Austin & Éamonn - Alternative Wedding Photographer / September 15, 2026 by Jan

The Maryborough Hotel is a wedding venue I’ve shot at multiple times, and it’s one of my favourites. I photographed Aisling and Emmett’s wedding there before and wrote this blog about. Not only did Austin and Éamonn see that blog post but they liked it so much that they booked the venue because of that! I’d say the Maryborough owes me a drink for that! Haha!

This was such a fun wedding with a few little quirky differences. As always, I love to highlight my three favourite parts of the wedding (and a couple of honourable mentions):

1) Pre-Ceremony Drinks

Even though Austin and Éamonn didn’t want photos of them getting ready before the ceremony, they did ask me to come a little earlier to meet them in their hotel suite for something important. Both of them were getting ready together (no first look down the aisle here!) with their whole bridal party and immediate family. Just before heading down to the ceremony room, they took a moment and with their inner circle of friends and family, they did a round of shots. They offered one to me as well, but I wanted to take good photos for the day so I declined haha!

I love these photos, these kind of shots are always such a nice little highlight in the wedding gallery and they’re just so fun to capture as well!

2) Tears

The ceremony was beautiful. They’re friend became a proper officiant just so that she could marry the couple for this wedding. And it was an emotional one!

Not a dry set of eyes anywhere.

It clearly meant so much to Austin and Éamonn that they were getting married. They also had such a beautiful friend group and two families whom it meant a lot to as well.

I was able to capture all these lovely moments from laughter to tears and everything in between.

An Honourable Mention

I’m going to interrupt this set of three, by just highlighting a positive that I love about this venue, and that’s the garden for the couple shoot.

There are so many lovely spots all around the hotel from the entrance to the staircase to the manicured gardens... But as you can probably tell from my other couple shoots, I love the proper nature shots.

This forest on their property is just a hundred feet away from the ceremony room but it looks like we’ve hiked for hours. This is by far my favourite feature of the venue and I love the photos we were able to capture. Combined with the whole wedding taking place in the same location, which means no travel time and really maximising the time with your guests, it’s amazing.

3) Sweetheart Table

I believe this was my first wedding that I photographed that had a sweetheart table, and honestly, I love that! (For those who don’t know, a sweetheart table is a table just for the couple with no one else sitting with them). It absolutely suited the couple so well.

They were so focused on each other that I caught them feeding each other desserts, just so smitten with each other. Later on they went from table to table to mingle with their guests but were very happy with each other’s company at their own table.

Another Honourable Mention

There was also the opportunity to leave the couple some recorded voice messages via this telephone box. I really wished I had had this at my wedding!

I could see that the messages were so heartfelt and emotional... At first. And then funnier and less serious as the night went on! Haha! I would love to hear those messages.

Dancing!

In the evening we had DJ Swill taking over the dance floor. Austin and Éamonn didn’t do the traditional first dance, for them it was more like hitting the club. I love how couples are able to personalize their big day however they like it. So everyone just flooded the dance floor in unison.

I love being able to capture the dancing at a wedding! It’s such a fun way to end the day and personally, I think it adds a lot to the wedding gallery. Seeing your friends going wild, that one uncle tearing it up or a niece experiencing one of her first dances, they’re lovely memories to look back upon.

Contact

This is definitely a wedding venue I’d love to re-visit! So if you are looking for a wedding photographer for your big day, and we fit your vibe, then get in touch with us here via email.

You can also check out this wedding to see what it’s like when my wife Nic is along for the ride as a second shooter. And if you’re new to us, here’s a short introduction to who we are.

We look forward to hearing from you!

More Wedding Photos

Ceremony

Couple Shoot

Candids

St. Colman's Cathedral - Cobh Wedding Photographer / August 27, 2026 by Jan

Ireland has so many gorgeous cathedrals and churches. Some of my favourites are St Finbarr’s in Gougane Barra (theoretically an Oratory) and the other is the other St Finbarr’s in Cork city. How often those two buildings must have been photographed by tourists and visitors. I can only imagine.

St Colman’s Cathedral

As beautiful as they are, I think they aren’t quite as iconic as St Colman’s in Cobh though! St Colman’s has to be the most iconic cathedral in all of County Cork. So it made my dreams come true when Anastasija and Austin told me they were going to have their wedding ceremony there!

The couple were coming from America, and having spent a week traveling through most of Ireland with their friends and family, they arrived in Cobh, both looking gorgeous. With a typically traditional Catholic ceremony, the couple got a genuine Irish experience.

As always, I loved capturing those fashes of emotions; mom crying, a bridesmaid with teary eyes, the bride laughing… It’s always fun to stay vigilent and be ‘trigger ready’ to capture those intimate moments.

My Favourite Photo

My favourite photo of the whole ceremony has to be the kiss. I was buzzing that I managed to capture the perfect kiss photo. Halfway down the aisle I suggested to the couple that they should do another kiss, and with the guests laughing, clapping and cheering in the background it made for the perfect background!

The Couple Shoot

After the group photos, I took Anastasija and Austin for their couple shoot. The wind came in howling from the ocean so we weren’t able take any photos outside the cathedral without messing up Anastasija’s beautiful hair. But I knew a green spot we could go to which was a bit more sheltered and that would still have St Colman’s cathedral tower showing in the background.

Anastasija’s dress was so gorgeous and photographed incredibly well, and the lighter, tan suit of Austin was so classy too. Being lighter in colour made it easier to photograph in this setting than a very dark coloured suit in comparison. So the couple just stood out so perfectly with all these dark green backgrounds from the trees, plants and the grass. It really makes them standout and be the centre of attention.

After the couple shoot, the couple went to join their guests for dinner and soon they were already on their way for their honeymoon, traveling to continental Europe.

If this is a style of photography that you would appreciate for your wedding day, you can say hi to me and Nic here. We’d love to send you our wedding packages and for us to get to know each other via a video call!

More Ceremony Photos:

Old Head Golf Links - Golf Photographer Ireland / July 13, 2026 by Jan

I never thought that one day a bit of 4” pipe would be the key to a successful photo shoot!

Crocs at the Golf Links

Thomas contacted me one day to inquire if I could photograph them playing golf at the Old Head Golf Links, the very prestigious golf course at the Old Head of Kinsale.

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The special occasion? Thomas’ dad, John, was celebrating his 70th birthday and wanted to go play golf at the Old Head with his sons and a friend. So they booked two rounds on two separate days and had me photograph it all because, and I quote, “We’re so bad at taking family photos when we’re out.”
“Amazing, I’m in!”

I found out at the end of the second day that John is the CEO of Crocs. How random! I first thought they were winding me up. Haha!

All You Need Is a Piece of Pipe

After Thomas booked in with me, immediately I imagined these kind of photos, of them picking up their golf ball out of the hole. I thought it would make for some unique and playful photos to go with the rest of the gallery. I obviously can’t be taking them from inside the actual hole, so I went to all the plumbing stores in my area to find a pipe big enough, with which we could imitate this shot. After several shop visits, I finally landed at Cork Builders Providers who were able to sell me a little piece of 4” pipe for a couple of bucks. With a bit of practice at home with my wife, Nic, we got the perfect set up dialled in for the day so that it all worked out exactly as I had hoped, I love the way the photos turned out!

Kellen, one of the sons on this trip, loved these photos too, as he specifically mentioned in his 5-star Google review:

“Jan is amazing. My brother hired him to photograph us playing golf for my Dad’s birthday and he delivered incredible shots.

Jan was so nice and made the pictures feel intimate and artistic.

He had this idea to take pictures like he was inside the hole and we were reaching in to take the ball and they came out so well!

Thank you Jan!”

— Kellen

1st Day - Duality of Irish Weather

I am so thankful that they booked me for two days, as the first day was so incredibly foggy, that I can most positively describe as a very moody day. This weather is also what makes this golf course (in)famous. I had so much respect for the golfers as they couldn’t even see the green when they were teeing off. The caddies had to vaguely point in the direction of the hole and the golfers just hoped for the best. Incredible!

Foggy weather

“I had so much respect for the golfers as they couldn’t even see the green when they were teeing off.”

The fog didn’t just require the most of the players, but it also pushed me hard as a photographer to still come up with creative shots when you couldn’t see much further than a couple of meters. I just had to embrace the low-contrast shots and do my best! I’m really happy with the results I got, but when you compare it to the second day, there’s no comparison, is there? Haha!

2nd Day - Creative Golf Photography

We could finally see the ocean! Turns out it was there all along.

The sunny weather on the second day really allowed my creativity to flow. It was amazing to be free of the foggy restraints and to even see the ocean! It was also fun to be tasked with taking a mix of photos; from the action shots of them playing, to documenting their day and the little interactions but also photographing this incredibly gorgeous golf course.

I really tried my best to capture the essence of the Old Head Golf Links by including landscape shots as well, and not purely focusing on the players. So I added in as many elements of the course as possible. Elements that would make it unmistakeably the Old Head. Even including the navy ship that was doing some routine exercises there all day.

Variety Makes Me Better

I really enjoy doing so many different types of photography. Not only do I love that I am able to accommodate so many different requests, because I hate turning people away, like when I photographed Stephen, the para-athlete. But I believe that it makes me a better photographer. I learn things in sports photography that I can apply to my couple shoots and proposals, or my corporate events teach me something that I can apply at my weddings. It’s always funny how those cross overs work!

Lighthouse

The final hole at the Old Head is probably the most iconic one. The lighthouse in the background is a feature that only a few golf links across the world have. So I made sure that every player in the group had their own iconic shot to take home!