Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

The quarantine meant I couldn’t photograph any real people for a while, so I grabbed all my Barbies when I was by my parents’ place and gave them a try at modelling. One of the biggest challenges was selecting outfits out of the strange collection I had (which totally will inspire a future photoshoot), though I was glad I had a diverse collection of doll types. Oh, there’s also the challenge of how none of the old Barbies had movable joints! I am amazed at some of the poses I balanced them in (plus a good chunk have Cam just out of frame holding feet).

I used this opportunity to play in the spring blossoms and try out a few experimental lighting techniques and multiple exposures. I’m so glad to have finally tried Barbie portraits!

(For behind the scenes videos of some of the more creative shots, you can check out my Instagram story highlights.)

Lisa and Skylar had a romantic and festive Lougheed House evening wedding in Calgary. The Christmas decor of the Lougheed House matched their red colour scheme and Lisa’s gorgeous red wedding dress. With the historic site already being decorated for the holidays, no extra decorating was needed for their wedding!

The wedding festivities began just after dusk with their ceremony. Their 14 year relationship in no way diminished their passion for each other, judging by their reactions! Skylar started loudly sobbing when he saw Lisa walk down the aisle, which resulted in her sobbing, and I almost joined them it was so intense! The crying soon turned to laughter as Lisa’s brother David performed the hilarious first part of the ceremony. Not only was it the funniest wedding ceremony I have ever attended, but it definitely hit a record for the most swearing during a ceremony!

After a quick toast to their guests, we explored the house with Lisa and Skylar for their photos. Luckily the weather was just warm enough to get a few photos with the beautiful exterior of the historic house.

We finished off the evening with their over the top family speeches which had everyone in tears of laughter, followed by some equally hilarious dance moves for the first dances. Lisa, Skylar, and their families fully embrace their humour and wackiness and it made for such a joyful wedding!

Congratulations, Lisa and Skylar!

Jannette and Adrian may be one of our most enthusiastic couples this year! They were both very excited about the photography planning from the very beginning and I loved Jannette’s level of involvement in all of her wedding details. Together we reached the decision of doing Nikka Yuko wedding photos for the majority of their portraits. As soon as they walked into the Japanese Gardens (the first time either of them had visited) and exclaimed, “Wow!” I knew we had chosen the perfect location!

The air was heavy with smoke that day but it didn’t get anyone’s spirits down. Everyone spent the day laughing and having fun, and the couple were so excited and willing to go along with every photo idea we had. This meant climbing over rocks in the water and spending a little extra time in a cathedral length veil that was struggling to survive the day!

We had a blast laughing with them all day and appreciated how much time they set aside for portraits, including an extra evening photography session around sunset.

Congratulations, Jannette and Adrian!

Ella and Mike held an intimate Waterton cottage end of season wedding celebration for their friends and family. Their friend generously offered her cottage for the ceremony. When the rain showers that day decided to arrive around ceremony time, everyone squished into the home to watch the couple say their vows. For the rest of the day we had wonderful weather and it stopped raining every time we went outside for photos! We had to take the umbrella photo they wanted in the sun. ;)

Ella and I have crossed paths many times over my years in Lethbridge because of our mutual interest in dance (she was the second dance teacher I ever had!). It’s amazing to see her so at home with Mike. In Mike she has found a shared love of nature and animals. Mike rescues and rehabilitates bears for a living. All day he expressed how amazed he is to have found a woman who loves bears as much as he does!

Their love and kindness towards animals is obvious in their interactions with Ella’s “baby” Coco. Coco goes on every nature adventure with them and can keep up on 30km hikes even with her tiny legs! She was an important part of the wedding day and had her own little white dress to match her mom.

Congratulations, Ella and Mike!

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A few years ago I came up with an idea to do some dreamy floral light painting photography at the Henderson Lake rose garden in Lethbridge. Some years the roses didn’t bloom all too well, while other years I never had enough free evenings. This year after seeing how gorgeous the roses were, I made it happen! I’ve worked with Tuezday as a model in the past, and her gorgeous daughter Rain has recently started modelling as well. I was eager to get Rain in front of my camera and had to get them together for this! Rain is already a natural at modelling and did fantastic holding long poses. These photos were done well after dark, requiring a flash light to focus and then using light painting to create this dreamy, fantasy effect.

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Cassandra has been dying her hair a variety of colours for the past few months and I’ve been so eager to get some photos of it! For Pride Month she got a full on rainbow added to her hair and we went out in search of the most colourful backgrounds we could find in Lethbridge for her rainbow themed pinup portraits. In addition to the usual bright murals that are downtown year round, Lethbridge Pridefest added even more variety for us as many businesses had rainbow themed front window displays!

Once it started getting a little too dark outside, we made our own bright colours indoors with gelled flashes. Cassandra came equipped with her big rainbow umbrella from Drunken Sailor and I brought my giant bag of bellydance veils for us to use as props.

This amazing hair colour and styling were both provided by Catwalk Salon.

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