Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

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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After Krysty styled her engagement session so beautifully, I was excited to see what she had in store for her wedding day! Her and Kole carefully planned out each beautiful detail of the day, from their lemonade stand to keep their guests refreshed at the ceremony to their 200 sparkler exit at the end of the evening. Continuing with the cycling theme, they featured gold-painted bicycle wheels as decorations, Kole wore cufflinks shaped like bikes, and they rented a tandem bicycle for their wedding photos.

Their Lethbridge Research Centre outdoor wedding ceremony could not have taken place on a nicer day! They had warm sunshine and no wind, while just a hint of the autumn colours were starting to appear. Their ceremony was so emotional with each of them fighting back tears through their huge grins.

Krysty’s attention to detail gave us so much creativity during portraits (they also rented a super cool large vintage couch!) and their wedding party made the day so much fun. We even took a detour to visit the Love and Records music festival. Kole and Krysty were just as photogenic as at their engagement session so they made our job pretty easy ;)

By reception time, everyone was ready to party. The dance floor was never empty and grandma danced more than anyone else there! Krysty and Kole totally nailed their first dance choreography after their many dance lessons… even though it was Krysty’s first time ever doing it in the wedding dress.

Congratulations, Krysty and Kole!

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