Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

Cody contacted me all the way from the US to plan out his Waterton winter surprise proposal to his girlfriend Makenzie, and this was a situation where she wouldn’t even know they were getting photos taken!

We lucked out with their anniversary trip falling right after the cold snap so he could justify taking her on a scenic walk. We did, however, run into a few snags with our plan! I arrived to find the location I gave him closed to vehicle traffic, requiring a bit of a hike through very deep snow up the Prince of Wales road. Once I was ready, I received word from Cody that they had gotten “stuck” at a restaurant and he was trying to rush them out without raising any suspicions. He gave me regular updates when he went to “wash his hands” in the restroom!

Not having met them, I had to guess who they were without staring. It didn’t help that two other couples came by around when I expected Cody and Makenzie to arrive! I didn’t expect it to be so busy there with the road being closed! One of the couples was even stopping to take cell phone photos like Cody and I had worked out in our plan.

Finally the right people arrived. I did such a good job pretending to be a landscape photographer that Makenzie was worried they would get in my way and wreck the photo I was taking! Once he proposed and pointed me out, I didn’t have to be so awkward ;)

They were both so happy after the big question that it made the rest of the photos a breeze! They followed me around the town of Waterton to the best locations, and had a truly memorable engagement story :)

Melinda’s secret plan to propose to her boyfriend Gage during their session turned into an even bigger surprise for her with double proposal engagement photos!

As far as Gage knew (or so we thought), he and Melinda were going to have a couples photoshoot in the river bottom…

When Meg wanted to ask her partner Shieghla to marry her, she decided it was going to be a group effort. After first asking Shieghla’s children for permission, she arranged a gift certificate with me. Their Waterton surprise proposal session was disguised as family photos for an anniversary gift. Meg then had oversized custom Scrabble tiles made by Nixynn Fine Wood Products – Scrabble is one of their favourite hobbies to do together – and came up with a plan for their family members to sneak the tiles into the session.

I met up with the family at Linnet Lake to start with regular portraits, and work through some of Meaghan’s nerves until she was ready to ask the question!

Finally it was time at the Prince of Wales! Meg and I had shared diagrams and code words before the proposal session. I asked the other family members to stand to the side while I took photos of the couple, giving them a chance to stealthily pull the Scrabble tiles out.

Shieghla was shocked and had never expected it! (Of course she said yes!) Her and Meg were so lost in the moment, they didn’t even hear the onlooking tourists clapping for them!

Congratulations, Meg and Shieghla!

My clients already put a lot of trust in me, but there is no trust quite like being in on a big secret! I was so excited when Kit contacted me to capture Lethbridge proposal photos of this important moment in her life. She planned to ask her girlfriend Tee to marry her on their anniversary. Kit decided on the Casa art gallery downtown with the ruse that they were simply having couples photos taken.