What a cool wedding invitation – it is a passport! This is so fitting for a multicultural couple that clearly loves to travel. I remember immediately taking snapshots of the invite (below) with my iphone and sending it to a few of my creative friends. Theresa is an architect and with a design background like that, she put her fiance to work, and together made the coolest wedding invitation I have ever seen. During their wedding, guests were encouraged to bring their own passports and get stamped with a rubber stamp from various tables as a way to meet and mingle with other friends and family. Being selected as their wedding photographer was such a treat since I got to see so many cool, creative elements and details on their wedding day.
theresa got ready with her bridesmaids at her grandmother’s house. 
theresa’s grandmother had a bunch of cool vintage furniture that i was in love with, including this fun velvet chair.
her flower girl gave her a big hug as they were getting ready.
At the church the ring bearer and flower girl walked down the aisle flawlessly. No tantrums, no dropping stuff, it was perfection! 
The groom watched as his bride made her entrance.
The mother of the bride listened to the pastor’s comments about marriage. He created a dialog with friends and family and made the ceremony very personal.
At Theresa and Bob’s wedding, they had place cards on a table that was covered in coins from various currencies to go with their passport travel themed wedding.
In Chinese tradition, they kept with the theme of luck, and provided each guest with an opportunity to win instantly. i love their choice of blue. I shot another multicultural chinese american wedding (this time in Boston) that also chose blue as their wedding color over the summer.
Here is one of the passports that had gotten stamped as this guest visited other tables.
The maid of honor did a toast.
The bride and groom were laughing quite a bit at some of the stories that were told.
It was pretty easy to catch candid moments at this wedding, lots of laughter all night.
Here is a photo from the first dance.
In addition to wearing a white dress, Theresa changed into a blue cheongsam / qi pao chinese wedding dress that was originally the mother of the groom’s.
She also changed into a red qi pao wedding dress as well.
Theresa has compiled a list of her wedding planning details below so that you can see all her Chicago wedding vendors:
CANTOR Bride’s Sister-In-Law, Maria Hercik
CELEBRANT Father Michael Gabriel, currently located at St. Josaphat Parish in Lincoln Park at 2311 N Southport Ave, Chicago
PHOTOGRAPHER Wedding Photographer Heather Parker Photography
DJ Brett Anderson with SoundQ Productions
FLOWERS The Elite Flower (wholesaler for Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Jewel; arrangements put together by a friend
CAKE (Rhino & Ela’s) Pastryhouse 7545 W Montrose Ave, Norridge, IL 60706
DRESS (BRIDE) White One (one of the Pronovias lines)
DRESS (BRIDESMAIDS) Mori Lee (Purchased at House of Brides – Schaumburg)
FAVORS Instant scratch-off lottery tickets
HAIR STYLIST Erika Romero (630)805-1272
INVITATIONS Carlson Craft – Black Tie Duo
PASSPORT INVITATIONS Design & assembly by the Bride & Groom: Combination of Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Powerpoint, QuarkXPress (The materials for the covers were purchased online, at Michael’s Arts & Crafts & Target)
JEWELERS Bride’s engagement ring: Dimend SCAASI 5 South Wabash Avenue 17th Floor, Chicago, IL 60603 (312) 857-1700
LIMO Elite Chicago Limo 400 E. Randolph St. Chicago, IL 60601 (312) 201-1055
MAKEUP ARTIST Beth Follert
NIGHT OWL SNACK Home Run Inn Pizza
SLIDESHOW Bride’s brother, using Adobe Premier Pro
TABLE ACTIVITY Rubber stamps: Michael’s, Stamp pads: Oriental Trading Company
TUXEDO (GROOM) Armani Formal Wear at Neiman Marcus
TUXEDO (GROOMSMEN) Mens Wearhouse
If you would like to see more Asian weddings including Chinese weddings, Taiwanese weddings, Korean weddings and other similar weddings please check out:
Milly and Ross W Hotel wedding
Jo and Rich’s Ivy Room wedding
John and Panle Le Meridien wedding
Pei-Chi Claire and Andrew’s wedding at OceanCliff Newport