Gorse Hill Hotel

Walk two minutes into the pines at Gorse Hill and the pictures stop looking like a hotel wedding altogether. Seventeen acres in Surrey buys you that: topiary gardens for the whole group, open lawn, wooded slopes, a grassy bank to sit on, and enough room that guests can throw a rugby ball about between courses without anyone minding. You marry in a light, high-windowed room with a chandelier and garden views, so we shoot the vows and the rings on daylight and nobody is squinting into a flash. The stone steps and the columned front are the classic spot here, and they’re at their best late on, when the sun is low and the building has started to glow behind you. Evening runs indoors on an LED floor with a band, and casino tables if you want them. It’s an easy place to work, and it gives you real variety without asking anybody to get in a car.