Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Our second year visiting Santa was a success! This year’s Santa Paws photos were held at the new Bone & Biscuit location in Crossings in west Lethbridge.

Santa Paws 2018 Stats:

– Santa was visited by 41 dogs and 9 cats
– Santa’s hat was stolen once
– Santa was debearded twice (once by a dog and once by a cat)
– 458* bribery treats were administered
– there was only one floor accident
– one very brave pup got closer to Santa than last year

*totally made up number

Proceeds from the event went to support The Last Chance Cat Ranch.

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I’m so happy with all these puppies I got to play with this month! Timber joined me with his human mom for his Lethbridge Burnese Mountain Dog puppy photos. He’s also part Golden Retriever, but the Burnese seems to be taking over. Timber is already larger than most small breed dogs, but a tiny fraction of the final size he will become!

I could not get over how well behaved he is for a puppy. That is largely thanks to the training he is taking, but he’s also such a gentle soul. He was happy to quietly explore all the new smells at the park and dig through the grass for fun clumps of leaves to play with.

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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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Local model Cheri happened to be camping in Waterton during one of my many visits there this year. I met up with her for some colorful Waterton summer portraits before I made the drive home. Our timing worked out perfectly as that day happened to be her dog Jax’s first birthday! We brought him along for photos and this was a huge win for him because it meant playing in one of the lakes at the end of the session. Despite knowing Cheri through the photography community for many years, this was my first time working with her and she was amazing! I was so glad she happened to have pink hair that month so the photos could be extra colorful.

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Our summer of smoky skies hit its peak for Kyle and Julia’s wedding. The day before their Bayshore Inn outdoor wedding ceremony, the town of Waterton was put under evacuation alert due to a new nearby fire! Luckily the conditions held and everything went ahead as planned. (The happy ending is the next day saw a huge downpour that helped to lift the alert!)

Julia and Kyle have a love at first sight story and continue to look at each other with that intensity. Both of them were so emotional at the ceremony, quickly shifting from happy tears to giant smiles.

Their wedding party kept them laughing all day and made the best use of their half day in Waterton by exploring the landscape. From going barefoot in the water to using downed trees as balance beams, they made use of all the nature around them! Kyle and Julia have such special relationships with their family that their siblings are also considered friends to each of them and were an obvious choice to have in their party.

Once we completed photos in Waterton, we drove out to Cardston for their tent reception at Kyle’s dad’s ranch where they were free to party all night.

Congratulations, Julia and Kyle!

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Theodore and Nigel’s human parents welcomed them into their new Lethbridge home with a puppy newborn session. I’ve been wanting to work with itty bitty puppies like this for so long. We didn’t quite do all of the photos I had in mind because Theodore and Nigel were very excited about the whole process and only wanted to wiggle out of everything! We started out the pet photography session in their backyard where the boys could wrestle off some of their energy. They loved playing tug-of-war together with any toy that allowed it. Once inside, they needed a little more bribery to go where we want them to. They are already learning a few tricks when yummy treats come out!

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