Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Meaghan and James made their Canadian Reformed Church winter wedding extra personal by including family members in all of the important parts of the day. James’ older brother performed their ceremony, which made it more special but also meant a few hilarious jabs at James were included. Their twin nephews did an amazing job as ring bearers, and siblings were included in their wedding party so they could spend all day together. Meaghan’s little sister may be one of the youngest maid of honours we’ve had, and she did an amazing job helping her sister!

Both of them were a little nervous excited in the morning, but that all melted away once they saw each other at the church. James absolutely lit up once Meaghan and her father came through the doors. He looked like he was fighting back exclaiming, “Wow!” out loud. :)

After weeks of little to no snow, their wedding day ended up being one of those rare days the snow came down! Meaghan and James were able to get the winter wedding they had hoped for (who would have thought February would be so warm?). Luckily the sun was also out and the bridesmaids all had shawls. We appreciate everyone freezing to get such great photos in the river bottom :)

Congratulations, Meaghan and James!

It was such a great year for families finally being able to get together, and that meant many opportunities to photograph multiple generations. Shirley and Richard managed to get a whopping FOUR generations together for their late autumn extended family photos in Lethbridge’s river bottom.

We had such a perfect golden hour while the weather was still warm at the end of fall. It gave the little kids a perfect opportunity to run around on adventures between photos, and give their dads chasing them some exercise.

Claudette and Marc had plenty of things to celebrate and combined it all for autumn family and pet photos. The couple were recently engaged so it was a perfect time to update family photos with the boys, as well as get a few cute engagement photos.

They also wanted to celebrate their older dog Stella while she’s still full of energy (the river bottom brought out extra energy). While Stella is in her senior years, little Monte is a brand new addition to the family!

After some cute photos with the dogs, they were put back in the warm vehicle so things could be a little more chill for the human members of the family.

We had to work quickly… after a gorgeous autumn week, Claudette and Marc’s photoshoot was scheduled just one hour before the first big snowfall of the season started! It was MUCH colder than these photos let on! ;)

Just as I had been wanting to do witch-themed photos, I was serendipitously contacted by a group of friends who were planning a girls’ weekend away in Lethbridge in the coming summer. They wanted to dress up like a coven for a fun photoshoot during their trip. It was incredibly hard to wait the many months until their visit, but soooo worth the wait!

Chelsey, Joanne, and Trish absolutely killed it. They selected sexy black outfits all with unique personality and enlisted the talents of Katt Panic for their makeup.

I had so much fun with these women, and they were up for anything! I got everyone to levitate, they climbed on trees in their dresses and heels, and by the end they braved the cold to make use of some creative lighting after dark. The best part of the session was their energy and the positivity they gave to each other, encouraging each of their friends and telling them how sexy they were.

This was easily my favourite photos session this year and I’m so thankful you ladies found me!

Bobbi-Jo and Ryan celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary last year and decided that would be a great time to update their family photos! Like most families, they started spacing out regular photos once their babies turned into bigger kids, so it’s been a few years since I last saw them. I can’t believe I’ve been photographing this family since their oldest was a baby. How did the kids all get so big??

Their warm autumn afternoon family session was a bit of a miracle after we had to move their photos around several times trying to avoid the snow that was on its way. This gorgeous sunny session took place mere hours before the blizzard moved in!

It was wonderful to catch up with them again and the boys had so much fun having races and climbing on the bridge in Indian Battle Park.

I love how vibrant Shelly’s colourful autumn portrait session turned out! Shelly and I planned her outfits ahead of time and I chose the best locations to compliment each one. Shelly looks amazing in bright yellow, so it was perfect for autumn.

Shelly’s family is overseas and with COVID hitting that year, it meant she didn’t get to see them as much as she would have liked. This session was planned as a gift to her mom so she could still see her daughter from afar, which I thought was so sweet!

Shelly is fairly new to Lethbridge after moving from Edmonton, so we made use of a few iconic Lethbridge features like the coulees. She has such a contagious smile and came ready for her photos after studying poses she wanted to use. (I don’t want to scare others away – normally you don’t have to worry about posing, I will do that for you!) It was great getting to know her for the hour session, and we luckily beat a huge rain storm by minutes!