Lethbridge Weddings & Portrait Photography by Tanya Plonka

I love seeing my past wedding clients growing their families! Vanessa and Robbie made a day trip down for their Waterton winter maternity session. This was one of the rare times I got to photograph snow this winter, so I appreciated it despite the freezing temperatures! Vanessa herself was super brave to strip down to her dress and no coat a few times. It helped that they came prepared with mochas to warm up on!

We adventured through what was open in the park. Luckily we were able to access nearly everything since Waterton didn’t yet have snow up to the rooftops! We set up a little mocha picnic on one of the snowy trails and confused a few hikers.

While I wish the fall colours could last forever, they look so pretty when we get early snow along with them! Henriet and John got to make use of the first snowfall of the season for their snowy river bottom family photos. John pointed out that their autumn family photos on Christmas cards would look a lot different than everyone else’s!

Eric had a great time in the snow, even if he thought I was totally not funny. (Luckily his mom behind me worked for getting smiles!)

This session was a thoughtful gift from John’s sister, who was invited to stay with them when certain family members needed more space for COVID safety this year. I think she was just as excited to see these photos of her nephew as his parents were!

Melissa and Schuyler usually get autumn family photos every year, but between quarantines and blizzards, this year they had a very different look in their photos! Their fresh snowfall family photos gave the kids a chance to check out all the animal tracks in the untouched snow and have fun snow fights with each other.

Their youngest was full of laughter through the entire session, so I think he’ll grow into loving winter activities the most out of his siblings ;)

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…

Elsa and Larry’s adorable interactions together stood out at a family member’s wedding last year when we first met them. I was so excited when they called me to photograph their own wedding. As I expected, they got even cuter when all the attention was on them! They were full of non-stop laughter during their Lethbridge winter engagement photos.

We chose the river bottom as their photo location because of the importance the area has to them. It’s been the location of their favourite dates and was where Larry popped the question. Elsa had a few spots in mind for their wedding photos later in the year, so we picked an alternative this time and ventured into the Helen Schuler Nature Reserve. It was such a gorgeous winter day, which was ironic since the wedding where I met them was much colder and snowier but in the autumn!

Our unusually warm January last year continued to surprise us with morning rain before Bill and Sue’s portraits. We nearly moved things indoors but the sun came out just in time for their Indian Battle Park warm winter photo session. The ladies showed off their intense hiking skills by traversing the river bottom’s many puddles, ice sheets, and mud patches in high heels.

I appreciated how committed they were to the photos! The wind was cold and the sun kept vanishing, but their jackets repeatedly came off for the sake of the photos.

This session was a much needed update for the family, now that they have added a son-in-law to their children!

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