If you told me to design a wedding venue specifically for the way I photograph weddings, it would probably look a lot like Elm House.
Dark timber. Huge windows. Moody little corners. Rainforest wrapping around the entire property. A fireplace. Old-world character. Light coming through the trees.
Nothing about this place feels like a wedding factory.
And I think that's exactly why I love it.
Getting married at Elm House, Mount Glorious
Elm House is tucked away in Mount Glorious, about 50 minutes from Brisbane, surrounded by rainforest.
It's intimate. A little bit eccentric. Romantic without trying too hard.
And it's made for couples who don't necessarily want the huge traditional wedding with 150 people and a reception room that could belong to any venue anywhere.
You can actually make a wedding here feel like yours.
There are spaces to get married inside and outside, a timber hall with those incredible windows, the fireside lounge, gardens, deck and the Elm House Studio onsite.
But from a photographer's perspective, what I love most is how much variety exists in one property.
Why Elm House photographs so beautifully
I'm always looking for light.
Not necessarily perfect light.
Interesting light.
Light falling across someone's face through a window. Deep shadows in the corner of a room. The green coming through the rainforest. The last bit of light disappearing behind the trees.
Elm House gives me so much to play with.
I can make photographs that feel warm and nostalgic inside and then walk outside and create something completely different amongst the trees.
There are places for the big photographs, but there are also a hundred little corners where the photographs I really love happen.
Your mum fixing your dress.
Someone having a champagne on the deck.
Your partner disappearing for five minutes because they're trying not to lose it before the ceremony.
Your friends piled around the fireplace later in the night.
That's the stuff I'm watching for.
For couples who want something a little different
Elm House isn't somewhere I'd choose because I wanted a perfectly polished, traditional wedding.
I'd choose it because I wanted atmosphere.
I'd choose it because I wanted the people I love in one place.
I'd choose it because I wanted dinner to feel like a dinner party, the ceremony to feel intimate and the whole thing to feel less like an event I'm hosting and more like one enormous memory I'm actually inside of.
And those are exactly the weddings I love photographing.
The ones where you're not spending the entire day being moved from one scheduled photo opportunity to another.
You're actually at your wedding.
I'll still steal you away when the light is doing something ridiculous.
Obviously.
An intimate wedding venue close to Brisbane
One of the best things about Elm House is that you can have the feeling of disappearing somewhere completely different without travelling hours from Brisbane.
You're up in Mount Glorious, surrounded by rainforest, and suddenly the city feels a very long way away.
For smaller weddings and elopements especially, that changes the whole feeling of the day.
You don't need an enormous guest list to fill the space.
You don't need excessive styling to make it interesting.
The venue already has character.
Bring your favourite people. Good food. Good wine. Wear something incredible.
That's enough.
Photographing weddings at Elm House
My wedding photography isn't about turning your wedding into a photoshoot.
I want the beautiful portraits. I want the ridiculous light. I want the photograph that ends up enormous on your wall.
But I also want everything happening around those photographs.
The nerves.
The hands reaching for each other.
The person crying three rows back.
The dress getting dirty.
The champagne being poured. The way someone looks at you when they don't realise I'm watching.
Elm House gives all of that somewhere beautiful to happen.
And if you're planning a wedding here because you want something intimate, emotional, slightly unconventional and completely your own...
I think we're probably going to get along.
Planning an Elm House wedding?**
I'm Chrystal, an emotive and artful wedding photographer based in South East Queensland. I photograph weddings across Mount Glorious, Brisbane, Ipswich, the Scenic Rim and beyond.
If you're getting married at Elm House and want your photographs to feel like your wedding rather than a list of poses, I'd love to hear what you're planning.
