Montalto Estate Wedding Videographer

When you translate ‘Montalto’, the word means “high-mountain”.

Montalto Estate in Ballynahinch (roughly a 20 minute drive from Belfast) is one of Northern Ireland’s oldest estates. The country house was built in the 1750s by Sir John Rawdon (later to become the earl of Moira). The estate revolves around the main manor house which is a large mansion.

Influenced by Italian plaster, the detailing was carried out by Robert West (from Dublin), the house and estate is well worth a visit, especially if you’re visiting Northern Ireland as the Mourne Mountains are close by and there are plenty of other tourist attractions worth a visit in the area including historic estates in the wider county down.

You can explore Montalto 7 days a week and it’s one of the top family days out where visitors can reconnect with nature.

Montalto Estate Carriage Rooms Wedding Venue

The part of the house which holds weddings is called the carriage rooms, and is an extension of the main estate. The rooms are converted from an 18th century mill and is known as one of the top-tier wedding venues in Northern Ireland.

The rooms show off the period features of stone walls, with vaulted wooden beams and ceremony spaces both inside and outside. I’ve had the pleasure of filming weddings at the carriage rooms. The venue is exclusive use with a one-wedding-per-day policy.

Couples can get married in their ground floor ceremony room, where beauty meets history once your florist has transformed the room into an empty space to a beautiful ceremony space. Given the Northern Irish weather, you’ll be lucky to get married outside but I’ve known it to happen in early spring when the sun comes out.

The décor here could be described as rustic, but where some venues’ canvas looks dated, Montalto has been given a modern spin to blend history with luxury.

Other trails include the history trail, the lake walk and both are suitable for adults and children.

Experienced Wedding Planning Team for Timeless Romance

Tipping their hat to the luxury and exclusive feel of this venue, the weddings planners at Montalto run your wedding day to the second, ensuring that everything in the Carriage rooms goes smoothly and preserve your precious memories.

They hold 1 to 1 visits that are available to book in – and as soon as you drive up Montalto Estate Spa Road I think the venue will totally grip you and you’ll be sold on it from your first impression.

I had one bride recently have a malfunction with her veil and wedding dress, and the staff expertly diverted the bridal party to the bar and produced a sewing kit – practically tailoring the dress to fix it for the rest of the day. Needless to say not only did the couple give the venue a great review, this extra 15 minute delay gave me more time to setup 2 manfrotto tripods, my ronin gimbal and various audio kit (normally 2 lavalier microphones and a shotgun on my B-cam which I have at the back of the aisle on a wide lens). If I’m shooting the wedding on my own then I’ll connect my A-cam to the Sony Creators app and remotely control the focus, normally stopping down to f4.5 so that the plane of focus is fairly large and leaves less errors. The problem with this, is that I then have to increase the ISO which can introduce noise to the image, but thankfully given the natural light from the large windows (often blocked by the bridal archway!) and the solid sensor I’ll increase my ISO to the native levels for whichever camera I’m using, and use a variable neutral density (VND) filter to reduce the light somewhat for the perfect exposure

Drinks Reception

Your drinks reception is often held outside in the walled garden. The high walls give the space a private feel and the garden is the perfect place to have some games to entertain your guests between the wedding ceremony and dinner.

Wedding Dinner

I’ve had the pleasure of filming a number of weddings here and as a vendor I often get to eat a meal in the downstairs bar whilst your guests are in the reception room (usually after speeches). The reception room has an abundance of natural light which really helps me find the perfect exposure and composition through my viewfinders – which really helps me out in the edit. I appreciate that a lot of wedding videographers use the motto ‘just fix it in post’ and yes, I’m using at least 3 cinema cameras between myself and my second shooter, but getting it picture perfect on the day helps me when it come to sitting in my editing suite to properly colour your 10-bit footage.

Wedding Catering is provided by Olive and Vine – a company founded and headed by Kiera, regarded as one of the best event caterers in Northern Ireland. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Kiera through weddings here and can honestly say that she’s one of the most passionate vendors that I’ve ever met. She’s always so warm and friendly to everyone around her whilst exuding professionalism. Her experience in the wedding space always shows and she’s built herself a great reputation – obvious when you consider that she’s the in-house caterer at Montalto.

On colour – whilst Sony tend to over-saturate the greens, I use Davinci Resolve to colour my clips and tweak the greens to look more natural. Most of the time that I’m editing I aim for a natural look, and I find when I’m editing wedding films from Montalto that I’ll bring up the browns a little to reflect the house’s aged brickwork.

More than just a wedding venue

Whilst the carriage rooms are entirely private for your big day, the rest of Montalto estate opens its doors to members of the public. Starting at one side of the stunning lake, visitors can take walks through the stunning gardens and trails with the head gardener, or through the house for a more educational visit for schools and community groups.

The Alpine Gardens boast over 250 alpine species and an Orchard Meadow and Pinetum.

There’s also a lost garden trail that leads through a recently discovered garden dating back to 1912.

Montalto also has wooden playground with treehouses for young children to enjoy, and a café serving seasonal lunches and homemade desserts and coffee, where the shop sells estate-grown produce and local crafts. The visitor centre helps educate guests with historical insights and experiences. There’s also the winter trail that they open up each Christmas for a family event.

Weddings aside, the estate is open wed-sun (9:30am-4pm), with a number of ticket options. You can book online or pay at the visitors reception.

Montalto Estate offers an air of beauty, craftsmanship and heritage – with a stunning background for your wedding that is compounded by elegant dining, luxury options and a great backdrop for your photography and videography.

Intimate Portraits for your wedding films

No wedding videographer would be worth their salt if they didn’t take the bride and groom down to the lake for intimate portraits, after shooting the much-needed family shots and candid clips of guests in the garden. Whilst my style is more directed from Bridal Preparation (where I get to properly frame your dress, wedding rings and personal accessories in the right lighting, and capture shots of you and your bridesmaids getting your makeup and bridal hair done) through to your first dance, portraits are where I really shine and get my couples to carry out actions, whilst letting their natural connection play out for my cameras to capture. Given that I’m using a 35mm sensor in most of my camera bodies, I’ll often ask my assistant to use a gimbal for these shots and I’ll stay handheld (shout out to smallrig for my new A7Siii build out) to give the viewer a more personal perspective in the edits.

Normally during your wedding dinner I’m able to edit some footage from the day and provide you with a sneak peek – but this depends on how well me, your photographer and the wedding co-ordinators have planned out your timeline and doesn’t have any impact on your cinematic wedding film.

Candid Wedding Videography

Obviously there’s a time to step in – and the speeches and dinner reception isn’t that time. I leave the top table to go through their speeches and make sure that I have a list of who’s going to get the microphone and in what order. Even though I have a fluid head on my tripod I still don’t want to be fumbling around for the shot when the time comes and this helps with my storytelling in the main edit.

Looking at getting married at Montalto Estate and want an experienced videographer to capture your memories? Just get in touch for more information.