Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

It’s never too late to get an album! Edina had planned on creating her own, but a few years (and kids) later, she passed the torch back to me to help her out. I had to go back in the archives a bit to create Edina and Eric’s Calgary Lougheed House wedding album and loved revisiting this beautiful wedding. This is still one of my favorite winter weddings to date!

Edina and Eric chose some of the more dramatic black and white images that were taken inside the historic Lougheed House. These made for gorgeous large featured images.

This is an example of the Modern+ Wedding Album with a charcoal leather spine.

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Technology is rapidly changing. In the 12 years I have been a photographer, I have seen photo delivery methods change from CDs to DVDs, to the near obsolescence of CD-rom drives in computers. While USB is the currently used form of physical delivery, there is a lot of debate among photographers whether they should ditch the drive in place of a download link.

What is the best way to deliver digital files?

While I live my life very digitally, I still love the feel of a tangible item. There’s something special about receiving a physical item that is personalized to you. After so much time goes into creating the perfect images for my clients, I appreciate the sense of finality they receive when I can hand them a USB presentation rather than just sending them off into the internet. However, opting out of the USB drive and sending only a download link definitely has its place. (I actually offer options for both!)

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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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I was so excited to finally receive Dan and Deb’s autumn wedding album from their wedding last October at the Bethel Free Reformed Congregation. We went with a darker layout to reflect their wedding colours of gray and navy and it really ties everything together. This album will be such an amazing family heirloom for them!

This is an example of the Signature Album, one of the albums offered specially for weddings. This is the second one I’ve had come in with the new case design offered by the company and I love the changes!

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The Norland Bed & Breakfast is one of my favorite venues in Lethbridge so I loved being able to revisit both of our weddings there from 2016 while doing these couple’s album designs. Shana and Henry’s Norland summer wedding album turned out beautifully and was especially fun to design as they let me take full creative reign and choose each photo that went into the layout (minus, of course, their absolute favorite photo from the gazebo that they chose for the case).

This is an example of the Signature Album, one of the albums offered specially for weddings. The publishing company has improved on the design since I last had my sample album made in this style and I love the textured opening leafs and new fold open case design. I’ll have to get a new sample of this style made very soon!

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It’s been hard parting with all these pretty albums this year! This earthy coloured book is Robert and Carla’s fall Waterton wedding album. Their autumn themed wedding at the Bayshore Inn looked gorgeous against the brown colours chosen for this album, and we went with nice big photos spread over the pages. It’s Waterton – you have to show off how amazing the landscapes there are!

This is an example of the Modern+ Album, one of the albums offered specially for weddings.

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