Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Vivianne and her family had many reasons to celebrate when they got together over the long weekend. The Easter weekend falling later this year meant it coincided with Vivianne’s landmark 85th birthday, as well as several other family members’ birthdays! Everyone decided that it would therefore be a perfect chance to plan a family reunion.

Several of the Lethbridge family members graciously hosted everyone for the weekend. I joined the family just before one of their lunches. We rounded everyone into the green space behind the house for their formal extended family photos, and had to be very careful to avoid all of the wild animal droppings! (That park is clearly a favorite hangout spot of local deer.) Although a few family members sadly couldn’t attend that weekend, it was still momentous getting that many together all at once!

My friends have all been pretty quiet in the last couple years with life change news, so it was an extra big deal when I found out one of my best friends was having a baby! Normally I hop into my clients’ lives just before the baby arrives. I wasn’t used to this anticipation for months!

Alice arrived nearly right on schedule and within a week she was home and ready for her baby girl photo session. Everyone was starting to fall into the routine of having her around, but there was still so much excitement and joy. Alice was so sweet and quiet through her session and loved being snuggled by everyone. I look forward to watching her grow up… but not too fast!

p.s. One perk of doing photos for friends is being able to feast on cake at the end of the session. Cake eating usually doesn’t factor into the time, but I’d never be opposed if offered ;)

What a historic celebration for this family! Lillian was celebrating her 100th birthday and had all of her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and a large number of nieces and nephews came to visit for a Galt Historic Railway Park family reunion. Lillian’s son operates the Galt Historic Railway Park in Stirling, making it the perfect venue for their event. This was my first time visiting the museum and I was so impressed by this hidden historic gem!

Once Lillian arrived at her party, dressed to the nines in her pink crown, we got everyone together in front of the train station for extended family photos with the birthday girl. She got to retire from the photos before the kids, thus getting first dibs on her cake!

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To celebrate Beatrix’s baptism, all of her family reunited in Lethbridge! She got to spend the day with both sets of grandparents and all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins on her mom and dad’s side of the family. While everyone was together again, they decided to book Pavan Park extended family photos. After a few sketchy days of nearly being rained out, we met on a beautiful morning in the river bottom. I think Beatrix was a little too tiny to appreciate all her family visiting, but her sister and all her cousins had a great time finally seeing each other again!

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It’s been a few years since I last saw Julie and Chad, and since then they’ve had an adorable new addition to the family! They used my mini sessions to do some Lethbridge spring blossom newborn photos of Connor. He’s not quite a newborn any more, but pretty close! He was adorable in his little bow-tie and was fascinated by all of the white flower petals falling around him. His mom and dad just gushed with happiness snuggling him!

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The last time I photographed Jennifer and David’s family, it was just the three of them with Kalina. This time we had four with their newest family member, Erwin! As a special addition to their Lethbridge pink blossom family mini session, Grandma and Grandpa came along for a few photos. Kalina hardly left her grandma’s side, leading her around by the hand whenever they weren’t in photos together. Their grandparents were masters at getting them to laugh!

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