Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Such a classy wedding looks fantastic in this Norland Christmas wedding album! Kendra and DJ chose their favourite highlights from their winter wedding. Their selections focused on their family, especially their daughter who really stole the show that day.

The cover features the burgundy colour used throughout their wedding and creates a romantic look with the charcoal leather spine and black satin album bag.

I was so excited when Joshua contacted me that he wanted to do a Winter Light Festival proposal for his girlfriend Makayla. Our original plan was for me to creep in the bushes, but once Makayla started dropping hints that she’d love professional photos for Christmas, Joshua and I had a much easier plan to work with!

I met up with them just outside of Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden so we could do the proposal in the lit entrance way and then head inside for the rest of their engagement photos. We almost hit a snag with how super busy the garden was that night. Not only would privacy be impossible, but there was barely room to even pose in the spot we had planned! Somehow, just as it was time, the crowd disappeared and everything went perfectly. According to Makayla, the proposal was not a surprise at all ;)

We had the most perfect night that had snow on the ground, was warm enough, and not at all windy. Makayla and Joshua were constantly congratulated by the other guests, and everyone was so awesome for making sure we had uninterrupted space for photos. They were so much fun and had me laughing all night! Even one of the staff members commented on how much he loved their vibe!

We had such a great time hanging out with Santa and Mrs. Clause at the Big Farmer’s Market hosted by Lethbridge & District Exhibition this year! Thank you to everyone who came out for photos with Santa. It was wonderful seeing so many familiar faces and meeting so many new families. Santa was fantastic for hamming it up anytime he had his beard tugged by a baby and he always went the extra mile, including laying on the ground if needed!

Kendra and DJ already have a family together, but their Norland Estate winter wedding was a party to make it official! They invited their closest family and friends and themed the event around the Christmas holidays. Kendra hoped for snow but in true Lethbridge fashion we got a wind warning instead. In the end this worked to our advantage because it gave us the most beautiful golden hour!

Despite the wind, everyone was great about taking photos outside. There was even enough snow left for Kendra’s wintery wishes! Once twilight hit, we went back out for a few more photos. The gazebo is so beautifully lit at night and the Norland looks incredible decked out for Christmas.

Their daughter Addison had an absolute blast all day and didn’t even need a nap break! Kendra and DJ made sure a lot of the day focused on her. After she spent the afternoon getting ready with her parents, she was ready to greet all of their guests and then take part in photos. She didn’t mind the wind one bit! At dinner, she got to sit right between her mom and dad at the head table.

It was so great to spend another day with this sweet family (we also did Kendra’s brother’s wedding).

Congratulations, Kendra and DJ!

This year we had very ambitious goals for Santa Paws! With the opening of The Bone & Biscuit’s second Lethbridge location on Mayor Magrath this year, we decided to do two days of Santa visiting pets. It’s a good thing we had the extra space available because even with doubling the number of appointments we took per hour from last year, we filled every spot and had to turn many pups away!

We saw the return of many familiar faces (and whiskers), some of which added new members to their family, and we made lots of new friends. So many more kitties came to see Santa this year, and everyone was on their best behaviour. Santa got lots of kisses but hardly got de-bearded, and never got knocked over once. We did hit a new record with 4 potty accidents on one day though!

Money was raised for Wag-A-Muffins Animals Rescue and we thank everyone who brought their pets for helping support this rescue.

Our Santa Paws photos looked a little different this year with Coronavirus, but we found new ways to make it work! Santa came to visit us at the Bone & Biscuit location in Crossings in west Lethbridge wearing a very festive mask. We safely spaced out all of our pet families with appointment times, and loved it so much that we’ll do it again! Our more anxious dogs got to have more time to sniff Santa without a bunch of other dogs waiting and watching.

This year all money raised was in support of Windy City Canine Rescue. We were visited by 60 dogs, 4 cats, and broke our average of one dog peeing on the floor with more than 3 accidents! Luckily, Santa did not get peed on this year, and thanks to his mask, you couldn’t tell if a dog had tugged on his beard a little too hard. (However, Santa WAS knocked out of his chair at least twice by excited pooches.)

We saw the return of quite a few favourites from last year (including the small crying boy who, sure enough, still cried at the sight of Santa), and hope to see everyone again next Christmas!