As many of you know, I started my photography business when I was living in Chicago, and I love to get back there a few times a year for weddings. Stephanie and Philip were married in mid-September at Prairie Production in the West Loop, not far from where I lived before I moved back to Michigan. Their wedding day lived up to every expectation that I could have set for it.

Read Stephanie and Philip’s full wedding story below.

Vendors:

• Wedding Venue: Prairie Production
• Florist: Pollen
• Wedding Invitations: Spilled Ink Press
• Catering: Hearty Boys Caterers
• Wedding Dress: David’s Bridal
• Female Attendant Dresses: J. Crew
• Tuxes: Black Tie Formal Wear Lincoln Park
• Engagement Ring/Wedding Bands: Steve Quick Jewlers Lincoln Square

The Story:

We met during graduate school at Loyola University Chicago. We were both studying social work and had a few classes together throughout the program, but we never actually talked to one another until a mutual friend invited both of us out a couple weeks before graduation to celebrate. Needless to say, we hit it off from the start and never slowed down. Three plus years later, here we are today!

Philip proposed in front of some of our closest friends. I had no idea it was coming! I tried to throw him a surprise birthday party at one of our friends’ homes, but unbeknownst to me, Philip and my fellow party planners were in cahoots and turned the surprise around on me. He proposed in candlelight with rose peddles at our feet and our friends standing around us. I was speechless, but finally found my words and obviously said, “yes!”

The planning was both stressful and exciting, but everything turned out to be absolutely perfect, and many of the details were even better than we were expecting. We found the perfect venue in Prairie Production, which also doubles as a photography studio, where we had both the ceremony and reception. It offered us a blank canvas to bring in whatever we wanted, but at the same time allowed us to stay minimalistic in our design and still look stunning. In this space, less was best. We added a pop of color to the all white venue with the beautiful shades of purple flowers and 500 origami ducks with crystal beads hanging in front of the floor to ceiling windows. We wanted to keep it simple and keep the focus on our family and friends, the memories we were creating, and honoring both of our cultures in whatever details we could. We incorporated Philip’s Filipino culture into the regular ceremony by having family members come forward and present us with coins (for prosperity), place a veil over us (to unify us) and drape a cord around our shoulders (to bind us with love). We also had a brief traditional Korean ceremony at the beginning of the reception where we bowed to our parents out of respect and they offered us good wishes and advice in our marriage. I wore a traditional Korean dress and Philip wore a Filipino wedding shirt. Even the origami ducks (which symbolize a long and happy marriage in the Korean culture) and our Filipino and Korean desserts were thoughtfully chosen to reflect our identities and honor our cultures.

We didn’t feel like we had to go to great lengths to try and get our vision across to any of our vendors. They all seemed to be able to read our minds and just knew what we wanted. The shop that made our invitations was gracious and patient with us as we went back and forth making tweaks to get them just right. The owner of the venue couldn’t have been easier to work with. The food and desserts were great and the set up for the ceremony and reception couldn’t have gone smoother. The flowers were even better than we envisioned and our photographer and her assistant captured stunning photographs of the most special moments of our day.

All the stress and hard work paid off and I am lucky to have had a super involved fiancé who, might I add, folded probably 300 out of 500 of those origami ducks, dealt with most of the vendors, and generally kept us on a steady pace in order to get everything done in time!

And we couldn’t have done any of this without our very good friend and wedding planner extraordinaire, Kate Kusiak-Galvin. She is one of the reasons why our wedding from the beginning to the end, was so wonderful. But in the end, it was the fact that both of our families and closest friends traveled near and far to help us celebrate, that made our day so perfect!

Check back next Tuesday for a brand new blog post.