Scouting a New Venue
My first wedding at Cecil Green Park House in Vancouver was a treat. I’d never been there, let alone photograph there. Keen on producing great images for this couple, I thought it best to visit the venue a few weeks before their wedding date.
Cecil Green Park House is located on the grounds of the University of British Columbia. My biggest worry was drive time in Vancouver traffic on a Saturday. The ceremony was to take place at Queen Elizabeth Park, so I started there. I walked the grounds and found a few locations to shoot formals. The stone stairs were going to be a feature – wait until you see Issy coming down those stairs. I picture it in my mind as though it was in an old Italian movie.
Form Queen Elizabeth Park, I drove to Cecil Green Park House and took note of the time it took to make the drive. It’s always good to know travel times on a wedding day. Scouting a location has huge benefits; the most important being the efficient use of time. I don’t want to monopolize my couples’ time doing photos when they should be enjoying the company of their friends. I think we spent a total of twenty minutes doing photos once we arrived at Cecil Green. At the end of the day, I felt pretty good about the entire wedding.
I will admit, I still get a bit nervous when delivering images to a couple for the first time. I know we are the most critical of ourselves, so even if I love the images, I secretly wait for the day a bride will be unhappy with her wedding photos. Thankfully that hasn’t happened yet. In fact, rather the opposite seems to be the norm. While there is such a thing as wedding industry awards (which I find kind of surreal) I win every time I receive a letter or Thank You card from a couple, letting me know how happy they are. You can read for yourself, what Issy had to say here. No award is greater than that of a bride’s happiness – period.
