When the gorgeous Misti and Asaf tied the knot in Los Angeles they chose to host the celebration in their new home, and bear in mind that this brave couple had only moved into it a week before their big day!
But they couldn’t have been more thrilled with their venue choice, as “having the wedding in our home made it amazingly special”, says Misti. “Whenever we look into our garden, we can see where we took our vows and celebrated with friends and family. In a way, it makes our wedding part of our everyday lives.”
Misti is so beautiful with delicious bridal accessories to match – I mean you just can’t help but gawp at her super sparkly pink shoes in awe! There are also some lovely DIY details like flower seed favours which you must check out.
Jonas Seaman‘s photography is exquisite and I adore the light he’s captured – he has managed to paint a beautiful soft, timeless quality over the entire day. Enjoy!
HAVING OUR WEDDING IN OUR OWN HOME
Misti, the Bride: Having gone to a number of weddings, our favourites have always been outdoor weddings with a casual and personal atmosphere. I think that having our wedding in our house made it extra special for us.
Our wedding was especially unique as we moved into our house the Saturday before the wedding. Our venue truly marked the beginning of our new life together.
My family and some awesome Midwesterners showed up early in the week to help us unpack and get ready for the wedding. When they showed up, we did not even have a kitchen sink. During our rehearsal dinner, our front yard fence was being built. On the Saturday of the wedding, a friend put on the house numbers a few hours before our guests began arriving. By the time the ceremony started, the house was completely transformed into a beautiful home and wedding.
AN ‘UPSCALE PICNIC’ THEME + A BRIGHT COLOUR SCHEME
Our theme was an upscale picnic. Because our theme was a little on the casual side, our colour palette was bright and diverse. We used a lot of pinks, oranges, and yellows in the dresses and flowers.
Our planners, Tim and Alex at Flatiron Truck did a great job of capturing the feel of what we wanted for our wedding. They found bohemian mid-century modern rentals and charming lights to set the mood that did not cost an arm and leg.
STATIONERY
My husband created a motif for our invitations and stationery by using our ring finger prints to make a heart.
HAIR + MAKE UP
Since our theme was a fancy backyard picnic, I wanted long, curly, casual looking hair that would stay in place. The awesome team at Shag Hair Design totally captured this look. Even after hours of dancing, my hair looked as good as it did when I left the salon.
Christine Craven made my makeup cheery, yet natural. She also covered up some red spots on my back so that I was confident with in my strapless dress.
A GREAT BIG ‘CUPCAKE’ DRESS!
To the surprise of our friends and family, I wanted a giant cupcake dress. I found the perfect dress at Glamour Closet, which is a sample store. It was a beautiful Enzoani dress with a long train and petal details.
SPARKLY PINK FLATS
Large dress + yard wedding = Sparkly pink flats! No one can see high heels that will sink into the grass. Also, you will be much cheerier in photos when your feet are happy too.
THE HANDSOME GROOM
My husband went classic, but a little bit mod, and wore his Paul Smith tux and some Beatle Boots.
THE CEREMONY… AND AN ‘INCIDENT’ WITH THE GLASS!
One of our friends married us. His speech was so heartfelt.
As Asaf was about to break the glass, we noticed the glass had been mistakenly removed by one of the planning crew. One of my bridesmaids sent her husband inside to grab another glass and towel. As he put the glass down, I noticed that was wrapped in the shawl I planned to wear after the ceremony. So, as he smashed the glass, I looked utterly surprised, said “that’s my shawl!” but it was way too late. Asaf broke the glass, everyone said Mazal Tov, and I was really glad it didn’t get too cold that night.
CHUPPAH
Our chuppah design was actually a funny story. We had picked out a different chuppah, but someone backed over it with a truck a week before the wedding. Luckily, replacement chuppahs are easy to come by.
MUSIC FOR THE CEREMONY
Both my husband and I are huge music fans. We walked into Would You Still Love Me If I Was In A Knife Fight? by The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir. Even though the lyrics sound a little macabre, it is a beautiful song about loving someone no matter what happens.
FLOWERS
Clementine Floral Works is around the corner from our house. We chose them, because every time we walked by their window we saw an arrangement we loved. Their floral arrangements have an unorthodox kind of beauty that I immediately connected with. It seemed like a natural fit, and we were extremely lucky that they hadn’t been booked for that day yet.
My bouquet was an assortment of mostly white flowers with little pops of pink. Centrepieces incorporated all different kinds of flowers, succulents, and natural accents. Vibrant oranges, pinks, and yellows, alongside spacey succulent shapes. Their work is lovely. We still pop in and get bouquets for our home all the time!
CASUAL SEATING
Everyone knows seating assignments can get a little crazy, so we decided to do away with it altogether. We wanted our wedding to have a casual but fancy backyard picnic feel, so we designed that into our seating plan. Not only was our wedding open seating, but we made sure that there weren’t enough seats for everyone to be sitting down at once. Aesthetically, Tim and Alex did a great job of capturing that casual feel by doing things like artfully mismatching chairs, and varying the seating plan of the yard to include farm tables, cocktail tables and some other living room-style seating areas. Because of this, everyone just started to mingle with each other. Our families were hanging out together, because we didn’t separate them in the first place.
OUR WONDERFUL PHOTOGRAPHER
We fell in love with Jonas Seaman’s work after looking at his American Virus blog. We liked that he had an unforced, observational style for the candid shots, and a very fun and odd eye for formals. We knew he was the right fit for us during our first Skype conversation, because we had similar interests – even our bookshelves and record collections were filled with the same stuff! He was our people, as they say. Because of that we just trusted his instincts and knew that we would be happy with his choices. And we were! Our photos turned out beautifully and we have recommended him to many of our friends since.
OUR FABULOUS EVENT PLANNERS + CATERERS
Flatiron Truck was our caterer, and also our wedding planner. Short story: they saved our life. Longer version: Flatiron catered both our wedding and brunch the next day at our house. For the wedding, we wanted a high-end picnic feel. The menu that Tim came up with was fun and imaginative. We had a variety of passed appetizers and a couple different stations where the food changed over the course of the evening. His food was a hit with everyone! The brunch the next day was great too. Tim even made his own Champagne cured lox and smoked trout! Tim also connected us with a fabulous bartender from a cool little restaurant in town that made a super unique drink menu for us.
A WEDDING PIE!
Cake Monkey in Los Angeles makes an amazing cherry almond pie. They also made us a selection of cakewichs, inside out s’mores, cookies, chocolates, and a bunch of other treats. Our vision for the desserts was to have more like an entire bakery case filled with lots of little things rather than one giant thing. My husband has a huge sweet tooth, and when I asked him what desserts he wanted, he said “EVERYTHING”
FAVOURS
With the help of my mum and my aunts, we made flower bombs with native California wildflowers.
ENTERTAINMENT
DJ Skemaddox specialises in early 90s hip hop and dance. We love dancing to that stuff and so did our guests. He kept people on the floor all night!
ADVICE TO OTHER BRIDES
As far as planning, what really helped was just finding people that we trusted and got on with personally; basically people who already liked the kind of stuff we like, people who’s opinions we trusted, who we would hang out with regardless of whether we were planning a wedding or not. That way, we just let them trust their instincts and do their thing and we didn’t really need to manage anything.
MISTI + ASAF’S LITTLE WHITE BOOK
Photography – Jonas Seaman
Second Shooter – Mary Ellen Williamson
Venue – Bride and Groom’s home, Los Angeles
Event Co-ordinator & Caterer – Flatiron Truck
Bride’s dress – Enzoani from Glamour Closet
Groom’s Attire – Paul Smith
Flowers – Clementine Floral Works
Hair – Shag Hair Design
Make up – Christine Craven
DJ – DJ Skemaddox
Cake – Cake Monkey
