Wedding Photography

The Sea Church Wedding - East Cork Wedding /  by Jan

Disclaimer:

I’ve already jumped the gun and posted the couple shoot from this wedding day. If you wanna have a look at the couple photo shoot from this wedding day first, please be my guest and check out that blog post here! You can then come back to me here for the rest of the wedding photography below.

I felt so spoiled with this wedding photo shoot! We have the beautiful Sea Church in Ballycotton, the beautiful Ballycotton scenery that you already saw in the wedding couple shoot above, and we have this beautiful couple who put up with me for the whole wedding day!

This is the funny thing about weddings these days, before 2020, you’d say that having 50 guests at your wedding is intimate, nowadays, that feels like a hefty number! I mean, last year I was photographing weddings that generally had between eight and 25 guests. So having 50 guests felt like so many people at the wedding!

Wedding Preparations at the Sea Church

So I rocked up at the Sea Church, and man, what a venue it is! I mean, look at it! It’s not in your face, but it makes you feel at home very quickly. Not imposing at all, but elegant and with the decorations, it obviously took it to that next level. Plus, it was great that the restaurant was connected right next door to it.

Anyway, we aren’t hear to talk about the facilities of the wedding. We’re here to talk about some professional wedding photography! Hahah! It still feels weird to say that, I just always feel like I’m just a guest who happens to be photographing as well, getting to meet the other guests and the family members and enjoying the day with them.

Wedding Ceremony at the Sea Church

I think for this wedding blog post I’d like to just highlight three of my favourite things / photos / moments of this wedding (besides the couple shoot).

1) I really enjoyed photographing the couple walking out of the church and being surprised with the confetti. These shots were equally fun to photograph, some quasi “action shots” and also came out lovely. I love the reactions, the smiles and the confetti everywhere. I purposefully used a flash on a low intensity for these photos, even though we were outdoors, and strictly speaking, didn’t need the flash. The reason I used it though was that it does a fantastic job at highlighting the little pieces of confetti, especially the ones in the foreground. The flash bounces the light off of them and makes the stand out way more than just with the natural sunlight!

I’m also going to throw in, pun seriously intended, the bouquet throw into this section. Although it happened at a separate time, I always love the throwing of the bouquet at a wedding! Not just as a wedding photographer but also as an ordinary guest, they’re always fun to watch. Especially when you see everyone’s reaction to the person who caught it!

2) The cutting of the wedding cake! Now, this one was funny. I was setting myself up behind the cake, so I could get the wedding couple into the shot, as well as the reaction of the guests. I took a few photos but was waiting for THE shot of the cake cutting when the bride’s sister shouts over at me, “Jannik! Get to the front of the cake, no one cares what the back looks like!” Why did she react this way? Because she was the poor sod who spent who knows how many hours in the kitchen, baking and decorating it! Haha! Fair enough so. If the text doesn’t convey it though, it was a hilarious moment that had everyone laughing.

Although you can see, I snuck around, back to my original spot to get the shot I wanted. I have a professional conduct to uphold!

3) And with this one, we go back to the very beginning of the day. To when I was hanging out with the groom, his best man and his groomsmen. David, the groom, showed me the ring box. This was a handmade ring box that David had made himself! This might not be the most impressive photo of the day, but I loved that he put the effort into making something so personal for his big wedding day. I absolutely loved that little detail!

David also, insisted that I photograph the wedding with a 35mm film camera on the side. Which I happily obliged to, though it did feel very daunting on the day! Here is a video of my favourite photos. I hope to have some digital copies of them sometime in future, in which case I will make another post with them. Hopefully soon!

If you’d like to enquire about availability, you can contact me here, and for my pricing, check out my wedding photography page here.

35mm Analog Film Wedding Photography, Black and White Film

Ann and David - Ballycotton Cliffs Wedding Couple Shoot /  by Jan

I am coming right out of the gates with this statement, no beating around the bush, no nothing; I love the photos from this wedding couple shoot!

This post will just focus on the couple photo shoot part of the whole wedding day. The remaining wedding photos of the ceremony and all the celebrations will be posted soon.

The location was Ballycotton, the ceremony took place in the unique Sea Church, and for the couple portrait session we headed off towards the cliff walk. I pride myself in my meticulous preparation for photo shoots, to which regular readers will probably roll their eyes to already, but, importantly, preparation is so important to have these shoots go so seamlessly! And seamlessly it went.

I double checked the location the day of the wedding, just to make sure that the grass was still green after the heatwave we had, that everything looks good, isn’t vandalized or something horrific and that the sea levels are in the right height. Basically, double check that something drastic didn’t happen since the last time I was location scouting. The plan is always, drive the bride as far as possible and have her walk as little as possible! The bride will thank you, the newly dubbed husband will thank you, everyone will be happier!

As part of the wedding portrait photo shoot, I thought it would be interesting to use the life boat in the photos. On an overcast day like that, with not too much colour in the background, I thought it would be a great accent to visually play with. Its highly saturated red and blue hull would be a great addition of colour. It really added something unique to these photos. Plus, it’s such an iconic piece in County Cork that everyone will immediately know where your wedding took place!

It was great to take these following couple photos too, without the life boat. Not all of the couple photos had to have that boat in them. Here I managed to get some really lovely light-hearted but also very intimate moments between the two.

“Here I managed to get some really lovely light-hearted but also very intimate moments between the two.”

And this is where I really have to take a moment and thank the two, Ann and David, for being such a great couple. Not everyone feels comfortable in front of the camera, which is totally understandable. Plus on your wedding day, when you’re feeling so emotional and nervous. I have gotten married this year, and I didn’t recognise the nervous mess I became on that day. I have so much more respect for couples now and a much deeper understanding of what they are going through. Although it’s all positive, it is life changing day after all! I think this understanding is really translating well into my photos.

Ann and David were great. We naturally ended up flying through these shots quite quickly.

Of course we had to include the Ballycotton lighthouse in the background too! I think it’s actually illegal not to.

More photos will follow!

If you would like to book me to photograph your wedding or are interested in a couple portrait photo shoot, you can contact me here. I look forward to meeting you!




Secret Service - Couple Photo Shoot /  by Jan

“We’ll have to come back to Ireland again in the future, so you can propose to me!”

Kelsey only had to wait a couple of minutes for her dream to come true.

This photo shoot made me feel like a spy! Secret Instagram messages, code words, mapped out targets... Was I overreacting by feeling way too secretive and borderline guilty? 100%, yes. I quickly came to the realization that I, just a regular Cork Photographer, was not made for the secret life! Hats off to any legitimate spies out there.

A couple of months ago Bryant contacted me via Instagram, all the way over from Arkansas, USA. He and his girlfriend were planning a trip to Ireland and Bryant, being an opportunistic person, chose this holiday to finally propose to her. What did he want from me? He wanted me to secretly photograph the proposal and do a couple shoot with them afterwards.

After some suggestions for locations around Cork city and even further abroad in Ireland, we settled with the Blarney Castle. “I really like the idea of Blarney Castle I think she’d lose her shit hahaha” were the exact words. Well shit was most definitely lost!

I sent Bryant some photos of the Blarney Castle grounds, different spots and backgrounds where he could pop the important question. Since everything had to be done in secret and without her noticing, we decided on using a wicker basket with a bouquet of flowers in it as an “X marks the spot” kind of marker. Since Nic Flanagan, the second photographer who joined me on this shoot, and I would be hiding in the bushes, far away with telephoto lenses, their positioning had to be exact so that we could get the iconic photo of the proposal with the castle in the background. At the same time, we planned it in a way that they did have some leeway with it, after all, it’s the proposal that comes first in this situation and not the photo shoot.

On the special day, Nic and I arrived a little earlier, checked our positions and made sure all the angles lined up as expected. But no setting up yet, as Kelsey and Bryant would be walking straight past this spot to the castle in about 20 minutes. They would continue on their tour of the castle and while checking that out, we finally got to set up the wicker basket with the lovely bouquet of flowers by @gypsywhatever, then sent Bryant a coded message, letting him know that he could come back for the proposal at any time he felt comfortable.

It felt like forever until they finally came walking down the path again. I was stressed out! I was worried Bryant might have misunderstood where he was supposed to go to. That he might be frantically looking in another part of the grounds or already proposed but in the wrong spot. Wedding photography is a piece of cake compared to this! Haha!

Down the pathway they came. Kelsey oblivious to the entire situation. Gingerly she walked forward to the basket, daring almost not too touch it. This was when Bryant got to have his moment, with him eventually getting on his knee to ask the big question. Things were going perfectly, everyone stood at the right spot and even the sun came out a little. Our ‘Secret Service’ operation, hidden (almost) in the bushes with our ambush style photography had worked splendidly. They had fallen right into our photography trap!

Having a second photographer there was great. It’s not the first time that Nic and I have worked together on photo shoots. Having her there allowed us to capture the surprise proposal from two angles. It worked really well to have different sets of photos, one focusing more on the overall setting with the castle and another closing in more on the couple themselves. Plus it’s always good to have two photographers in a scenario like this, just in case another visitor walks in front of the lens or something unexpected happens.

This is the moment Kelsey realized we were there! Utterly surprised she was.

After the couple had a few minutes to themselves and Kelsey had a few moments to compose herself, we finished off the day with a couple photo shoot, so that they could make their fantastic news public to their friends and family back home!

What a memorable trip this will have been for them! Both Nic and I wish the couple all the best for their engagement and hopefully they’ll return to Ireland to have a destination wedding. I already suggested the idea, might be a bit of a stretch to get all the family members from Arkansas here. But they were such a lovely couple that I would gladly photograph their wedding in the future. Or maybe Save The Journey travels to Arkansas??

If you are looking for a wedding photographer or looking to do a couple photo shoot in Cork city or county, contact me here!