Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

2018 was a great year! Cam and I spent so much of the year with people totally in love and the joy was contagious. These probably aren’t truly our best wedding photos from the last year, but they definitely made me smile going back through the memories!

This year we saw a bride ride a horse for the first time ever in her wedding dress, photographed through smoky skies, and laughed at far more hilarious kids than any past year. Like, so many kids let loose this year that there must have been some memo passed around at the beginning of the wedding season.

Even though I picked most of these out of my blog edits, I made it a goal to choose photos that have never been on social media! There’s a good chance you’ve never seen most of these. Unless you’re my mom – she reads and likes pretty much everything I post. (Hi, Mom!)

I hope you enjoy looking through our best wedding photos of 2018 as much as I liked choosing them!

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Vanessa and Robbie planned an elegant Galt Museum ceremony and wedding reception on the cusp of autumn. With glimmering rose gold and soft pink accents and well tailored suits, their wedding party looked so sharp!

They started their day with a first look at Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden and had their family join them there for photos. After their romantic and joyfully emotional ceremony at the Galt, we headed to the University of Lethbridge, which is where their journey together began.

The couple placed so much importance on family, including all of their siblings in the wedding party and making sure everyone close to them felt as important as they are. They were so ecstatically happy all day! Even as the pre-dinner sleepiness started to set in, they were still elated to be in each other’s presence and couldn’t stop grinning.

Congratulations, Vanessa and Robbie!

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Christine and Joe planned their Galt Museum summer wedding ceremony and reception as a celebration of their families coming together. They each gained two amazing children out of their union, as well as all of the extended family that goes along with it.

Joe’s uncle graciously let us borrow their rural property for portraits and for Christine’s getting ready location, and what a stunning place it was! Only a few steps away we had wooden swings, cute bridges, and rustic walls. Christine and Joe began their portraits with a first look. They both did a wonderful job of keeping it together, especially when it was clear either could burst into happy tears at any moment.

Their children were hilarious! They all had the best silly faces, great attitude when I asked them to be super serious, and busted out their amazing dance moves the moment the music started at the reception. The strong friendship makes it nearly impossible to tell they are a blended family and not biological siblings.

Christine and Joe were all grins for each other right up until the end of the night. They are so perfect for each other. :)

Congratulations, Christine and Joe!

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I decided I was due for a sample album update this year and chose to create a Lethbridge Research Centre wedding album out of Krysty and Kole’s wedding last September. Their wedding was a perfect fit to show potential clients as it starts with both of them getting ready at the Lethbridge Coast Hotel in the morning and has all parts of the day until their sparkler exit at night.

The full page spreads of the Modern+ Album were perfect for showing off large images of their ceremony at the Lethbridge Research Centre, full wedding party against the coulees, and sunset photos at Henderson Lake just before dinner.

Choosing the spine colour was a tough choice as their wedding had a few gray tones, but the natural colours on the cusp of autumn would look amazing in a brown. In the end I chose the dark brown leather spine and chocolate album bag to accent their photos. Thanks to the popularity of this album style and its really fast turnaround time, this year forward I’ll only be offering this style for weddings. If you’ve seen the other styles and still prefer those, they are still available by special request!

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Earlier this year I had another opportunity to second shoot for the lovely Photography by Andrea Hulst when she invited me to Henk and Melinda’s wedding. We started the morning in Picture Butte while the couple got ready at their family homes and then joined them at the Netherlands Reformed Congregation for their ceremony. We spent the rest of the afternoon doing their early spring Lethbridge wedding photography around the river bottom parks, hunting for the first signs of spring that were starting to appear.

Congratulations, Melinda and Henk!

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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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