Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Natalie returned to her family’s home area for her Waterton beachside wedding ceremony to Scott. This beautiful area has always been important to her and she wanted to share it with the love of her life!

Every detail of their day had such personal touches. The wedding date took place on their dating anniversary. Natalie’s father performed the ceremony. Only their immediate families were present to keep the wedding intimate. Scott and Natalie put together her bridal bouquet themselves as a pre-wedding project.

Even in the crazy gusts of wind, Natalie and Scott were full of joy. They could barely make it more than a few minutes without bursting into fits of laughter in each other’s company. They have found such perfect partners in each other.

Congratulations, Natalie and Scott!

(more…)

It’s amazing to live so close to such a beautiful national park. While most of my wedding clients who get married in Waterton live nearby or at least within Alberta, we have a few each year who make a long journey to take in the beauty of the mountains. Jennifer and Scott travelled all the way from the United States to have their wedding here!

With the threat of rain storms looming overhead, they decided on an indoor Prince of Wales wedding ceremony rather than use the bluff overlooking the lakes. Their ceremony took place in the morning so there were very few tourists in the hotel spying on the event!

Jennifer and Scott had their children stand up with them as their wedding party and only travelled with immediate family, making their beautiful wedding that much more intimate. We had to hold off on family photos because what started as one person in happy tears quickly spread to half of their guests!

We were excited to discover how easy going Scott and Jennifer were. No rain could stop them from getting photos in the beautiful Waterton landscape! They were even willing to brave the rain without the umbrella, which was quickly handed in and out of the photos. Their amazing attitudes let us visit Cameron Falls, the fields full of wild flowers, and the burned trees at the edge of town (almost all in the rain). Despite the cold, they were still full of smiles at each other and lost in each other’s embrace.

Congratulations, Jennifer and Scott!

(more…)

Karah and Steve came all the way down to Waterton for their Cameron Falls wedding elopement with their immediate families for a beautiful, intimate ceremony. If their wedding day is any indication, they will have a very lucky marriage! After a week of intense wind leading to a day of thunder storm warnings, we were met with a calm and dry afternoon until just after photos finished.

We were able to go to the Prince of Wales Hotel without blowing away, stop in the wild flower fields, and then take a quick detour out of Waterton to get some amazing views of the mountains away from the wildfire damage.

Their families were so sweet, and completely bursting with excitement the whole day. Karah and Steve have such an amazing support network around them. The couple were so cute together, constantly transitioning from quiet romantic moments to silly faces and poses!

Congratulations, Karah and Steve!

(more…)

Kayla and Lucas chose their wedding date because of its historical importance to them. With it being a couple weeks into the official start of spring, they had hoped this would mean a spring wedding. Our weather this year had other plans! We instead spent the day taking snowy Waterton elopement photography.

Waterton has received so much snow this year that there is an entire residential street that is closed due to avalanche warnings. Within the town, you can walk up to the rooftops of many buildings thanks to the drifted snow banks. We were a little limited for locations unless we were to snowshoe, try bouldering the 10 foot banks from the snow plows, or chisel away a new tunnel. Instead, we went for the easy choices of Cameron Falls and the Prince of Wales Hotel (which were still a lot harder to navigate than normal!).

We first met Kayla and Lucas, their baby boy, and their friends at the Waterton Lakes Lodge to get a few indoor photos before faces became flushed from the cold. Once outside, Kayla and Lucas had no trouble snuggling in close to stay warm! Honestly, I think they would have snuggled just as hard had it been warm out, judging by the adoring looks they gave each other all day.

They held their elopement ceremony on the front stone steps of the Waterton Community Center. Their baby was a champ in the cold and made it through all the photos at Cameron Falls as well as half the ceremony before he had had enough! Kayla and Lucas were so lost in their vows that they didn’t know how cold their fingers and toes were getting until after their first kiss.

Congratulations, Kayla and Lucas!

(more…)

Julia got to experience some very special Waterton Lakes summer family photos when both of her abuelas came from Brazil to visit Canada! Her family wanted to show them some of the best Southern Alberta had to offer during their stay and it’s hard to beat the beauty of Waterton.

We started our photos at the Prince of Wales Hotel where it was just as windy as usual! Julia thought the wind was fun and constantly made airplane arms into it. Julia had so much fun playing with her grandmothers. I’m not sure who made the other smile more! They were so joyful to spend time with their sweet little grand daughter, doing all kinds of singing and dancing together.

(more…)

Terri and Craig got away from the city for the weekend for their Waterton winter elopement. It was a beautiful private event with just them, myself, and the marriage commissioner… very few guests were even in the park that day! It was so romantic to keep things so intimate. Their day will be so memorable not just for the intimacy, but for the weather. I think that was the craziest wind any of us have ever experienced! We managed to find enough shelter for photos and Terri’s shawl kept her mostly warm :) There was also the memorable fact of Terri having some wardrobe malfunctions with her dress, but luckily her shawl was there to save the day!

To get a break from the wind, they booked a room at the Waterton Lakes Lodge to have their wedding ceremony. They still got to have their mountain views through the window even if they couldn’t have an outdoor ceremony!

Congratulations, Terry and Craig!

(more…)