Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Andrea and Jeff had always planned to keep their Via Church autumn wedding small, but had no idea it was still going to fit within the new rules when they were only booking one month out! With just their immediate families and a few close friends in attendance at Via Church in north Lethbridge, they didn’t have to modify their guest list at all.

This was a very special ceremony for them. Jeff’s father is involved in the church and performed part of the ceremony. Andrea’s son was their ring bearer, a very important role when they otherwise didn’t have a wedding party.

After their ceremony, we headed to Pavan Park for family photos. All of the cousins loved playing together in between posing, and luckily everyone was a really good sport in the usual Lethbridge wind! Once their family headed out, Andrea and Jeff finally got to enjoy each other’s company and really relax together.

Congratulations, Andrea & Jeff!

Rebecca and Colin planned their Trinity Reformed Church autumn wedding with splashes of yellow, which worked out perfectly with the fall colours in Pavan Park that day! We were originally going to do portraits at Henderson Lake, but after a windy week I’m so glad we made the decision to switch spots.

I first met Rebecca at her sister’s wedding a few years ago, so it was amazing to see her again so in love. Her and Colin are a perfect match, constantly making each other laugh. I think there were a few times they got so caught up in the moment with each other that they forgot their wedding party was even there!

We did all of their portraits with their wedding party before their ceremony, which was a perfect way to spend the warm afternoon. Their families then met us at Trinity Reformed Church for their ceremony. The church’s long aisle and steps to the alter were perfect for showing off Rebecca’s beautiful long lace train on her wedding dress.

Congratulations, Rebecca and Colin!

Bobbi-Jo and Ryan celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last year and decided that would be a great time to update their family photos! Like most families, they started spacing out regular photos once their babies turned into bigger kids, so it’s been a few years since I last saw them. I can’t believe I’ve been photographing this family since their oldest was a baby. How did the kids all get so big??

Their warm autumn afternoon family session was a bit of a miracle after we had to move their photos around several times trying to avoid the snow that was on its way. This gorgeous sunny session took place mere hours before the blizzard moved in!

It was wonderful to catch up with them again and the boys had so much fun having races and climbing on the bridge in Indian Battle Park.

JJ and Shaun didn’t let COVID get in the way of their annual fall family photos, but instead chose to embrace it with masks for the whole group!

We had to WORK to find these fall colours in the park. After days and days of Aperture Park looking vibrant and saturated with colour, the typical Lethbridge wind came through the night before their photoshoot and blew it all away. Luckily there was still enough colour left if you angled the right way!

We had used the park for their annual family photos a few other years, so Shaun was excited to recreate a few of the photos the girls posed for when they were younger. Now that the girls are older it was easy to recreate any photos we wanted, and a lot less stressful for their parents chasing them around ;)

I love how vibrant Shelly’s colourful autumn portrait session turned out! Shelly and I planned her outfits ahead of time and I chose the best locations to compliment each one. Shelly looks amazing in bright yellow, so it was perfect for autumn.

Shelly’s family is overseas and with COVID hitting that year, it meant she didn’t get to see them as much as she would have liked. This session was planned as a gift to her mom so she could still see her daughter from afar, which I thought was so sweet!

Shelly is fairly new to Lethbridge after moving from Edmonton, so we made use of a few iconic Lethbridge features like the coulees. She has such a contagious smile and came ready for her photos after studying poses she wanted to use. (I don’t want to scare others away – normally you don’t have to worry about posing, I will do that for you!) It was great getting to know her for the hour session, and we luckily beat a huge rain storm by minutes!

Magrath has such a beautiful nature park, so I was totally on board when Trish and John asked me to come visit them closer to their home for their session! We had a beautiful evening for their Magrath autumn family photos. The timing worked out perfectly between that and having all their kids home at the same time!

The park is a favourite spot for the family to explore, so the kids came ready to climb the awesome big tree that grows over the water. Everyone was so great about following me through bushes and ditches for the best spots!