Venture Photography Studios - Maidstone Reviews 128

Misleading “Competition Win” – Hidden Costs and Disappointing Experience

I recently had an experience with Venture Studios that I feel others should be aware of before engaging with their “competitions.”
On 28th February 2026, I was contacted to say I had “won” a cake smash photoshoot via their social media. Naturally, I was excited as this was for my granddaughter’s first birthday. However, during the booking call, I was asked to pay £25 to “secure the date.” This immediately felt misleading—if something is truly a prize, why is payment required? I was told this was standard and that I would receive a photo in return, so I reluctantly agreed.
After booking, additional costs started to appear. I was told there would be a £15 charge for the cake (which I declined by providing my own). Then, just before the shoot, I was informed I would need to bring my own props (banners, toys, etc.), which was completely unexpected and added unnecessary stress. This is not what you would expect from a professional studio experience.
While the staff on the day were polite and welcoming, the biggest shock came afterwards—photo packages start from £995. This was never disclosed beforehand. Advertising something as a “win” only to present customers with extremely high-priced packages feels very misleading and unfair.
Other key points to be aware of:
You have to return on another day just to view the photos
The “free” photo is essentially covered by the £25 booking fee
There is no clear upfront pricing shared before attending
After researching, similar cake smash photoshoots are typically around £300 and often include images, which makes this pricing feel hugely disproportionate.
I am now in the difficult position of having attended a shoot for a special milestone, but realistically being unable to afford the photos. What should have been a lovely experience has been completely overshadowed by unexpected costs and lack of transparency.
Overall, this felt like a misleading marketing tactic rather than a genuine competition win. I would strongly advise others to ask for full pricing and details upfront before committing.

We had Ben do our newborn photo shoot and we couldn’t have felt more at ease, he was understanding, patient and so friendly. Ben was very professional but it also felt like we have known him for years. He is a credit to your company.

We had a lovely photo shoot with my family a few weeks back on Mother’s Day. I really don’t like my pictures being taken, especially by a stranger but Holly was so lovely and made me feel really comfortable. She was amazing with our daughter and we got some really amazing pictures. Holly is a very good photographer and I would definitely recommend anyone to go here to have any pictures done by her. The lady that also done the photo viewing session was also very nice and welcoming.

Our photographer Ella was amazing and really brought our vision to life of what we were looking for with our newborn shoot. She managed to capture the little details we were hoping for in a style that suited us perfectly. She was also very patient with our little one who needed some extra love at times and we felt understood rather than rushed. Such an amazing result overall and we are extremely happy.

Can’t rate anything less than 5 star, the staff are all friendly and welcoming, the serenity of the environment is absolutely amazing.
Specially thanks to our photographer Ella, she’s absolutely amazing and very cutie with my baby.

What a brilliant experience. For something that was unusual for our family to do, Georgia was amazing in getting us to relax and enjoy the family photography experience. We were blown away by the results. For someone who would never have thought of doing this, I would highly recommend the studo in Maidstone and indeed Georgia. Thank you so much for capturing some incredible pictures of my family.

This has genuinely been an experience we will never forget! Not only do we now have beautiful photos of our dog and us two, but we also have wondeful memories of the time spent at the studio, for both the photoshoot and the viewing.
The photoshoot itself was a blast. Our photographer Ella really did make us and Dempsey feel at ease...and this resulted in really great photos! Ella managed to capture Dempsey's personality so well! Thanks to Venture Studio for both an unforgettable experience and amazing photos. Genuinely so grateful for the beautiful memories!

Really enjoyed the photoshoot. Ben made us feel relaxed and our family enjoyed the whole experience.
We couldn’t be happier with the photos taken during the session.
Thank you!

Great experience, from shoot day to viewing of the photos. We had a family photo shoot and went from being on edge, as it is typically not ‘our thing’, to totally relaxed and getting so many amazing photos that it was hard to choose from. This is genuinely down to our photographer Ben as he was able to quickly put us at ease which enabled the kids (and us) to really have some fun with it.

We had Ben as our photographer for bump to baby and he made the whole experience so amazing! We were quite nervous and he made us feel so at ease. The quality of his work is stunning and we are so in love with our photos ❤️ highly recommend x

Our photographer Ella was absolutely amazing with our newborn daughter during our family shoot. She was the first stranger who held our little girl and we felt completely comfortable with her, she was great at comforting Emily when she needed it and respected her needs. The shoot was made fun and heartwarming, our ten year old even enjoyed himself. We had our viewing today of all the photos she captured and I cannot thank her enough, they made me cry! Would 100% recommend this studio.

Our session with Ben, was really good and had so much fun. I entered a competition back before our little boy Leo was born and we were lucky enough to win a newborn photoshoot. It was the first time we’d ever been in a photo studio and Ben looked after us so nicely. He bonded with Leo on a great level and we could see that Leo was at ease which put us at ease and calm too. Ben discussed how the session was going to pan out and what we’d be doing. He’d explain what he was doing and produced the cutest photos ever. I’d be honest and say we had high expectations, judging by what photos we’d previously seen on social media and Ben did not disappoint. In fact, the photos were even better than we had imagined. We were in awe of every single photo and it’s thanks to Ben & winning the competition, we now have lifetime memories we can treasure and look back.

For those who are on the fence about whether to have a session or not, just do it. You will not regret it and the quality really is top of the top.

Thank you Ben so much!

WOW!! Where do I even start, we had GiGi as our photographer and her level of services were impeccable!

She made us feel extremely comfortable from the get go, as going and having your photographs taken can always be nerve racking but once in with GiGi we felt the complete opposite.

We had our family photos taken with our two girls and they came out absolutely amazing!! These are photos we will cherish for a lifetime! Anyone looking to have their photos taken should most definitely look at having them taken here at Venture Photography with GiGi.

We can’t thank her enough as her patience went above and beyond especially when our little became overstimulated and fussy, she settled her so well and managed to get those extra photos.

We will most definitely be looking to come back for our child’s next milestone photos and will 100% be asking for GiGi.

She is an absolute credit to team and business, we can not thank you enough GiGi.

Thank you from Owen, Robyn, Ella and Lily. X

Had a bump to baby shoot done , it was an amazing fun experience on both sessions with Ella being our photographer. She was so calm with my baby despite all her fussiness. The viewing was fantastic great service was given to ensure we get our pics. The pictures came out perfect than l expected l would recommend this studio over and over again. Thank you for capturing the most precious moments of my life ❤️

Amazing experience. We booked a bump to baby shoot, everything was perfect with all involved making sure we got all the images we could imagine. Also was so caring, calm and gentle with our little one only a few weeks old. We had 2 shoots and a viewing experience, the photos came out better than we even imagined and we're so very greatful for that. Ordered our framed images to collect in a few week, so excited to have them on our wall to make our house a home. Highly recommend if you're looking to create and commemorate memories in photos. Thank you! x

We had a truly wonderful experience at Venture Studios Maidstone and cannot recommend them highly enough.
From the moment we arrived, Kimberley at the reception made us feel extremely welcome. She ensured we were comfortable while waiting for our appointment and went above and beyond in her care and attention. Despite the cold weather, Kimberley kindly opened the shutter to the car park for us and waited patiently to make sure we exited safely. This level of thoughtfulness and customer service was genuinely appreciated and set a positive tone for our visit.
Our photographer, Ella, was absolutely amazing. She did a fantastic job photographing our daughter and demonstrated exceptional professionalism throughout the session. Even when our daughter became unsettled and had a difficult moment, Ella remained calm, patient, and incredibly skilled in handling the situation. Her gentle approach and expertise truly put us at ease, and it was clear she has a natural talent for working with children.
When our session came to an end, Kimberley once again went out of her way to escort us to the parking lot, which was a lovely and thoughtful gesture that did not go unnoticed.
Overall, the team at Venture Studios Maidstone provided outstanding service from start to finish. Their professionalism, kindness, and dedication to customer care made our experience memorable and stress-free. We will most certainly be recommending Venture Studios Maidstone to our friends and family and look forward to returning in the future.

Friendly staff, a great photo shoot experience. Photos are also edited well.

I won a cake smash photoshoot via a competition on Instagram and thought it would be the perfect way to celebrate our baby boys first birthday.

The photoshoot went well despite our baby's reluctance to have any involvement with the cake but we were excited to see the photos nonetheless.

We were slightly worried about the affordability of the pictures as the price for these are extremely high but thought that we maybe able to purchase a few prints rather than frames. We were particularly excited to see the photos when we received our sneak peak.

However, 2 weeks later at the viewing I was confused regarding the photos we were being presented with. My baby didn't look like my baby. Despite some discussions around what packages may be available (which interestingly and very quickly became different to what we were originally advised was policy, but then when sales are not being made can quickly go out of the window) we decided that the look of the majority of these photos were not for us and we worked through the ones taken to try and narrow it down in order to make a decision around which one we would take as our free picture as given with the package.

I questioned why my baby looked odd and computer generated. I was informed that the photographer had attempted to enhance the photos. However, the lady showing us the pictures was in agreement that the edit of these photos were not great and that she would be speaking with the photographer as this was not the standard expected. We were offered the unedited version of these photos if we wanted to purchase them all on a usb stick for £995 but these were not the photos we had been shown. I struggled with confusion for the remainder of the viewing as to why anyone would feel it would be acceptable to edit and filter not just my baby but potentially any 1 year old child.

By the time I returned to my car I was in tears. For anyone to think it is acceptable to highly edit and filter a child is completely unacceptable. It is also insulting and incredibly hurtful. Altering photos of a minor without parental approval is a serious breach of trust and falls well below professional standards.

We are happy with the picture we ultimately chose; however, it now stands as a constant reminder of the hurt and frustration caused by the unauthorised editing of the other photos and the overall experience. We wanted a beautiful reminder of our baby's birthday which will now feel forever tarnished.

We will not be using venture studios again in the future or recommending them to anyone else.

This feedback was provided to venture studios via their feedback email address but no acknowledgement or response has been received

Absolutely amazing place for a photo shoot. Staff were very welcoming and helpful and dis everything to make our time there as amazing as possible. Our photographer Ben was so friendly and our kids loved him. He took some amazing pictures and made all of our children feel at ease and included in the whole thing

Had an amazing time at our photoshoot for our dog! He was a little nervous but took to photographer Ben straight away, kept climbing onto his lap mid-shoot! Ben was great with him, funny and friendly, made it so enjoyable. The photos are stunning! Only downside is the cost of the frames and packages themselves - over £2000 for some of the options!