Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

This year was my first time photographing the Parkinson Step n Stride walk held in Lethbridge at Henderson Lake. The fundraising event was organized by the Parkinson Association of Alberta and had an amazing turnout and even more amazing weather. Thank you to everyone who came out to support this great cause!

In all the years I’ve photographed the MS Walk in Lethbridge, this is probably the best weather we’ve ever had! The walk was once again held at Henderson Lake and I loved the new starting line being in view of the water and bridges. Everything felt back to normal after the walk couldn’t happen for a few years and the turnout was incredible. It is so great to see so many people come out in support of MS Canada each year!

It’s been a while since I got to photograph an AARCS adoptable rescue dog (most are located in the Calgary area) so I was super excited when I got a message that our local dog foster home had a new one! Doogan is still in his puppy phase even though he looks grown up. He has so many cute features like his single floppy ear and heeler spotty feet. He had such a good head tilt for me when I made noises and had a blast playing with his ball at Henderson Lake (though he’s still working on a few skills around that).

Doogan is available from Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS) and probably won’t be for long!

Most people go for newborn photos of their babies, but babies get so fun when they can sit up on their own! Maskeen had just hit that age when his parents scheduled his indoor winter baby photos at their house.

Maskeen took a little while to warm up to having a stranger in his house but once he did, his big smiles that he’s known for came out! We cycled through all of his cute outfits before getting him toasty in his blue tracksuit and going for a quick visit to snowy Henderson Lake.

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of vibrant colours, so of course I love how Twyla and Frederick coordinated their outfits for their Henderson Lake morning family portraits. Their red and blue colour scheme looked so great with the vivid summer colours at the lake!

Their youngest, Tarick, had a blast at the session. It was obvious from the very beginning how much he adores his older siblings, so being able to run around the park with them was the best! (Though not quite as amazing and being swing around by his dad.)

Jacqueline and Matthew’s Galt Museum late autumn wedding couldn’t have fallen on a better year. The gorgeous fall we had meant they still had fall colours and (sort of) warm temperatures for their wedding day. They chose the exact date of their 10th anniversary to get married since the date was already so special to them. The couple went with a starry night theme with blues and purples, which looked beautiful with the autumn colours.

Their ceremony involved lightsabers and such a huge reaction from Matthew when he saw Jacqueline enter the aisle. So many family members couldn’t stop their happy tears, including Matthew’s grandma who I overheard several times exclaiming, “It’s just so beautiful!” Matthew’s sister performed the ceremony (and managed to just barely make it through without crying too much). Jacqueline has younger siblings so she was able to include them in the wedding party as an older flower girl and ring bearer, matching in the wedding colours. All siblings were included somehow in the ceremony!

Partway through photos, we had their dog Fenrir specially escorted to us. He was so excited to see them that we could hardly get him to sit still! Basically he had an even bigger reaction during his first look with Jacqueline than Matthew did ;)

Congratulations, Jacqueline & Matthew!