Great timing as photographer from Sligo captures WWE superstar’s marriage proposal
PHOTOGRAPHY is about many things, among them good timing and Sligo-based photographer Conor Doherty had perfect timing when he was on a private family trip to the Cliffs of Moher.
Conor, who trades under the name ‘Condoh Photography’, specialises in wedding photography.
But he was on a weekend end off in July 2021 and was with his partner Lisa and his son James at the famous cliffs for the first time when he noticed a “very big guy who looked familiar” walking around enjoying the view.
Conor was more interested in the landscape and very excited about his first chance to take pictures at the cliffs when he heard that ‘big guy’ say something to the woman he was with.
The ‘big guy’ turned out to be WWE wrestler Sheamus (real name Stephen Farrelly) who competes at the highest level in wrestling in the USA.
Sligo audiences may recall him from his days with Irish Whip Wrestling where he performed under the ring name Sheamus O’Shaugnessy when the promotion’s tours brought them to a more modest audience in the MCR Community Centre in the mid-2000s.
He is one of several Irish-born wrestlers who now compete in WWE with Becky Lynch and Finn Balor among the company’s biggest stars of the modern era.
Sheamus, who is 6’ 6’’ and weighs in at an impressive 19 stone, proved he has a very romantic side when he got down on one knee to propose to his partner, the stunning Isabella Revilla.
As he did so, Conor’s instincts as a photographer kicked in.
He had no idea who the couple were, he just wanted to offer them the photos he took of their special moment, a proposal of marriage.
“It was only when I shook his hand afterwards that I realised who he was.
“He was much bigger than I had thought, and it was really only later that I realised he was a famous WWE wrestler,” he said.
Since that special day in July 2021 when Sheamus made his proposal, Conor has stayed in contact with Isabella through social media platform Instagram and she and Seamus shared the pictures and he had tagged Conor and messaged him to say thank you for them. “I genuinely had no clue who he was. I had seen him before. To be honest, I was just happy to capture it, to be there and give it to them. “I didn’t post the photos myself until after they were recently married, and they had posted and shared the photographs.
“For me, I just thought they would treasure having the moment caught on camera.
“I didn’t know they were famous, that was irrelevant to me, I just thought this is a special moment and I am going to capture it for them,” he says.
Conor goes back to that day: “I had my back to them taking pictures of the cliffs and I just heard Sheamus pop the question. Instinctively I spun around.
“He asked Isabella to marry him, and I heard that and when I started taking pictures.
“I’m not sure they even noticed I had taken the pictures.
“They were in their own world on that cliff top and it was very special for them.
“Once they had finished, they had been hugging each other, I approached them and said I had taken some photographs of them, and I would love to send them on to them if they gave me an email address.
“I still had no idea who he was, he was very thankful, but I did notice when I asked for his email, he didn’t say anything but Isabella, now his wife, gave me some details.
“I could tell only at that point that he was Irish, and she was American. I am not very familiar with wrestling, so I didn’t really know it was him and I wasn’t thinking about that to be honest,” he told the Sligo Weekender.
Isabella and Seamus got married recently in New York and having seen their wedding day images, Conor thought now would be the right time for him to post the pictures he took on Instagram as they had been shared by Isabella and Sheamus long before the wedding. There are plans next year for a church wedding in Dublin : “Isabella messaged me that they are planning to have a wedding next year in Ireland and she said she would be in touch about that, so fingers crossed,” he said.
So, watch this space, will Conor end up with more special photographs?
Sheamus pictured after becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion for the first time at Wrestlemania 28 in 2012 after defeating Daniel Bryan.