Tomorrow I photograph my first wedding of the year. In fact, it’ll be my first wedding shoot since October last year. Five months ago! I’m looking forward to it – if not feeling a little rusty.
If the government’s road-map to unlocking Covid restrictions goes ahead, as currently planned, it should be my biggest year ever. …
On Friday 7 August Josh, my younger brother, got married. He and Phoebe had originally planned to get married in April but were unable to due to the pandemic restrictions. Huge congratulations to you both! So pleased this finally happened. Looking forward to the reception in November later this year.
Josh had worked alongside me, as my second photographer, for approximately eight years. Sadly for me, Josh has now laid down his camera to pursue other things. You will be sorely missed bro! I will forever treasure the memories we had together – so many good times. …
All of our wedding bookings for the second quarter of this year have been postponed (April – July). The majority have moved to next year with one or two opting for later this year. Whilst we did our bit to make things as pain-free for our couples as possible by not charging for these changes, our calendar for 2020 was beginning to look scarily quiet.
But there is possibly light at the end of the tunnel as our bookings for August are staying put, for the moment. We’re really hoping in the next two months things start to return to a form of normality. …
To all the couples who have weddings booked with us throughout the coming months in 2020, we are offering all of you a no-fee postponement if you now need to reschedule your wedding. This could either be later this year or next and we will of course honour the price of your original booking. As this has the potential to involve a large number of late spring and early summer 2020 weddings, there is the likelihood of limited availability for prime dates later this year and potentially next – please bear in mind we already have bookings in place for 2021. That said, we will do our utmost to work with you and come to a date which works for all parties involved.
Re-bookings will be made on a first-come, first-served basis.
A phrase that has been used a lot within the wedding industry over the past few weeks is ‘Pause. Postpone. But don’t cancel.’ We’d like to reiterate this statement. Please take stock and rethink your plans. Don’t cancel them.
We are incredibly sorry for all the couples who now need to postpone their weddings. My brother, Josh Goode, was due to get married next month (April 2020). He too has now had to postpone his wedding – we absolutely understand what you must now be going through too.
We have a number of dates available later this year. Please get in touch and we can talk about the options. We will do all we can to accommodate you and make your life easier and ensure that no couple whatsoever is left high and dry by this.
I also respectfully ask you to please show patience and love as we support you in adjusting your plans in response to the COVID-19 disruption. With the prospect of no work for the next four months, Josh and I at Ben Goode Photography are going through our own high levels of stress at this time. Please remember that for many wedding suppliers this is our only source of income. As such, we will not be offering refunds on deposit payments or for those who have settled their remaining balance early. If it is possible, we still ask all of you to honour your booking contracts with regards remaining balance payments and to secure your new date with us. This will keep our small business afloat during this difficult time.
Much love,
Ben and Josh…
Both Josh and I love to travel (who doesn’t?!) so naturally we love shooting destination weddings!
What is a destination wedding? It’s when couples fly, sail or drive out to a gorgeous destination overseas to celebrate their wedding day. Destination weddings can be intimate (just the bride and groom), close family and friends, or a grand party with hundreds of guests. But if you’re reading this and looking for a destination photographer, I’m guessing you already knew all of that.
We’ve had the privilege of working in France, Spain, Italy and Vietnam – stunning locations all over the world. And there are more coming up in the pipe-line.
So you may be thinking, why use a destination wedding photographer and not a local? The logistics involved in organising an international wedding can be difficult. We have the experience to take this pressure away and take care of the necessary arrangements – making life easier for you. Communication and different time zones can be another difficulty when looking to book a local photographer.
We like to arrive a day or two before the wedding so we can familiarise ourselves with the venue(s) and local area. We don’t charge extra for this time.
Josh and I offer a bespoke pricing structure for destination weddings and would be happy to discuss this further with you.
Take a look at some of the beautiful destination weddings we’ve had the privilege of photographing.
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Back in January, Lauren and David’s gorgeous wedding at the Larmer Tree Gardens was featured on Bride & Tonic – a British wedding blog.
Take a look and see some of the photographs we captured throughout their wedding day.
We’ve recently added a new feature to the Ben Goode Photography website – the bespoke wedding package builder. For those looking to create their own deal to fit their day perfectly, like a well tailored suit, use the form to submit the deliverables you’re after and we’ll create a quote from the ground up – just for you.
Give it a go!
It’s not everyday you get a testimonial like the one we just received from Jemma and Dave – a bride and groom whose wedding we photographed in October. It was so good we had to share it on the blog.
“Myself and Dave chose Ben and Josh to capture our day after seeing such amazing photos from our best friends wedding, and were so glad we did. The communication was excellent from the start and made the planning of the day exceptionally easy.
On the day itself Ben and Josh were fantastic from start to finish. They were extremely professional and flexible to meet our needs and requests throughout the day. The two of them went above and beyond to ensure they captured the most amazing photos of ourselves and our guests, whilst ensuring we enjoyed the day to the full. Nothing was to much trouble for either of them and we felt incredibly comfortable with them both.
After the wedding Ben kept in contact with us giving us updates and sneak previews of photos which was lovely. The photos were provided on the online gallery extremely quickly and then once we choose our favourites again edited and final images provided in an exceptionally quick turn around.
We couldn’t have been happier with our photos and the service Ben and Josh gave and have certainly recommended them to friends an family and would highly recommend them to anyone. Thank you again Jemma and Dave George.”
If you’d like to leave us a positive review on Google, please click here. We’d be so grateful.…
It’s a question we get asked from time-to-time. And browsing through our website portfolio and Instagram feed I can see why – we don’t ever post them. In short, the answer is yes. They just aren’t the sort of images we showcase. This is for a number of reasons. They are very personal to the bride and groom and their families, and unless you happen to be in the photograph or know them well they aren’t particularly dynamic, which in terms of a showcase puts them in the ‘boring pile’.
Having said that we understand the value they have to the newly-wed couple and their families. Particularly the parents and grandparents. Later in life they serve as historic family records. I personally treasure a ‘formal’ group photograph of four generations in my own family – my son, me, my father and grandfather.
I typically set aside some time during the wedding drinks reception to capture the group photographs. Using a list provided by the bride and groom prior to the big day, we work with the ushers/bridesmaids or a best man (in fact anyone who knows the family and wedding party well) to help gather the family together in an unobtrusive manor rather than me barking orders at the guests, which no one appreciates. These photographs take time and can be a little disruptive to the drinks reception. We also feel we capture our best shots when capturing the day in the background, enabling us to tell the story of the day. For these reasons we recommend keeping the number of different group photographs to a maximum number of ten. Personally I think about six works well. Here’s a recommended list:
Bride and groom, brides parents.
Bride and groom, grooms parents.
Bride and groom, combined parents.
Bride and groom, combined immediate families.
Bride and groom, bridesmaids and groomsmen.
Everyone.
The photographs above highlight a few recent examples. They were taken at weddings at the Larmer Tree Gardens and the Tithe Barn in Petersfield. …
If you’d like to keep a little more up-to-date with our work, head over to Instagram and follow our wedding photography feed at: instagram.com/bengoodephotography. Every (almost every) Wednesday we upload a wedding photograph for #weddingwednesday and on the occasional Thursday we’ll upload an image from the 10 years worth of archives for #throwbackthursday.
Keep an eye out for the behind-the-scenes ‘Stories’ as well. …