Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

My favorite weddings are always when friends get married, and it means even more when I’ve known them since childhood. Though I didn’t really know Josh in high school, I’ve known Erika since grade 4, or maybe even grade 2! So, when people at the reception watching the slideshow laughed at her school photo where her hair was in a teased mullet, my laugh wasn’t so much of shock because I remember that photo :) I could probably dig up some other equally embarrassing ones out of my mom’s photos of my birthday parties, but I won’t!

Erika and Josh have been together for many years, and decided they wanted to take the time now to celebrate their relationship and bring all of their friends and family together. Though they’ve moved away from the Crowsnest Pass, they decided to have their wedding there. It was so great to be back with a bunch of school mates in the place where we grew up.

They had their wedding on top of the Pass Powderkeg ski hill, which luckily was finally free of snow (I knew a few people who referred to the Pass as “Snow Hell” this spring because the huge snow banks just wouldn’t melt). It was such a beautiful location overlooking the town and mountains, and they couldn’t have chosen a better spot.

I had so much fun hanging out with them for photos. Everyone was hilarious and constantly laughing. Erika and Josh were so crazy in love that I barely had to do anything to get those smiles out of them.

I’m so happy to have been a part of your day :) Read more here »

On Canada Day, just after my dance performance with Ammena Dance Company at Henderson Lake, I had a chance to check out Orbital Flame, Lethbridge’s fire spinning group. I’ve only ever watched the fire spinners do free styling on their Saturday night get togethers, so it was so fun to watch them with a routine choreographed to music! It’s too bad that they weren’t scheduled when it was a little darker out, but the lighting was still nice for seeing their personalities a little better :) Read more here »

Last week I met up with Michele, Gilles, Andrew, and Matt, along with their dog Krystal, for some long overdue family photos! Michele said it’s been many years since they last had them done, and the boys are definitely at that stage where they are growing up fast (and will be moving out on their own soon), so it was a great time to capture who they are right now. They were all super easy to work with, and the only challenge came in getting Krystal’s attention; she’s deaf, so it took a lot of arm waving to get her to look the right way! Read more here »

It was so great to see Joan and Erwin again! They are also expecting their first baby just next month, and I’m so happy for them :) Their little girl is going to have a lot of other babies to play with because there have been a bunch of other little ones in the family recently, including some twins coming up! This is definitely going to be one cute baby; Joan and Erwin were just as adorable as I remember them :) Read more here »

This past Saturday Michel and Sara had a small intimate wedding with their immediate family and headed down to Indian Battle Park for a few hours of photos with everyone. This was the first time I got to meet their new baby girl Melina since taking their maternity photos, and I loved that they brought all their doggie babies along too (who behaved way better than at the last session!). Aside from the horrible mosquitoes, we had a gorgeous afternoon while we worked… we literally finished 20 minutes before the huge downpour though!

Everyone was so fun to work with, and there was so much cuteness… from Sara’s funky dress, to Melina huge open-mouthed grins, to Goldie snuggling everyone who held her… I ended up going “Awww!” a lot :)

Thank you for having me take part in your day, and sorry I didn’t bring a bottle of Off! Read more here »

A few weeks ago I headed to the Crowsnest Pass to welcome Mark and Sarah’s first baby, Nate, into the world with a family photo session getting everyone involved. Unfortunately it was raining that whole weekend so we weren’t able to make use of the gorgeous scenery around Sarah’s parents’ ranch, but they had a wonderful house in which we were able to stay warm. Nate is a super cute, easy going baby and it was fun to see his grandparents totally beaming over him. I hadn’t seen Mark and Sarah in quite a while so it was great to have some time to catch up. They are going to make awesome parents, and Nate is lucky to have such sweet grandparents! Read more here »