Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

While I wish the fall colours could last forever, they look so pretty when we get early snow along with them! Henriet and John got to make use of the first snowfall of the season for their snowy river bottom family photos. John pointed out that their autumn family photos on Christmas cards would look a lot different than everyone else’s!

Eric had a great time in the snow, even if he thought I was totally not funny. (Luckily his mom behind me worked for getting smiles!)

This session was a thoughtful gift from John’s sister, who was invited to stay with them when certain family members needed more space for COVID safety this year. I think she was just as excited to see these photos of her nephew as his parents were!

What’s the best way to celebrate 40 years of marriage? Barbara and Larry chose to celebrate by telling their kids they were making a one hour detour before dinner to do 40th anniversary family photos!

Barbara has seen many couple start their lives together in her time as a marriage officiant, so it was wonderful to see her celebrate her own marriage! I’m so grateful to constantly be included in their family’s milestones for photos.

This session was lots of fun now their grandson is old enough to pose and make silly faces on command, though I think his uncle was even more of a ham in front of the camera! We spent this warm evening down in Lethbridge’s river bottom, and even got to visit some goats at the end.

Weddings and events may have been postponed in 2020 due to COVID, but once restrictions eased up in the summer, everyone was grateful to spend time outdoors with their families! I was so thankful we have such beautiful, wide open outdoor spaces around Lethbridge so I could keep photographing all of these awesome families. I ended up hoarse on many occasions from yelling through my mask, but it was always worth it.

Two of the biggest trends I noticed this year were all of the babies who arrived (and these aren’t even the quarantine babies yet!) and all of the larger families who made an effort to celebrate important anniversaries and birthdays. I adapted quickly by bringing most of the newborns outdoors on warm days and talking their parents through poses. Everyone did so well!

Some highlights from 2020 include not one but TWO marriage proposals, a cat birthday, and a few more secret projects to come that I can’t share yet, including album art for local musicians and a children’s book. Each season was so amazing this year, from the long blossom season we had to the vibrant colours in the fall. Even the early snow was warm enough for outdoor photos!

What a year 2020 was! By the time March rolled around, we weren’t sure if we were still going to be able to call ourselves “wedding photographers” this year, or if COVID was going to cancel weddings and events completely. Quite a few of our couples decided to postpone their weddings until 2021, but the rest decided to shake up their plans and go for it!

We saw a little less travelling this year, but still managed to visit Waterton many times and went as far as the Pioneers Cabin in Edmonton. Many of the weddings were made more personal by cancelling venue reservations and moving the festivities to family’s and friend’s farms and ranches, where we found some stunning views of the Alberta landscape.

With 2020 being such an oddball, it was totally fitting that it was also a leap year! We started out the year with James and Kaylene’s leap year / 1920s themed wedding before we had any idea of what was to come.

Melissa and Schuyler usually get autumn family photos every year, but between quarantines and blizzards, this year they had a very different look in their photos! Their fresh snowfall family photos gave the kids a chance to check out all the animal tracks in the untouched snow and have fun snow fights with each other.

Their youngest was full of laughter through the entire session, so I think he’ll grow into loving winter activities the most out of his siblings ;)

Melinda’s secret plan to propose to her boyfriend Gage during their session turned into an even bigger surprise for her with double proposal engagement photos!

As far as Gage knew (or so we thought), he and Melinda were going to have a couples photoshoot in the river bottom…