Since Gosfield Hall opened for weddings I’ve been lucky enough to have been a recommended Gosfield Hall Wedding Photographer! My knowledge of the venue means I’m experienced in photographing weddings at Gosfield Hall in all seasons; all lighting conditions and all types of weather! Lee & Birte chose a fabulous summer’s day for their July wedding.
My approach to photographing a wedding is to make sure I’m as discrete and invisible as possible for as much of the day as I need, but have the ability to step in and make sure the photos I know I need are arranged, as swiftly and effortlessly as possible. If I photographed a wedding in an entirely candid manner, a large number of important photos would be missed out. The skill is knowing how to be discrete, and also how to commanding when needed! I’m never overbearing, never too bossy, yet, after over fifteen years photographing well over 800 weddings, I know exactly the important photos, and how to get them swiftly so the clients can enjoy their day!
Photography on arrival at Gosfield Hall
The first thing I do when I arrive at any wedding venue is to photograph around the venue, setting the scene with how the building looks on the wedding day. Gosfield Hall has a wonderful range of backdrops; three sides of the square faces of the building with very different looks. Also the courtyard in the centre, the famous blue doors, wonderful archway to frame photos, stag statues, colourful flowerbeds all throughout the year, not to mention the indoor spaces! The Grand salon, staircase, library, long corridors and ballroom all make for wonderful photography settings. It’s a great start to telling the story of the wedding day, to photograph all of these areas, set up and ready to welcome the wedding guests.
Photography of the bridal preparations
After I’ve photographed how the venue is looking I’ll next pay a visit to the bride. Hair and makeup having finishing touches made, is the best time for me to start my photography . This way, the girls are ready enough to be photographed, but not yet changed into wedding attire. Photos can be taken showing a little of their preparations, as well as details of the dress, shoes, flowers etc. With the groom getting ready at Gosfield Hall also it’s very easy to photograph both. A little time will be spent with the girls, then the guys, then I’ll walk around the venue photographing guests arriving, and move easily between.
The Groom with his Groomsmen Before the Wedding
There are a few favourite spots at Gosfield Hall that I can choose between for pretty much any key photos. I often take photos of the groom before the ceremony in the Lady Lake room. The Lady Lake room looks great for photographs of the groom’s prep, with gold detail around an arch and a large window.
Wedding Ceremonies at Gosfield Hall
Birte & Lee chose to have their wedding ceremony take place in the Grand Salon. A wonderfully large, open and light room means I won’t need to use a flash to get great photos. This means I can work with the utmost discretion and stay as invisible as I can! Photography during the wedding ceremony is so lovely, as these are such important times of the day. (One of the most important times of someone’s life!)
Photography After the Wedding Ceremony
Straight away after the wedding ceremony, what’s important to me is to leave everyone to interact and mingle. The married couple being congratulated makes for great photos. Guests, unaware of my camera, are captured in a natural way. I also make sure I don’t make the bride and groom feel rushed. I’ll step in when the time is right to take some formal group photographs, after liaising with the venue staff regarding what time I need to be finished with photos for the wedding breakfast.
The ‘formal’ wedding photographs of family groups are actually one of the most important aspects of the wedding day. Nobody wants to spend too long gathering group photos, but as families have come together to celebrate the wedding day it’s vital to me to capture as many formal groups as the client wants.
Firstly, I’ll leave the bride and groom time to meet, greet and be congratulated. Then I’ll arrange photographs with close family and important guests. Then I usually wrap up the formal photography with a large group photograph of the entire wedding together. After that always feels like the right time to take the bride and groom away for a walk around the grounds for romantic wedding photographs.
Romantic Gosfield Wedding Hall Wedding Photography
I love for these photographs to have a very unposed feel, though in reality they have all pretty much been arranged to some degree. With the experience of being a recommended Gosfield Hall Wedding photographer I have a large number of favourite backdrops, angles, parts of the building and areas around the grounds that I think work great in photographs. My aim is for all the ‘posed’ photographs to feel relaxed, so I’ll make small prompts for which way to look, or perhaps which way to face, but never too much, nothing should look forced or unnatural.
Walking photographs, looking to each other, chatting, holding hands always feels relaxed. I also love framing a photograph, perhaps through out-of-focus elements such as leaves, fields of crops or colourful flowers, or perhaps through an archway, or doorway, or with a shape of an arch or doorway or window in the background of a photograph. I’m also drawn to photographs with nice out-of-focus elements in the background. The right lighting conditions and particularly high-quality camera lenses can create this speckled background effect, known as bokeh.
The Wedding Breakfast in Gosfield Hall’s Ballroom
Typically the photos of the bride and groom around Gosfield Hall will take us up to the wedding breakfast. I will have already made sure to photograph the room in detail before guests have made their way in for dinner.
I usually start mealtime by taking a quick photograph of everybody sitting at each table, and after that leave everyone to enjoy their meal. People putting food in their mouths doesn’t make for good photos! I’ll be on hand of course for the speeches, to make sure I photograph not only each person speaking, but also hoping for reaction photos from around the room.
Photography of the Evening Reception at Gosfield Hall Wedding
One of the best things about photographing summer weddings at Gosfield Hall is the evening light that we often have after dinner. This can create photographs with a different feel to the daytime photos, even if we’ve had direct sun all day! Longer shadows, and often a warm glow coming in from one side of the photograph makes for highly evocative shots!
Dramatic Wedding Photography at Gosfield Hall Wedding Using Off-Camera Flash
I’m quite a technical photographer. I love to get creative with off-camera flash. This is more commonly used when it’s much darker outside, however, it is also essential to create lovely photos against a dramatic sky. If I were to photograph the bride and groom against a sky and set the exposure of my camera to match the sky it would usually cause the bride and groom to be extremely dark. This is fun for creating silhouettes, and I often do this, but it’s quite dramatic to set up a light on the clients, lighting them up and changing the photo entirely.
What follows is a larger set of photos, telling more of the story of Birte & Lee’s wedding day, and showing more of the photos that could be expected from my Gosfield Hall wedding photography.
This set of 195 images is just a handful of the 700+ wedding photos Lee & Bee were supplied in the full set! Most wedding photography packages include the supply of all images on a USB without copyright restrictions, to print or share as you wish. For more info please browse my website.
Ben Brown, Wedding Photographer for Lavenham Photographic Studio has been recommended by Gosfield Hall for around fifteen years! This means there is a close relationship between Ben and venue staff, helping the day run smoothly. Also, this experience means the best locations for the best wedding photographs are easily found in all kinds of weather, lighting and times of year.
More Information about Gosfield Hall can be seen here: https://www.gosfield-hall.co.uk/
