If you are planning a local wedding, your engagement photos are a great chance to go out on a photo adventure! Emily & Benjamin had a Crowsnest Pass wild flower engagement session in advance of their Lethbridge wedding to make use of our nearby mountain landscapes.
Emily and Ben loved the look of the field at the end of Willow Drive in Coleman, so we did all their photos there. Waterton may be known for its wild flower season, but the flowers in the Crowsnest Pass last spring were just as incredible! We got so lucky with the day we chose for their engagement session. It was just a coincidence we chose the best spot to see them. :)
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!
Cody contacted me all the way from the US to plan out his Waterton winter surprise proposal to his girlfriend Makenzie, and this was a situation where she wouldn’t even know they were getting photos taken!
We lucked out with their anniversary trip falling right after the cold snap so he could justify taking her on a scenic walk. We did, however, run into a few snags with our plan! I arrived to find the location I gave him closed to vehicle traffic, requiring a bit of a hike through very deep snow up the Prince of Wales road. Once I was ready, I received word from Cody that they had gotten “stuck” at a restaurant and he was trying to rush them out without raising any suspicions. He gave me regular updates when he went to “wash his hands” in the restroom!
Not having met them, I had to guess who they were without staring. It didn’t help that two other couples came by around when I expected Cody and Makenzie to arrive! I didn’t expect it to be so busy there with the road being closed! One of the couples was even stopping to take cell phone photos like Cody and I had worked out in our plan.
Finally the right people arrived. I did such a good job pretending to be a landscape photographer that Makenzie was worried they would get in my way and wreck the photo I was taking! Once he proposed and pointed me out, I didn’t have to be so awkward ;)
They were both so happy after the big question that it made the rest of the photos a breeze! They followed me around the town of Waterton to the best locations, and had a truly memorable engagement story :)
Micah & Steven had a very chilly Lethbridge winter engagement session in November. With enough warm car breaks we were able to take full advantage of the winter wonderland that was the coulees that day! The snow around the river bottom looked so beautiful, and especially magical in the golden hour we lucked out with on this sunny day.
Their dog Korra came dressed in the finest formal wear a dog can have, and lasted for a little bit before the cold tippy taps started. (The couple wisely brought a dog wrangler along so Korra could hide out in the car earlier.)
The three of them make such a cute family and I’m glad the snow couldn’t stop us from having a fun outdoor photoshoot.
I absolutely love doing Nikka Yuko autumn couples photos, so I was excited when Charleen and Chris wanted it as their photo location. Every few years they update their photos and I always look forward to seeing them again. This year we closed out the garden’s season with this photo session. We were the very last photoshoot on closing day! The colours that were left were absolutely gorgeous. It didn’t even matter that many had already blown away in the wind.
Chris and Charleen remain every bit as obviously in love year after year. Getting Charleen to stand on tiptoes for a kiss made her giggle and we joked that she didn’t need to bring shoes to their session with how often I had her go barefoot.
When Kelsey and Aaron got engaged, they wanted to celebrate with family as soon as possible! The couple from Ontario booked a trip to Alberta at the very end of summer to visit Kelsey’s father’s side of the family. They decided to celebrate their mini family reunion with a portrait session at Nicholas Sheran Lake in Lethbridge.
Kelsey was so excited to see her grandparents again! These photos were a big deal since her grandmother is usually behind the camera taking photos of the rest of the family. They finally got to get her in the photos!
We took the opportunity to spend half of the session on family photos and half on engagement photos of the couple. Kelsey loves being around water, so Nicholas Sheran was the perfect location for them.
