Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Cassandra has been dying her hair a variety of colours for the past few months and I’ve been so eager to get some photos of it! For Pride Month she got a full on rainbow added to her hair and we went out in search of the most colourful backgrounds we could find in Lethbridge for her rainbow themed pinup portraits. In addition to the usual bright murals that are downtown year round, Lethbridge Pridefest added even more variety for us as many businesses had rainbow themed front window displays!

Once it started getting a little too dark outside, we made our own bright colours indoors with gelled flashes. Cassandra came equipped with her big rainbow umbrella from Drunken Sailor and I brought my giant bag of bellydance veils for us to use as props.

This amazing hair colour and styling were both provided by Catwalk Salon.

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Just one day after second shooting for Melanie, I got to do it again with Kassey from Red Tree Photography! This time we had a Trinity Reformed Church wedding with Jessica and Josiah, who met at college and fell in love. Josiah’s family travelled from Ontario to meet Jessica’s Alberta family and have their beautiful ceremony at Jess’s family’s church.

Jessica and Josiah looked amazing, especially with her flower crown and his red bow tie. We took the wedding party to Indian Battle Park for portraits after the ceremony, then just the bride and groom downtown before heading to their reception at the Coast Hotel.

Congratulations, Jess and Josiah!

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You might recognize Alyssa from her solo performances, or from her wedding photos I did a few years ago. She’s been busy this year with her band Coyote Junction and I got together with them in Lethbridge to update their band photos to use in promotional materials. Since they are a country rock band, we went with a look that was rustic (but not dilapidated!) and there were so many great textures to fit this look where we wandered around. The neighbourhood we chose happened to be full of people who knew members of the band, so we had to take a few breaks to say hello! It was like they had an entourage following them ;)

You can hear music from Coyote Junction by checking out their Facebook page!

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I know it’s early in the year, but I think Kim and Nathaniel may be one of my most passionate couples this wedding season. The way they looked at each other and snuck kisses even when the camera was down was so romantic!

We started out the day greeting them as they arrived at the NRC church in Lethbridge and followed Kim as she walked down the aisle to her soon to be husband. For photo locations we focused on Lethbridge Research Centre wedding portraits, which was stunningly green this time of year, followed by a quick visit to Henderson Lake and the old red firehall downtown.

Kim and Nathaniel were surrounded by so much happiness and laughter throughout the day. From Nathaniel’s friends’ dry humor to Kim’s sisters’ theatrics, we rarely stopped laughing!

Congratulations, Kim and Nathaniel!

p.s. Thank you to Melanie from Photo Expressions for being my second shooter for the day!

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What better way to throw a party than with a Lethbridge New Years Eve wedding? Lynn and Kaitlyn planned their celebration to take place in the evening on New Years so they could ring in the upcoming year and their new life together with all of the people who mean the most to them.

They started their photos with a romantic reveal in the coulees just before a surprisingly warm sunset. Kaitlyn was shuttled to the location by family and hid in the van until Lynn was just out of sight. After a few moments of embracing Kaitlyn braved the chilly air to show off her beautiful soft pink dress. They were so awesome about working outside despite the weather… and at least it gave them an excuse to cuddle extra closely!

Their evening ceremony was held in Lethbridge City Hall. Their vows were a perfect mix of sentimental and humorous and could not have reflected their personalities better.

Country Kitchen Catering provided their reception party venue and dinner later that evening.

Congratulations, Lynn and Kaitlyn!

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Sheila and Ben joined us for their Lethbridge spring wedding photos just after their ceremony on what could have been a rainy day… but as luck would have it, it stopped raining exactly just during our scheduled photo time!

I don’t think I have ever laughed this much from a wedding party before. They wore blankets as scarves, high fived a jogger in the coulees at every bend in his path, the girls ran up the coulees in heels, one groomsman managed to get a girl’s phone number downtown in between photos, and everything finished with endless airplane puns at the appropriate time (though most of those came from Cam once they got going!). Seeing as how I first knew Sheila and Ben for their hilarious piggy back rides, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that they are such a fun group!

We started our photos in the coulees, now a saturated green from all the rain, then headed downtown to some of the most beautiful old architecture. Sheila and Ben have such a romantic, deeply passionate look when they interact with each other and these locations really accented those feelings.

Our last location was a fun one: the airport hangar! Even though we ended up not needing to escape any rain, it was such a great spot to take photos.

Congratulations, Ben and Sheila!

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