Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

It’s always a joy to return to Tayler’s home near Taber and document her and her beloved animals year after year.

Tayler has exponentially increased her husbandry skills with the addition of her herd of little ponies (or a “string” of ponies if Google is correct!), many of whom are adorably named after Game of Thrones characters. Some of these proved to be more challenging to coerce into photos than the cats, while others lovingly followed us everywhere and photobombed us when it was supposed to be another pony’s turn.

Sadly Tayler lost her dog Summer last year, so the photo of her with her remaining dogs was super important. Autumn and Summer had been best buds and now Autumn is also getting up there in age, so we focused a little harder on playtime photos with her.

We had a little less time for photos of Tayler by herself this year after all our pony wrangling, but quickly snuck in some individual portraits each time she did a quick wardrobe change!

Thank you for trusting me with your photos year after year, Tayler! :)

What’s better than one adoptable puppy? Two, of course! Bean and Belle are a doggy brother and sister duo who took a fun trip with their foster mom to Henderson Lake for their adoption photos. The two most enjoyed munching on leaves, especially Belle who was hard to catch without a mouthful! (Bean, on the other hand, was more into pine cones once he discovered those.)

Belle stood out the most for her sweet, soulful eyes, while Bean’s spunky personality and giant paws gave a glimpse into the energetic big boy he’s going to become.

Bean and Belle were photographed for the Alberta Animal Rescue Crew Society (AARCS), but were no longer listed only a few weeks after I met them. They must be bringing so much joy to their new families!

What better way to spend an evening than with Newfoundland dog flower crown portraits? Friendly is the epitome of a gentle giant. Her name perfectly fits her personality!

At only one year old, this big girl is already so well trained. Her stay and recall were on point, and she mostly tolerated having flowers on her! Friendly’s only real struggle was not eating all the awesome sticks at Aperture Park in west Lethbridge. We had to take a few breaks as large chunks of tree were repeatedly fished out of her mouth. She got her fill of fibre during her photos!

Working with a dog this size comes with it’s own unqiue set of challenges. We had to take frequent breaks for slobber wipe up, especially once the tasty sticks were discovered. And when Friendly decided she wanted to go somewhere else, it took a lot of strength from her person to convince her otherwise!

Cassie and Chelsea travelled south for their intimate Waterton wedding ceremony at the Bayshore Inn. As a child, Cassie would go to Waterton with her grandparents every summer. Choosing to get married there meant that now Chelsea could bring her grandpa back to the park! They could not have picked a more special location :)

Only their immediate family and a handful of friends were present and their wedding took place in Waterton’s off season. It made it feel like they had most of the park to themselves! (Other than us running into a random tour bus full of people at Cameron Falls!)

Their ceremony was instantly adorable as Chelsea started giggling uncontrollably as she came down the aisle. She only stopped giggling to cry at a handful of emotional moments during their vows. Meanwhile, their dogs Rufus and Winston tried to steal attention away by crawling under the guest’s chairs and excitedly jumping on anyone who came too close to say hello. By the end of the ceremony, they were so excited that they could finally get hugs from their moms!

Chelsea and Cassie were so great to work with, happily braving crazy wind and hiking over rocky beaches in their dresses. They rarely quit breaking into laughter and stealing kisses, and we may have caught a few butt grabs when they thought no one was looking.

Congratulations, Cassie & Chelsea!

Steva celebrated turning 90 in a very special way with a combination birthday family reunion. With family members coming from out of town, everyone was able to reunite to celebrate this special lady’s momentous birthday.

The family all joined me in Indian Battle Park on this beautiful evening, and we took the opportunity to photograph each individual family as well as everyone together. Four generations got together for this birthday family reunion. Steva was able to get cute photos with her and all of her great grandchildren together.

Happy birthday, Steva!

It’s been nearly 7 years since Larry and Debbie rounded up the kids for family photos, so a lot has changed since then! The biggest change is that “little” Luca went from being a giggly toddler to a talkative big kid. Plus, a whole bunch of doggies have been added to the collection! I went into the session clearly knowing which dogs belonged to which family because I was given each dog’s full name (dog name + family name) on the family’s intake form. (It’s important you know that one of the dogs is named Schlubby, and he was such a Schlubby they couldn’t possibly have given him another name.)

We carefully timed these multi-generation photos to take place in between rain storms and knee surgery. Luckily crutches were easy to toss to the side when it was time to pose! Aperture Park provided a gorgeous backdrop and gave the dogs lots of trees to sniff, and Luca lots of things to climb on.

It was great to catch up with this family, especially because they have so much fun when they are together and the joy is contagious!