Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Brittney’s mom surprised her with maternity photos at her baby shower, and she wasted no time getting that booked and picking out the best outfits for it! Her and her partner Brenden were perfectly color coordinated for their Pavan Park maternity photos. With a little bit of smoke still in the air and the river bottom being on the cusp of autumn, their photoshoot had a beautiful warm glow… or maybe that was all Brittney ;)

Marija and Cooper chose a special spot for their river bottom winter maternity photos. The location was right next to Marija’s parents’ home with no public access and opened to a beautiful calm area of the Oldman River. While she had been hoping for a winter wonderland, Marija’s long green dress and red shoes still looked amazing with the muted warm colours – and maternity photos aren’t really something you can schedule to wait for the right weather ;)

They brought their very high energy dog Ellie along for the photoshoot. She spent most of the time excitedly zooming from stick to stick, pausing occasionally to pose for a photo. She definitely “enhanced” a few photos when she accidentally popped in!

Raiden and Kendra celebrated the soon to be arrival of their daughter with early spring maternity photos. They personalized the session by including their classic Ford Falcon as a focus point, which may be the best maternity photo prop I’ve had so far!

I’m so glad they were able to add photos in the Helen Schuler nature reserve to the session because it looked amazing on Kendra! The time in between winter and the spring blooms is so complementary to redheads.

Jessica and Tyler wanted to announce their pregnancy to Jessica’s family in a very memorable way. These surprise maternity announcement photos were disguised as a family session with Jessica’s parents. A few friends joined at the end to supposedly help with a photo for the couple’s wedding invitations. That’s when the big reveal came!

The couple travelled to Jessica’s hometown of the Crowsnest Pass to tell her parents the big news. She made the excuse that they needed updated family photos, so we spent the first part of the session doing just that! We went to the Miner’s Path with their dogs Trip and Chloe and acted like everything was totally normal. I had to try so hard not to laugh when Jessica’s mom told me the dogs were her grandkids because that’s all Jessica was giving her!

Just before the polar vortex hit Lethbridge, it was welcomed in by a heavy blizzard. This happened to be exactly when Lindsay’s maternity photoshoot was booked! We decided to press on since her husband Terry was only back from work for a few more days (and -15C with snow sounded a lot better than -40C!). She ended up with some very snowy Pavan Park maternity photos.

In the beginning, the snow was so thick I could barely see them! Luckily it calmed down just enough to make the photos so wintery and dreamy. Lindsay was committed to her vision and took her huge coat off for photos. The colourful dress looked so amazing in the snow. Her maternity photoshoot will truly be a memorable experience!

I love seeing my past wedding clients growing their families! Vanessa and Robbie made a day trip down for their Waterton winter maternity session. This was one of the rare times I got to photograph snow this winter, so I appreciated it despite the freezing temperatures! Vanessa herself was super brave to strip down to her dress and no coat a few times. It helped that they came prepared with mochas to warm up on!

We adventured through what was open in the park. Luckily we were able to access nearly everything since Waterton didn’t yet have snow up to the rooftops! We set up a little mocha picnic on one of the snowy trails and confused a few hikers.