Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Kate and John chose a beautiful mid-spring day to have their wedding at the Fort Macleod NRC Church. All day they were full of smiles, joking with their friends but mostly flashing huge grins whenever they caught each other’s eyes.

They picked so many perfect details to accent their romantic Fort Macleod wedding photography. Soft pinks, navy blue, well-tailored suits, a classic rose bouquet, and gorgeous lace detail on Kate’s wedding dress all tied the romantic theme together.

Their wedding party was made up of a variety of family members who double as close friends. Each member was very well selected, constantly going above and beyond to help the married couple by doing things like fixing Kate’s hair, checking in with property owners, and picking up pizza.

Normally I choose most photo locations for my couples, but Kate did all of her own scouting and found some amazing spots! We got to go inside an old wooden grain elevator and visited a few older style houses within Fort Macleod, all with beautiful front porches. Kate has an amazing eye for historic design. Each time we switched locations, I was excited to see what we were going to find!

Congratulations, Kate and John!

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Robyn and Wayne chose a beautiful, warm spring day to have their wedding. After they were married at the Lethbridge NRC Church, they and their familes joined us for Norland Estate wedding portraits. The property was so lush with all the fresh spring growth. We finished off their portraits at Henderson Lake to make use of the gorgeous lilac bushes.

They included so many classic and romantic elements in their wedding day. Robyn’s dress had beautiful lace sleeves and details, and her bouquet featured soft pastel colours. Wayne wore a well tailored navy suit with black trim and they brought along a family member’s burgandy vintage Volvo car as their wedding day ride. The Norland and this car went so well together!

Both Robyn and Wayne have such calm, kind personalities and a beautiful gentleness together. Whenever they thought they weren’t being watched, they were constantly giggling together :)

Congratulations, Robyn and Wayne!

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I decided I was due for a sample album update this year and chose to create a Lethbridge Research Centre wedding album out of Krysty and Kole’s wedding last September. Their wedding was a perfect fit to show potential clients as it starts with both of them getting ready at the Lethbridge Coast Hotel in the morning and has all parts of the day until their sparkler exit at night.

The full page spreads of the Modern+ Album were perfect for showing off large images of their ceremony at the Lethbridge Research Centre, full wedding party against the coulees, and sunset photos at Henderson Lake just before dinner.

Choosing the spine colour was a tough choice as their wedding had a few gray tones, but the natural colours on the cusp of autumn would look amazing in a brown. In the end I chose the dark brown leather spine and chocolate album bag to accent their photos. Thanks to the popularity of this album style and its really fast turnaround time, this year forward I’ll only be offering this style for weddings. If you’ve seen the other styles and still prefer those, they are still available by special request!

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Kayla and Lucas chose their wedding date because of its historical importance to them. With it being a couple weeks into the official start of spring, they had hoped this would mean a spring wedding. Our weather this year had other plans! We instead spent the day taking snowy Waterton elopement photography.

Waterton has received so much snow this year that there is an entire residential street that is closed due to avalanche warnings. Within the town, you can walk up to the rooftops of many buildings thanks to the drifted snow banks. We were a little limited for locations unless we were to snowshoe, try bouldering the 10 foot banks from the snow plows, or chisel away a new tunnel. Instead, we went for the easy choices of Cameron Falls and the Prince of Wales Hotel (which were still a lot harder to navigate than normal!).

We first met Kayla and Lucas, their baby boy, and their friends at the Waterton Lakes Lodge to get a few indoor photos before faces became flushed from the cold. Once outside, Kayla and Lucas had no trouble snuggling in close to stay warm! Honestly, I think they would have snuggled just as hard had it been warm out, judging by the adoring looks they gave each other all day.

They held their elopement ceremony on the front stone steps of the Waterton Community Center. Their baby was a champ in the cold and made it through all the photos at Cameron Falls as well as half the ceremony before he had had enough! Kayla and Lucas were so lost in their vows that they didn’t know how cold their fingers and toes were getting until after their first kiss.

Congratulations, Kayla and Lucas!

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After Krysty styled her engagement session so beautifully, I was excited to see what she had in store for her wedding day! Her and Kole carefully planned out each beautiful detail of the day, from their lemonade stand to keep their guests refreshed at the ceremony to their 200 sparkler exit at the end of the evening. Continuing with the cycling theme, they featured gold-painted bicycle wheels as decorations, Kole wore cufflinks shaped like bikes, and they rented a tandem bicycle for their wedding photos.

Their Lethbridge Research Centre outdoor wedding ceremony could not have taken place on a nicer day! They had warm sunshine and no wind, while just a hint of the autumn colours were starting to appear. Their ceremony was so emotional with each of them fighting back tears through their huge grins.

Krysty’s attention to detail gave us so much creativity during portraits (they also rented a super cool large vintage couch!) and their wedding party made the day so much fun. We even took a detour to visit the Love and Records music festival. Kole and Krysty were just as photogenic as at their engagement session so they made our job pretty easy ;)

By reception time, everyone was ready to party. The dance floor was never empty and grandma danced more than anyone else there! Krysty and Kole totally nailed their first dance choreography after their many dance lessons… even though it was Krysty’s first time ever doing it in the wedding dress.

Congratulations, Krysty and Kole!

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Koralee and Colin looked gorgeous for their summer wedding! We met up with them and their family at Henderson Lake, just after their ceremony and lunch, and were greeted with a beautiful sunny day.

The highlight of their day were their Diamond City cattle ranch wedding photos, kindly coordinated by one of the groomsmen and his connections. The location had everything Koralee was looking for: sprawling fields, groves of trees, coulee cliffs, and some local residents (of the cow variety plus one protective horse) to add some character to the background. We went off-roading with their driver from California Dream Limo to get there and had so many great spots to work with!

Their wedding party were hilarious and kept them giggling all day. The guys were great sports coming up with poses for holding the bouquets and the girls pulled all their strength together to lift up Colin. Every once in a while we’d send them off into the shade so Kora and Colin could have a few private moments together without teasing ;)

Congratulations, Koralee and Colin!

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