★★★★★
We found James via a simple quick Google search, and it was meant to be!
Munphy Malte
JOD Photography · Weddings Across Waterford
Waterford Wedding Photographer
The Coast. The City. Your People. The Rest Can Happen Naturally.
Relaxed, natural wedding photography for couples who want photographs full of life without spending half the wedding day making them.
Waterford gives us two completely different worlds to play with. You've got Waterford City, old streets and historic surroundings on one side, then the coast opens up through Tramore, Dunmore East, the Copper Coast and Dungarvan on the other.
Throw in country houses, hotels, gardens and the Comeragh landscape and there's no shortage of places capable of looking incredible in a photograph.
But that's not really the difficult part.
The difficult part is making photographs that still feel like your wedding rather than a collection of nice Waterford backgrounds with the two of you standing in front of them.
I'm far more interested in what happens between the big moments. Your friends losing the run of themselves. Your parents trying not to cry. Somebody roaring laughing at exactly the wrong time. The people you chose to have around you.
I'll give you direction when we need it. Then I'll get out of the way and let your wedding give us the rest.
Waterford City · Dungarvan · Dunmore East · Tramore ·
Copper Coast · Comeragh Mountains ·
Weddings Throughout County Waterford
Relaxed Wedding Photography in Waterford
Waterford Can Look Incredible. You Should Still Get to Enjoy It.
We can use the coast when the coast earns the trip. We can use the city, your venue, the gardens or whatever brilliant light appears on the day. But I'm not interested in dragging you around Waterford collecting locations while your wedding carries on somewhere else.
Find the Light
Wherever the wedding gives it to us.
Make the Photograph
Without making a production out of it.
Get Back to the Craic
Because that's where the story keeps happening.
58
International
Photography Awards
Photography Awards
Since 2015
Photographing
Weddings
Weddings
Based in Cork and photographing weddings throughout County Waterford and across Ireland.
★★★★★
Where do we start! If we could give James a 10 star rating we would.
Gerard Counihan
Smaller Weddings · Bigger Stories
Small Weddings & Elopements in Waterford.
Whether there are two of you or forty of you, the size of the guest list has very little to do with how good the photographs can be.
Small Weddings in Waterford Less Production. More People.
A smaller wedding changes the rhythm of the day. There are fewer moving parts, fewer people to organise and usually a lot more time to actually talk to the people you've invited.
Waterford gives you plenty of ways to do that. A city celebration, a coastal hotel, a country setting or something much smaller with only the people you genuinely couldn't imagine the day without.
Photographically, smaller weddings can be brilliant. I get to know everybody quickly. The same faces keep appearing throughout the story. The relationships become obvious.
Small wedding doesn't mean small story.
Waterford Elopements Forget the Production. Keep the Adventure.
If you're planning something with just the two of you, or a handful of people, Waterford gives you a ridiculous amount of variety without needing to turn the day into an expedition.
The Copper Coast brings cliffs, coves, beaches and Atlantic weather. Dunmore East gives you a completely different coastal atmosphere. Around Dungarvan, the coast and countryside start colliding in all sorts of useful ways.
And if the mountains suit the plans better than the sea, the Comeragh landscape gives us another completely different version of Waterford.
None of that means you need to become models standing dramatically on a cliff. The landscape should be part of your story, not the entire story.
Wedding Photography Throughout County Waterford
Waterford City · Dungarvan · Dunmore East · Tramore ·
Copper Coast · Comeragh Mountains · Ardmore ·
Lismore · Weddings Across County Waterford
You Don't Need the Biggest Wedding. You Need the Right People.
Give me the people who know you properly, a wedding that feels like yours and enough freedom to watch what happens. Waterford can take care of the backdrop.
Wedding Photography Collections · Cork & Munster
Choose the coverage that feels right for your day.
Weddings don’t all run to the same timetable, and I don’t think photography should feel like it does either. These collections give you a starting point, from a smaller celebration to the full story of the day. Whichever you choose, I’ll photograph it in the same relaxed, natural way.
Collections start from€600See Intimate ↓
Travel Included in MunsterAnd I photograph weddings right across Ireland too, for a small travel fee
Sneak PeeksOften the very next day, a first look at your photographs
4–6 Week DeliveryPromised within 4–6 weeks and, as my reviews say, almost always far sooner
Private Online GalleryUnlimited high-resolution downloads while your gallery is live
Intimate
Small celebrations
Small, simple and meaningful.
For elopements, civil ceremonies and smaller weddings where you don’t need a full day of photography, but still want the important people, moments and atmosphere remembered properly.
Collections start from€600
- 150+ professionally edited photographsThe people, the moments and the atmosphere of your day
- Relaxed, natural storytellingYour celebration as it genuinely unfolds
- Private online galleryView, share and download in one place
- Unlimited high-resolution downloadsWhile your gallery is live
- Gallery available online for 3 months
Moments
Part-day coverage
The heart of the day.
For couples who want the excitement beforehand, the ceremony and everything that happens afterwards, without needing photography into the evening.
- 300–400 professionally edited photographsThe main story of your day, beautifully told
- Relaxed documentary coverageReal moments, just as they happen
- Folio presentation box with USBYour photographs, presented properly
- 50 professionally printed 6×4 photographsTo hold, share and frame
- Private online galleryWith unlimited high-resolution downloads while your gallery is live
- Gallery available online for 3 months
Most popularMemories
Full-day coverage
The complete wedding story.
From the nerves and excitement in the morning to the dance floor that night. This is for couples who want the whole day remembered naturally, without turning the wedding into a photoshoot.
- 500+ professionally edited photographsFrom preparations right through to the evening
- Natural documentary storytellingThe whole day remembered naturally
- Folio presentation box with USBYour photographs, presented properly
- 50 professionally printed 6×4 photographsTo hold, share and frame
- Private online galleryWith unlimited high-resolution downloads while your gallery is live
- Gallery available online for 6 months
The album collections
Your wedding story, made to be held.
Forever
Full day + heirloom album
Your wedding story, made to be held.
Everything you need from the wedding day, finished with a proper handcrafted album. Not something that lives on a screen, but something you can sit down with, pick up and keep.
Your handcrafted 30 × 30cm / 12 × 12" album, shown here with the acrylic cover- 500+ professionally edited photographsThe whole day, from preparations to the dance floor
- Handcrafted 30 × 30cm / 12 × 12" wedding albumMade to sit down with, pick up and keep
- Up to 80 photographs designed into the albumYour story, laid out page by page
- Your choice of beautiful album finishesIncluding my favourite, the Acrylic Prestige
- USB included with your wedding album
- Private online galleryWith unlimited high-resolution downloads while live
- Gallery available online for 6 months
Eternity
The complete album collection
One story. More than one home.
The complete wedding-day collection with your own handcrafted album and additional parent albums, so the story of the day isn’t kept in just one home.
Your handcrafted album and parent albums, shown here in linen finishes- 500+ professionally edited photographsThe whole day, from preparations to the dance floor
- Handcrafted 30 × 30cm / 12 × 12" wedding albumMade to sit down with, pick up and keep
- Handcrafted parent albums includedFor the people who will want to turn the pages and relive the day with you
- Up to 80 photographs designed into the albumYour story, laid out page by page
- Your choice of beautiful album finishesIncluding my favourite, the Acrylic Prestige
- USB included with your wedding album
- Private online galleryWith unlimited high-resolution downloads while live
- Gallery available online for 6 months
Moments & Memories
Presented to be picked up.
Both collections arrive in a Folio presentation box with your USB, alongside 50 professionally printed 6×4 photographs. The kind of thing you can put on a table, hand to a parent or slip into a frame.
Your full gallery is still waiting for you online, with unlimited high-resolution downloads while it’s live.
James’s Recommendation
Acrylic Prestige
The album I keep coming back to.
A wedding album should feel as good as the photographs inside it.
Albums are usually an extra on top of the photography price. In Forever and Eternity, yours is already part of the collection.
Forever and Eternity include a handcrafted 30 × 30cm / 12 × 12" wedding album, designed around up to 80 photographs from your day. You’ll have a choice of finishes, but if you ask me which one I’d choose, I’ll nearly always point you towards the Acrylic Prestige.
The crystal-clear acrylic cover gives the photograph real depth and the lay-flat design lets the story flow beautifully across the page. It feels substantial without being fussy, and it’s exactly the kind of album I want my couples to still be taking down from the shelf years from now.
- 30 × 30cm / 12 × 12"
- Up to 80 photographs
- Lay-flat design
- Handcrafted finish
- USB included
No long wait afterwards
See a little of it while it still feels fresh.
I aim to share a small selection of sneak peeks as soon as I can after your wedding. If I’m not photographing another wedding the following day, that can often mean the very next day.
Your complete gallery is delivered within 4–6 weeks, although, as many of my reviews mention, it’s almost always considerably sooner.
Your photographs are yours to keep
Download them. Back them up. Keep them safe.
Your private online gallery makes it easy to view, share and download your photographs in high resolution. Intimate and Moments galleries remain online for 3 months, while Memories, Forever and Eternity galleries remain online for 6 months.
You can download as often as you like while your gallery is live. Once it arrives, I always recommend downloading the complete collection and keeping at least one extra backup somewhere safe, as the online gallery isn’t intended as permanent cloud storage.
Make it yours
Enhance your collection.
Start with the collection that suits your day. Then add something only if it actually matters to you. There’s no need to squeeze your wedding into a package just because that’s how the price list was written.
01Second Photographer
Another pair of eyes on the day. Particularly useful for separate morning preparations, larger weddings and those moments happening in two places at once.
02Engagement Session
A relaxed session before the wedding, with no wedding-day timetable. A chance to get comfortable in front of the camera and come away with photographs you actually like.
03Parent Albums
Beautiful handcrafted versions of your wedding album for the people who will want to sit down, turn the pages and relive the day with you.
Something different
Your wedding doesn’t have to fit neatly into a box.
If none of these collections quite fits the way your day is planned, get in touch. I’m happy to talk it through and work out what actually makes sense for your wedding.
Drop me a lineMOMENTS
Let’s Get the Craic Started
real, honest & completely unscripted
Whether you're planning a massive session in Cork, an elopement in Kerry, or a celebration somewhere further down the road, tell me everything. Share the details, the venue, the general plans, and exactly how camera-allergic you both are.
Waterford Wedding Venues
Faithlegg House Hotel Elegant Without Needing to Feel Formal.
A country house setting near Waterford City, with the kind of grounds and interiors that can give us plenty of options without automatically disappearing from your wedding for hours.
Wedding Photography at Faithlegg
Let the Venue Do Some of the Work.
Faithlegg brings together the things that are genuinely useful for wedding photography: character, space, gardens and strong indoor options.
That matters because the best wedding photography plan isn't always the one with the longest list of locations.
If your venue already gives us somewhere beautiful for portraits, somewhere practical for family photographs and good options when the weather changes, there is very little sense in packing the two of you into a car and disappearing across Waterford.
We can make the photographs that need a little direction, use the surroundings when they're adding something, and then get you back to the people you invited.
01
The House
Classic architecture gives the wedding a sense of place before we've taken a single portrait.
02
The Grounds
Outdoor space gives us options for couple portraits and family photographs without making the day a road trip.
03
Indoors
Useful indoor surroundings matter in Ireland because the weather has absolutely no interest in your photography schedule.
04
Your People
The venue sets the scene. The reactions, laughter and people inside it are still what make the photographs yours.
The Photography Plan
Beautiful Venue. No Need for a Three-Hour Photoshoot.
A venue like Faithlegg should make the photography easier, not give us an excuse to keep you away from your guests. We'll use what works, move quickly when direction is needed and leave plenty of room for the unplanned photographs happening everywhere else.
The venue can make a photograph beautiful. The people in it are what make you care about it.
That's the balance I'm looking for at a Waterford wedding: enough direction to make something brilliant, enough freedom for the wedding to remain a wedding.
Wedding Venues in Waterford
Three Very Different Ways to Get Married in Waterford.
An island castle, extraordinary gardens or a hotel overlooking the sea. Waterford doesn't exactly force you into one kind of wedding.
Waterford Castle
Your Own Island for the Day.Waterford Castle immediately gives a wedding something unusual: you have to take a ferry to get there.
The castle sits on its own private island on the River Suir, giving the celebration a sense of separation from everything happening back on the mainland.
From a photography point of view, the attraction isn't simply the castle itself. You've got the journey onto the island, historic architecture, open grounds and woodland all within the same setting.
That variety can be incredibly useful because we don't need five different locations to create photographs that feel completely different from one another.
The Character
Historic castle surroundings and a setting that already
feels different before the wedding begins.
The Island
A private setting that keeps the celebration together
rather than scattering everybody across several locations.
Mount Congreve Gardens
When the Gardens Are Already Doing the Decorating.Mount Congreve offers a completely different Waterford backdrop, with the emphasis firmly on gardens, woodland and the changing seasons.
For couples drawn to outdoor surroundings, it gives us layers of foliage, pathways, mature planting and quieter corners rather than one obvious place where every photograph has to happen.
That's particularly useful for relaxed portraits. We can walk, talk, find good light and make photographs along the way rather than planting the two of you in one spot and working through a list of poses.
And because gardens change through the year, the setting has its own personality depending on when you're getting married.
The Gardens
Mature planting, pathways and natural surroundings give
us variety without needing to manufacture it.
The Seasons
Different light, foliage and atmosphere throughout the
year mean the landscape doesn't have one fixed look.
The Haven Hotel
A Wedding With the Sea in the Background.The Haven gives you another version of Waterford entirely. You're in Dunmore East, with the coast, harbour and village all contributing to the atmosphere.
A coastal wedding doesn't mean we need to spend the afternoon marching around looking for increasingly dramatic cliffs. Sometimes the sea simply needs to be there.
The venue and its surroundings give us options, and Dunmore East itself adds another layer if the timing, weather and wedding schedule make going beyond the hotel worthwhile.
If the weather turns, we adapt. If the evening light suddenly becomes ridiculous, that's when it may be worth stealing you for another five minutes.
The Coast
Sea, open sky and changing weather can give the photographs
atmosphere without dominating the wedding.
Dunmore East
The harbour and village give us additional options when
there's a genuine reason to use them.
Choosing Your Waterford Wedding Venue
Don't Choose a Venue Just for the Photographs.
Choose somewhere that works for the wedding you actually want. The number of guests, the atmosphere, where everybody can stay, how much travelling is involved and whether you can imagine spending the whole day there matter far more than one perfect spot for a portrait.
Give me a great venue and I'll use it. Give me great people and I'll barely know where to look first.
Waterford Castle, Mount Congreve, The Haven or somewhere completely different. The venue sets the scene. Your wedding is what fills the photographs.
Waterford Wedding Photography FAQ
Planning a Wedding in Waterford? Here's What Couples Actually Want to Know.
Prices, portraits, rain, small weddings, photographs and whether you'll actually get to spend your wedding day with your guests.
Do you photograph weddings throughout County Waterford?
Yes. I photograph weddings throughout Waterford, including Waterford City, Dungarvan, Dunmore East, Tramore, Ardmore, Lismore, the Copper Coast and the surrounding towns and countryside. I'm based in Cork and my wedding collections include travel throughout Munster.
How much does a Waterford wedding photographer cost?
My wedding photography currently starts at €600 for intimate weddings, with my main full-day Memories collection at €1,450. There are also larger collections including a full wedding album and parent albums. You can see the current options on my wedding photography packages page.
What are some of the best wedding venues in Waterford?
Waterford has a brilliant mix rather than one particular type of venue. Faithlegg House, Waterford Castle, Mount Congreve Gardens and The Haven in Dunmore East all offer very different settings. The best venue isn't automatically the grandest one. It's the one that suits the number of people you're inviting and the kind of wedding you actually want to have.
Do you photograph small weddings and elopements in Waterford?
Absolutely. Small weddings can be some of the best days to photograph because everybody knows everybody and there's usually less ceremony around what a wedding is supposed to look like. Whether it's an intimate celebration or an elopement with only a handful of people, the photography can be built around the wedding you're actually planning.
We're terrible at posing. Is that going to be a problem?
No. Most couples tell me some version of this before their wedding. You're not expected to arrive knowing where to stand, what to do with your hands or how to magically become professional models.
I'll give you enough direction to get things moving when we need a portrait. After that, I'd much rather the two of you talk, laugh and behave like yourselves. I'm not trying to make you good at posing. I'm trying to make posing largely irrelevant.
How long will we be away from our guests for photographs?
I prefer short, focused portrait sessions rather than disappearing with you for a huge chunk of the day. We'll make the photographs that are worth making and get you back to your people.
If beautiful evening light appears later, I may steal you again for a few minutes. But the principle stays the same: you get brilliant photographs and you also get to be at your own wedding.
What happens if it rains on our Waterford wedding day?
We change the plan. That's about it. Irish weddings and unpredictable weather have been acquainted for quite some time.
We can use windows, doorways, interiors and covered areas, watch for breaks in the weather and move quickly when one appears. Sometimes the weather actually gives us better atmosphere than a perfectly clear day. Rain changes the photographs. It doesn't end them.
How many wedding photographs will we receive?
My main full-day collections include 500+ individually edited photographs. Shorter and intimate weddings naturally vary depending on the coverage and what happens during the day.
I'm more interested in giving you a complete story than stopping because we've reached an arbitrary number.
How long will we wait for our wedding photographs?
I send sneak peeks very quickly, often the next day when I don't have another wedding immediately afterwards. Your complete wedding gallery is delivered within 4–6 weeks, and often considerably sooner.
I know what it's like waiting to see photographs you're dying to see. I'm not particularly interested in keeping you in suspense until Christmas.
How far in advance should we book our Waterford wedding photographer?
Popular Fridays and Saturdays can book well ahead, particularly during the busier part of wedding season. But dates move, plans change and gaps appear, so don't assume it's too late.
Send me your date. The worst I can tell you is that somebody got there first.
Waterford Wedding Photographer · JOD Photography
Waterford Can Give You One Hell of a Wedding.
The island, the castle, the coast, the mountains and the venue can make the setting incredible. But none of them will be the reason you keep going back to your photographs.
It'll be your father's face when he sees you. Your mother laughing at something she probably shouldn't. Your friends becoming increasingly unreliable as the evening goes on.
It'll be the people who travelled to be there. The ones you haven't seen in years. The ones who know exactly how to make you laugh. And the moments happening while everybody thinks nothing particularly important is going on.
I'll make the portraits when we need them. I'll organise the family photographs without turning the afternoon into a military operation.
Then I'll step back and watch your wedding happen.
You enjoy the wedding. I'll photograph the hell out of it.
Waterford City · Dungarvan · Dunmore East · Tramore ·
Copper Coast · Ardmore · Lismore ·
Weddings Throughout County Waterford