Wedding Photography

Austin & Éamonn - Alternative Wedding Photographer /  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 /  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:

C&P - Elopement Photography Cork /  by Jan

Elopement Photography at the Registry Office

You will often find me down by the registry office on Grattan Street photographing elopements. They’re really fun to shoot and it’s always interesting how each couple structures their day and communicating to me what they find important.

Elopement Packages

This is why I have three different packages:

  • The Ceremony Package – Which includes photos of the ceremony and group photos.

  • The Couple Shoot Package – This includes group photos and a couple shoot.

  • And the ‘Complete Package’ - Which includes the ceremony, group photos and the couple shoot.

Extras

Couples can then also book me for an hourly rate at a secondary location afterwards.

So this would be if the whole crowd is booked in for drinks at a hotel. I would then take candid shots like I would do at the reception of a full wedding. Which is what Clodagh and Paul booked me for.

Clodagh and Paul

But we started off at the registry office. Clodagh and Paul didn’t want the ceremony itself to be photographed but I met them there for the couple shoot and we started with the classics; the mural at the registry office and the courthouse steps! The sun was shining so beautifully, and Clodagh looked amazing in her white dress! This was one of the first, properly sunny days, of the year which is always such a joy for a photographer like me.

We then headed up to the Hayfield Manor for more couple photos, the family group photos and some candid photos of the whole family celebrating and enjoying their drinks and having a good time. I then left them just as dinner was served so that they could enjoy the rest of the day without me.

Couples choose to get eloped for a bunch of different reasons, and my aim is to make your day feel as special as a wedding day should. I really enjoy capturing these beautiful moments to a high standard and allowing you to personalize your big day however you’d like, so that you can look back on these photos fondly!

The couple were so happy with the experience that they wrote me this lovely 5-star Google review:

 
“We couldn’t have asked for a better photographer for our registry office wedding. Jan made us feel completely at ease from the start, which made the whole experience so relaxed and enjoyable.

The photos came back sooner than we expected, which was a lovely surprise, and there were so many amazing shots to choose from. He captured the day perfectly, from photos of just the two of us to group shots with our family and friends.

Jan was a pleasure to work with. We would 100% recommend him to anyone for any event.”
— Clodagh
 
 
 

Other Elopements

The following photos are some of my favourite moments from other registry office elopements.

 
 

Inclusion

Shirley and Tony only wanted their ceremony photographed. It was also very important to them that their son Ethan would not be left out on their big day. So he got to be the ring bearer and we made sure that he was in plenty of photos too!

First Off; The Couple Shoot!

Most of the time we’ll do the couple shoot after the ceremony. But some couples, like Darragh and Rachel prefer to do the couple shoot beforehand, so that they can then just relax after the ceremony and go for drinks and food, or whatever the rest of the day has in store.

In this case we didn’t do any city shots, but just went to the nearby Fitzgerald’s Park.

Thanks to Rachel for this amazing 5-star Google review:

 
“We can’t thank Jan enough for being available to take photos for our wedding at such short notice! (24hrs 😅)

The photos are fantastic, Jan really knows what he’s doing and had them back to us in just four days! Super service ***** ”
— Rachel
 

Port of Cork

Erik and Greice

“They fell in love with the Port of Cork and really wanted some photos there and by the city hall.”

Both Erik and Greice moved to Ireland for work and met each other here. They fell in love with the Port of Cork and really wanted some photos there and by the city hall. They went the extra mile and booked a wedding car to drive us around to those locations which we could then also incorporate into the shoot.

I think we got some lovely shots and Greice seems to think so too, with this 5-star Google review:

 
“We had a fantastic experience with Jan as our elopement photographer!

Jan was so easy to communicate from the start, quick to respond and understood what we wanted and worked to make it happen. In our special day he was there ahead of time, present during the whole ceremony and after discussed with us the best places to go, that were meaningful to us and would create beautiful photos taking advantage of the great weather.

Jan suggested great poses and locations. The whole experience was smooth, stress free, fun and a real joy and pleasure. The photos are absolutely stunning and we will treasure them forever!

We fully recommend Jan to everyone looking for a photographer for their special moment!”
— Greice
 

Spray the Champagne!

I’ve never had this before, but Dáire and Jessica were so happy to get married that they celebrated with a bottle of champagne. This was so fun to capture and a great photo opportunity!

Dáire kept it short and sweet with this 5-star Google review:

 
“Would highly recommend!! Thank you!”
— Dáire
 

Full Circle

When John and Louise contacted me, they had one non-negotiable; they absolutely had to have photo shoot on the bridge they met on! This is always so lovely when a love story comes full circle. I’m always happy to take requests to make your elopement uniquely yours!

Louise was a gem by writing me this 5-star Google review:

 
“Jannik photographed our registry wedding last week and we could not have been more impressed with how the photos turned out.

He was so accommodating with our requests and ensured we got all the photographs we wanted.
A really lovely man, who helps you to feel relaxed and confident while photographing you.

We would highly recommend him.”
— Louise
 

Surprise Visit

Abbie’s colleagues surprised the couple after their ceremony, cheering and congratulating the newly married couple. It was totally unexpected and a really sweet surprise.

The couple were also great sports with the rain that we had that day. I mean, they say that if it rains on your big day, it’s a sign of good luck. So Abbie and Lee have a lot of good luck to start off their marriage! Although a drink or two will warm you straight up again!

Thanks to Abbie for taking the time to write this 5-star Google review:

 
“Jan was our photographer for our wedding in January. From the first point of contact he was so lovely and helpful.

Even though it was raining all throughout our photo session it didn’t phase him at all. He was such a great presence to have around and so positive. He gave us great direction on how to pose so we didn’t look incredibly awkward!

We absolutely love the photos and can’t thank him enough. We would 100% recommend him to anyone!!”
— Abbie
 

Let’s Cut Some Cake!

We were lucky with the weather on this winter’s day! Look at that gorgeous yellow sunlight! I took Conan and Zeina to St. Finbarr’s church for some very striking photos. To them it was very important to also book me for the hotel afterwards, so that they could get some cake cutting photos and the obligatory pint shots!

Contact

So if you’re planning an elopement at the Cork registry office and you’d like something similar to this, say hi to me here. I’d love to hear from you and send you my elopement packages!