One of my first jobs out of college, I worked as a producer for large scale events in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, Washington DC and Hong Kong. One of the things my boss instilled early on was the importance of a “recon” trip or site visit. After years of MANY site visits, when it came time to a career pivot into photography, it only made sense that I carried that into my shoot prep for both wedding days and portraits sessions.
Below are the main reasons why I do a site visit before a wedding day or shoot.
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Walk Thru
I always like to do a walk thru of where I’ll be shooting without the pressure of a timeline . I like to do my site visits within a month of the shoot itself so I’ll be able to see the location in the season that the shoot will be in. A spot will look VERY different in the Fall than it would in the Spring, Summer, or even Winter.
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Planning out the shots
Scouting: During the walk thru, I’ll plan out where I’d ideally like First Look to be, Couples’ Portraits, Family Formals, Wedding Party photos, etc.
Lighting: It gives me a chance to check the lighting. I’ll take my compass out (seriously!) to see what direction the sun will set so I can think thru how that will impact the lighting during the specific time of day the photos will be shot.
Travel: I’ll also plan out how long travel time will be between each location and take that into consideration when finalizing the timeline with the couple or their planner. Often times, it’s just a quick walk (sometimes a drive). But, if I’m doing family formals on one side of the property and that’s a 5 minute walk to the ceremony location on the other side of the property, I’m going to make sure I plan for at least 10 minutes of walking. Walking with a group will always take longer then when I’m walking by myself or with the couple.
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Map out a Plan B (and C!)
Lastly, I always like to plan out other options as well in case of weather. But also, and NYC is notorious for this, scaffolding being added to the side of a building the day before a wedding that I had scoped out to be a backdrop to some photos. Or even unexpected street closures due to something unplanned occurring in the city.
I’ve found that if I’m mentally prepared with multiple options going into a wedding day and I’m able to plan out logistics before the day, I’m prepared for any possible scenario. This allows room for me to breathe and my creativity to run wild on the actual day and the best possible scenario to capture a wedding day on a Plan A day or Plan B or C day.
