ashton Lodge to create unique indoor and outdoor setups that personify their taste and styles. Bunting & Willow Weddings is another service provider that helps personalise the wedding ambience with tailored chair covers, centrepieces, room décor, and floral elements to suit couples’ preferences and budgets.
One unique touch is nominating guests to wear a chef's hat and carve the meat at their tables, adding a fun and interactive element to the dining experience.
The Chopping Block, Ashton Lodge’s partnered catering company, offers couples the option of tailoring their wedding menu to their style, including specialised drink and cocktail services, ensuring the dining experience aligns with their theme. Ashton Lodge aids in reinforcing personal wedding themes through their provision of:
rustic chairs
tables
napkins
fairy lights
They also allow couples to combine the estate’s many period features with modern decorative touches while ensuring that period features remain intact.
Making Use of the Entire Event Space
Ashton Lodge offers couples exclusive venue use, ensuring a private and adaptable setting for their wedding photos. With indoor options like the marquee and ceremony room and outdoor settings, Ashton Lodge caters to various photo opportunities in varied environments.
The diversity of locations within Ashton Lodge, such as the coach house breakfast room and the stunning garden room, allows couples to have a broad palette for their photography. Couples often find their favourite part of the venue, whether it's the charming garden room or the picturesque outdoor settings, to create memorable and personal photo opportunities. Couples are encouraged to use the entire event space at Ashton Lodge to ensure their wedding album is filled with unique and memorable shots.
In conclusion, Ashton Lodge Country House is more than a wedding venue. It’s a perfect backdrop for telling your unique love story through the lens of a skilled wedding photographer. With its timeless elegance, versatile settings, and personalisation options, Ashton Lodge provides an idyllic canvas for capturing the essence of your special day. Whether planning an intimate ceremony or a grand celebration, Ashton Lodge promises a unique and memorable wedding experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Ashton Lodge accommodate both small and large weddings?
Yes, Ashton Lodge can accommodate both small and large weddings. It can accommodate up to 150 guests for a formal sit-down meal and up to 200 guests for informal gatherings.
How does the photographer capture the unique story of each wedding at Ashton Lodge?
The photographer captures the unique story of each wedding at Ashton Lodge by blending natural reportage with traditional-style shots, capturing both planned and spontaneous moments.
Can I personalise the decor at Ashton Lodge for my wedding?
Yes, you can personalise the decor at Ashton Lodge for your wedding by adding your decorations to the rustic wooden tables, chairs, and fairy lights provided as part of the venue hire. This allows you to create a unique atmosphere for your special day.
What photo opportunities does Ashton Lodge offer?
Ashton Lodge offers a variety of photo opportunities, including Edwardian architecture, contemporary interiors, and captivating exterior landscapes, making it an exceptional setting for wedding photographs.
Can I have my wedding ceremony outdoors at Ashton Lodge?
You can have your wedding ceremony outdoors at Ashton Lodge, as they offer a purpose-built wooden wedding gazebo in their gardens for outdoor ceremonies.
In conclusion, Ashton Lodge Country House is more than a wedding venue. It's a perfect backdrop for telling your unique love story through the lens of a skilled wedding photographer. With its timeless elegance, versatile settings, and personalisation options, Ashton Lodge provides an idyllic canvas for capturing the essence of your special day. Whether planning an intimate ceremony or a grand celebration, Ashton Lodge promises a unique and memorable wedding experience that will be remembered for a lifetime.
