A&E - Wedding Photography at the Maryborough Hotel /  by Jan

I enjoyed photographing this wedding so much, I split it up into two blog posts. So, click here if you want to see the wedding preparation photos of the bride and groom beforehand. They’re lovely photos that were so much fun to photograph with the architecture of the hotel. I’m such a sucker for tall windows! Haha!

With this wedding, I had a second shooter with me, Nic, who was a fantastic addition to the day. She was able to capture extra photos of the ceremony from another angle, which added so much to the final results of the photos. Having a second shooter might not be in everybody’s budget, but I would heavily recommend couples using this option!

Usually when I write these wedding blogs, I hone in on my three favourite parts or aspects of the wedding. And with this wedding, I will continue that tradition.

Reason 1 - Magic

I think one of my favourite parts of the wedding was the setting: the Orangery at The Maryborough. For those who don’t know, the Orangery in Cork is a venue with expansive glass walls, lush greenery, and cascading natural light. It’s a fantastic wedding venue as it let’s in so much light and has a magical botanical look to it.

It almost looks like the couple had a destination wedding with how exotic the Orangery looks. I am not aware of any other wedding venue in Cork that looks like that – and would recommend it for its views of the greenery and gardens outside

Reason 2 – Heart

Heart

“…my second favourite part of the wedding was the best man’s speech during the ceremony.”

On a more personal note, to the couple, my second favourite part of the wedding was the best man’s speech during the ceremony. He absolutely knocked it out of the park with what he said: it was a perfect balance of hilarious banter, that made everyone laugh, and heartfelt moments. That’s exactly the way it should be.

Reason 3 – A photographer’s obsession

And my third favourite thing, not that these are in any order at all, has to be the staircases! This is a wedding photographer’s dream. Both the indoor and main outdoor stairs that lead up to the main entrance. These staircases were great as they add height, interest, and architecture to the shoot.

It’s funny as well, both Aisling and Emmett are both relaxed and easy-going people, but the one demand Aisling did have was that we had to do the couple shoot on the staircase! In black and white! Haha, don’t worry Aisling, that was my thought too!

Thanks for letting me photograph your wedding!

Have a look here at my wedding photography packages for 2023/2024.

5-star Google Review

Aisling and Emmett clearly enjoyed the photos and the whole wedding day with us as well. They left me this lovely Google review:

“We used Save The Journey as our wedding photographer for our wedding in May. We have only great things to say about them.

From the first point of contact to the day of the wedding Jannik was so helpful, informative and overall just a lovely person to deal with.
On the day of the wedding Jannik and Nikki were fantastic, super professional while still making the whole experience fun and relaxed. We both said afterwards how much fun we had getting the couples photos taken!

We are absolutely thrilled with how our photos turned out, they are exactly what we had asked for! If you are considering using Save the Journey as your wedding photographer 100% go for it!! Thanks again for everything Jannik and Nikki! 😊”

If you’d like me to photograph your proposal, say hi to me here. I’d love to hear from you!

And remember, besides proposal photography, I also photograph the following:

• Adventure Couple Shoots in Cork

• Proposal Photography in Cork

• Event Photography in Cork

• and more!

Ali and Maha Proposal - Proposal Photographer Bell's Field /  by Jan

As seen on the Irish Examiner and Yay Cork.

I do video now??

I’m no stranger to photographing proposals, like this one for example. The element of surprise is obviously very important when it comes to proposals. You don’t want the unsuspecting partner to notice you, the photographer, before the question has been asked. So this means that usually I’m hidden somewhere in the bushes with a telephoto lens and am stalking the couple like a hunter. Haha!

This one was a little different though. With this one Ali, asked me if we could do the proposal at Bell’s Field, which was the location of their first date!

Ali is from New York and got in contact with me a few months ago, planning this surprise proposal on his holidays to Ireland. The plan was for me to pretend like I’m just a photographer taking some sunset shots and that he would come up to me and ask a kind stranger to take some belated graduation photos of his girlfriend, as they didn’t get around to it earlier in the day.

By sheer coincidence, just as I was hovering around them, waiting for Ali to approach me, she mentioned what a shame it was that they didn’t get any graduation photos earlier. It was the perfect cue for Ali to jump up and approach me and for me to pretend like I had no clue what was going on.

I’d say at this stage, I’ll just let the video do the rest of the talking and make sure you wait to see the crowd’s reaction!

Proposal Video

The great thing about this style of capturing the proposal is that I didn’t have to be hidden. That makes it easier on one hand because I don’t have to anticipate they’re exact spot. I can actually tell them where to go. I just had to concentrate on not blurting out, “Hey Ali!” as soon as I saw him. Luckily my acting skills were up to par and it all played out perfectly.

5-star Google review

Ali clearly though I did a good job too, since I received this amazing 5-star Google review from him, which I also believe is the longest review I have every received from anyone:

“If you are searching the web for photographers for your event, and you have the opportunity to read my review, then consider this the ultimate sign that you should book Jan asap!

I had hired Jan to help me out with a surprise proposal to my girlfriend in Cork. He was very quick to get back to me, and agreed to do everything that the proposal needed at a very reasonable rate.

I should mention here that at the last minute, I had to shift the date of my proposal and Jan agreed to still pull through, even though it was date of his wedding anniversary. You will not be able to get that sort of professionalism and courtesy anywhere!

So yes, the proposal day finally arrived, and Jan played a huge role in pulling off the big surprise! The video came out so nice, and the photo shoot that followed was amazing. My fiance and I were over the moon with the results and everyone who saw the photos complimented them, and appreciated how nice they looked!

So good results, professional, quick turnaround times (he got us the photos a day before schedule) and all around a great company to have at your event. What else could you ask for?

It's been an absolute pleasure working with Jan and reporting back the awesome results!”

If you’d like me to photograph your proposal, say hi to me here. I’d love to hear from you!

And remember, besides proposal photography, I also photograph the following:

• Adventure Couple Shoots in Cork

• Wedding Photography in Cork

• Newborn Baby Photography in Cork

• and more!

Getting Ready - Wedding Preparations Photography /  by Jan

We find ourselves at the Maryborough Hotel in Douglas for a wedding. The weather is surprisingly good, compared to the last week or two, and later on in the day, we’ll actually have beautiful sunlight and our first taste of summer.

The wedding couple, Aisling and Emmet, are in their separate hotel rooms. Having stayed at the hotel since the previous night, they are having very different experiences right now. Aisling is nervously excited, drinking champagne with her girls, music is on in the background, with the make-up and hair stylist doing their rounds.

Emmet is bricking it. From his balcony they can see the room his future wife is in, but they can not see her. He gets out a bottle of whiskey, pours himself and his boys a bit of courage, and then himself a little bit more. Generous is the word I’m looking for, I think.

We’ll get to the rest of this wedding on another day with a follow up wedding post, but I wanted to focus in on just theses wedding preparation moments here, as I had such a great time photographing this part of the wedding. Getting those detail shots of the wedding ring, the wedding dress, and all the important bits for a wedding was such a joy. Aisling and the girls were so relaxed and fun, I managed to capture so many lovely little moments.

The room itself was gorgeous as well, and I took full advantage of those tall windows letting in so much natural light. It made for some fantastically dramatic and dreamy wedding photos. It was especially great for these mother and daughter moments.

And talking about the parents, what about when Aisling’s father got to see her in her wedding dress for the first time? What a moment! It’s so sweet.

As the bridal party is heading towards the ceremony which is in the Maryborough’s Orangery, a conservatory style wedding venue, here is Emmet seeing his bride for the first time!

Maryborough Hotel Wedding

“…here is Emmet seeing his bride for the first time!”

In the next blog post, you will get to see the full wedding ceremony, the wedding couple photo shoot and the afters! I will link it here once it has been posted. So make sure to come back in a couple of days to see those photos.

If you want to see more wedding photography blog posts, you can view those here, including the couple photo shoots I do in and around Cork.

Looking for a wedding photographer and wondering about different wedding packages? Please see these pages and give me a call with any questions or say hello here. We can chat about pricing/price list and availability and all about your wedding plans!

Edit: Here is the second blog post with the remaining wedding photos at the Maryborough Hotel.

Wedding ceremony and couple shoot