Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

It was another year of continuing our fun tradition of a family session with Melissa and Schuyer and their children! This year we switched things up again with Indian Battle Park fall photos, where it looks so beautiful in the autumn mornings. Melissa and Schuyler’s session was one of the few I didn’t need to reschedule due to snow this year. Last year they weren’t so lucky, so I was glad they scored a beautiful day this time!

Just days before the photoshoot, their youngest son Branegan decided he was truly a two year old and started exercising his independence. His siblings helped us out by leading him back when he’d run away, grabbing him in hugs, and distracting him long enough to stay in front of the camera. His most valuable item that day was his red comb that needed to be safely in his hands for all photos. Luckily it matched the clothing colour scheme his parents had picked out!

The kids got so excited when a slight breeze made the trees we were under rain down all their leaves. It was magical! (This was even enough to exchange a red comb for a leaf.) We did a lot of exploration in the river bottom and candid photos to keep their little brother distracted.

I love JJ and Shaun’s annual tradition of an autumn portrait session. As was a common theme this year, it took a few reschedules for us to escape the snow blizzards but we ended up with a beautiful evening and lots of vibrant orange colours remained. This year we went with Helen Schuler fall family photos. Each year they have me choose so I try to pick a different location, and we haven’t run out of new places yet!

Shaun’s career has him working for the railway so we made sure to get a few photos with the high level bridge, and spent the rest of our time exploring the nature reserve in the river bottom. Even though the girls are getting older, their energy hasn’t diminished and their antics (including asking their parents hilarious and inappropriate questions) had me laughing through the whole session.

Nic and Robin got lucky this year! They scheduled their Indian Battle Park fall photos two days before the blizzard hit us, meaning they are my only family who truly got the fall colours.

Each year I love seeing how much they have grown. At last year’s photos, Olivia wasn’t even walking yet. Now she was chasing after big brother Lucas and easily keeping up with him! These two are so adorable and made sure to make their mom and dad laugh whenever they were behind the camera with me.

We had lots of fun in the river bottom climbing on the logs and running through the grass.

This may look like a Christmas wedding, but these snowy Norland wedding portraits were part of the wild fall weather we’ve had! Janita and William didn’t let the cold temperatures or second snowfall slow down their wedding plans. They were just as enthusiastic about the snow, which looked amazing with the rich reds in their colour scheme.

The wedding party and their spouses tag teamed keeping the couple warm by picking up hot chocolate, being ready with blankets behind the scenes of the photos, and parking their truck nearby so everyone could warm up in shifts.

Janita’s family lives just down the road from the Norland, plus the venue is only one block away from their church, so it was the perfect place to do their wedding photos! There were still a few autumn colours here and there while the beautiful beams of sunlight provided welcome relief from the cold for everyone.

From the time Janita’s father started laying on the dad jokes during getting ready photos to siblings lightly teasing the couple during their reception, everyone was in a constant state of laughter and joy all day long.

Congratulations, Janita & William!

It seems to be becoming a tradition that when Marg and Craig get their family together for photos, the wind comes along too! We first experienced this in a big way for their daughter’s wedding in Waterton. A couple years later, the wind arrived just in time that morning. Luckily this left us with tons of leaves on the ground for the kids to play with during their Henderson Lake extended family session and the big trees at the park provided just enough shelter.

Marg and Craig’s children and grandkids traveled from around Alberta to be there for their morning photos in Lethbridge and everyone had so much fun playing together! The kids couldn’t decide if they should play with each other, with their aunts and uncles, or with Grandma and Grandpa, all of whom were showering them with attention.

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Siblings Carter, Payton, Maddie, and Jase needed some updated photos (at least according to their mom!) so I went out to their grandma’s awesome farm for their Welling autumn children’s family photos. The kids love hanging out here and helped me find all kinds of neat hidden spots, like a rustic barn loft. Even though the wind had hit our region hard that day, the gorgeous mountain ash tree in the yard had held itself together. Any of the leaves that didn’t survive the afternoon made perfect leaf tossing arsenal!

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