Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Nicole and Brandon’s Italian Canadian Centre autumn wedding was well worth the wait! Their wedding planning started pre-COVID and they were finally able to have the wedding they wanted with all of their family and friends there.

Back in high school, they had made a bet with a staff member that if they got married, she would come to the wedding. That bet came to fruition, and they had her perform the marriage ceremony! Their vows were full of laughter and happy tears, especially when they first saw each other in the aisle. All of Brandon’s tension melted away when he had his first look at Nicole, and she was overcome with very teary smiles.

They booked a fantastic car to get around for their photos, a classic Lincoln from 94 Cabs, which made for amazing photos. This was the very first wedding the car has been used for since it was restored, so it was quite an honour to try it out. We had such a great time out for photos with them, especially thanks to their hilarious friends who had no shortage of great poses and jokes to make the couple laugh.

Congratulations, Nicole and Brandon!

p.s. A huge thank you to Matthew from Aspire Photography who helped me out when Cam wasn’t feeling well!

Haley and Ryan were met with a ton of challenges in planning their wedding. After a year long postponement due to COVID and having to change their outdoor venue from a local park to a private farm wedding ceremony, their wedding day brought a new challenge of rain! If rain on the wedding day is a sign of good luck, it seems even more fortunate that it would stop just as their ceremony began. Their location hosts did an amazing job running around drying off seats and it didn’t take long into the vows for their guests to be able to put their umbrellas away.

This year has been so fantastic for very personal wedding officiants. Ryan’s cousin performed their ceremony, which made it so much more special. Family played a vital role throughout the day as they also had all of their siblings and a number of cousins in their wedding party.

Portraits were done at Pavan Park where the group really got started partying, followed by their reception that night at the Italian Canadian Club. Everyone there was so happy and excited to celebrate the couple; as soon as the dance floor opened, it was packed!

Congratulations, Haley and Ryan!

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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Erin and Taylor chose the most beautiful day to have their Lethbridge City Hall spring wedding. This was the first day of spring where it truly felt like summer was on its way and the air was filled with the sweet smell of tree blossoms everywhere we went.

We arrived in time for Erin to have her “assembly line” of first looks in her parents’ back yard. Her father got to have the first first look, followed by Taylor once he arrived with his groomsmen. Erin’s dad won the award for most crying during the first look :)

After portraits at Aperture Park, they headed to City Hall for their ceremony. Edgar the Barnowl presenting their wedding rings offered a unique touch to the day! He was very well behaved during the entire ceremony.

The day had already been filled with tons of laughter, but once the reception rolled around and everyone had time to relax and visit with each other, the laughter was non-stop! We had trouble prying ourselves away from all the happy dancers even after our photo coverage was over :)

Congratulations, Erin and Taylor!

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Weddings are so much more fun to be involved with when I have an emotional connection to the couple. Having known Andrea since grade one made working with her and Tylor that much more amazing! I love seeing how incredibly in love they are and how happy he makes her.

It was no surprise that Andrea put together such a beautiful wedding when she herself is a wedding planner (check her out at Elegant Weddings and Events!). They chose a gorgeous theme of purples and blues for their Italian Canadian Club spring wedding, accenting their wedding party in lilac while they wore blue. Andrea was so in love with her colour scheme that she wore two dresses for the wedding: a more traditional white tea cup dress for the ceremony and a beautiful floor length blue reception dress.

Their daughter Evelyn, adorned in purple lace, obviously stole the show ;)

Congratulations, Andrea and Tylor!

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It’s a little harsh to start your wedding day needing an EpiPen, but Cheryl and Josh are tough and had an awesome day despite the rocky beginning (plus it sure adds to the quirky memories of the day!). We had perfect weather for a sunny Lethbridge autumn wedding, with beautiful fall colors to make their vivid wedding party outfits really pop.

After the girls got ready, we headed over to the Immanuel Lutheran Church on the west side where the minister worked awesome Star Wars jokes into the ceremony. The west side had so many amazing locations this autumn that we didn’t even have to leave it until it was time to go to their reception at the Italian Canadian Club :)

There were a few wedding party crossovers from previous weddings and as usual, they were such a fun group! Cheryl and Josh are amazing in front of the camera and you can tell how madly in love they are every moment they are together.

Congratulations, Josh & Cheryl!

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