Vendors:

Photography: Adrian Steinbach Photography (that’s me!) // Second photographer - Brianna Lane // Film Photo Assistant - Ashley with The Coe Collective // Planner - Jessica Lenard // Ceremony Venue - Cathedral of Saint Paul // Reception Venue - Minnesota History Center // Catering - Fork and Flair // Hair and Makeup - LadyVamp Artistry // DJ - Day One DJ // Video - Hard Copy Film Co // Linen rentals - Après Event and Tent // Transportation - Renee’s Limos // Desserts - Dorothy Anne Bakery // Floral - Marah Cole Designs // Bar - Liquid Motion // Lion Dancers - DTG Lions // Shoes - Betsy Johnson // Dress - Rime Arodaky // Alterations - Beauty by Design

Sunshine, smiles, and sentimental moments.

If I had to use just a few words to describe Michael and Stella’s intercultural Vietnamese-American wedding, it would be those. From the first moment we connected, it was incredibly easy to tell how much these two valued their family, and the various wedding traditions of those that came before them. While they definitely put their own spin on the day - with two different outfit changes and a lion dance- they still put so much thought into making the day intentional. Michael and Stella were professionals at honoring traditions while keeping the day light, fun, and incredibly joyful - and I am still so honored that my team and I got to document it!

Tea Ceremony

The main goal of the tea ceremony evening: be with family, and eat good food.

Funnily enough, these two opted to host a ‘tea ceremony’ but actually skip most of the ceremony itself. While they did still serve tea to their parents, they decided to skip most of the other formalities in order to just enjoy a family meal with their loved ones.

Getting Ready

While neither party wanted “traditional” getting ready photos - or photos of details - both of them did emphasize the importance of spending the morning with loved ones. Given the relaxed nature and shorter timeline of these photos, we mostly just focused on what it looked like to spend some time with family on a wedding day.

First Look

When the main goal of a first look is “private vows, but the family can still be near-ish,” it’s important to have a few different location options in mind for those logistics! Given that this wedding day was also immensely hot, we wanted to make sure that the first look was done in the shade, which limited the options a bit. Even despite not having many places to go, the cathedral is so gorgeous on every side that we were still able to get some lovely photos of their first look and deeply sentimental letters to each other.

Ceremony

Sweltering temps and a long mass couldn’t keep these lovebirds down! While the day was quite long (as it happens when you have an already long service fully translated into another language, line by line. Something to keep in mind for all of you multicultural marriers out there), they still breezed out of this stunning cathedral with huge smiles on their faces!

Wedding Party

Due to some unique circumstances, the entire wedding party (including the bride and groom) needed to stop by the hotel in between the ceremony and wedding party photos. While I don’t typically recommend this (it’s a great way to accidentally run late due to traffic, dawdlers, etc), it did offer an excellent reprieve from the heat for all of these folks! Once everyone was back at the cathedral, we then had the opportunity to take some stunning wedding party portraits with the cathedral in the background!

Portraits

Short and sweet, these two took about 15 minutes of alone time in a little grass field near their wedding venue. While we (myself and the video team) did do some directing… a big priority for post-ceremony photos is actually just to make sure you and your partner get some time together!

Cocktail Hour

One of my favorite things about the Minnesota History Museum as a wedding venue is the giant patio space that they use for cocktail hour! While most of the guests typically loiter near the lounge furniture and bar area, this space is excellent for giving guests a breath of fresh air, a bit of walking space, and an amazing view of Saint Paul.

Lion Dance

Another great thing about the huge cocktail hour space - the ability to surprise your guests with interactive experiences! This couple added a delightful nod to the brides’ Vietnamese heritage by inviting the DTG Lions to perform a surprise lion dance for all the guests! It was genuinely such a delight to see the look of surprise on the faces of so many guests.

Áo Dài Portraits

Just before the lion dance began, the couple changed into traditional formalwear as yet another way to celebrate the combining of their families. Though we also kept this portrait session fairly brief, it was an amazing way for the couple to enjoy a bit of golden hour and get a small break before dinner festivities began.

Wedding couple wearing Vietnamese formal ao dai framed by a lion dancer on either side with a blue sky in the background

Creative portrait of a bride and groom wearing Vietnamese ao dai in front of the Saint Paul skyline

Creative double exposure portrait of a bride and groom wearing Vietnamese ao dai

Groom in a white ao dai and a bride in a red ao dai dancing in front of a green lawn with Cathedral of Saint Paul in the background

Reception

Speeches by both sets of parents, a walk around with the family to greet each table individually, and an absolutely fabulous dinner by Fork & Flair as the sunset shone through the windows. Who could ask for more?

Dancefloor

After the dreamy formal dances were completed, there was yet another outfit change! This time, Stella had Beauty by Design alter and customize her mom’s old wedding dress into the perfect fun dancefloor outfit (paired with sneakers for the ultimate reception party vibes, of course)!