When a wedding planner designs her own nuptials, expectations from the peanut gallery tend to be high. And this Ojai, California wedding of bride (and, yes, planner) Cassandra Bette surpassed all flair with rarely matched beauty. Of course, Martha Weddings thought so, too. Some highlights from the feature, including their lovely wedding film, below…

That old yarn about the cobbler’s children going barefoot rang true for event coordinator Cassandra Herschenfeld. She’d spent about six years planning weddings (including working with industry legend Mindy Weiss), but hadn’t been married herself. “I was recently out of another relationship, and in a place where I was asking everyone to set me up,” she says. Enter Ben Katz, the colleague of one of Cassandra’s grooms. When they met on a blind date at a bar in Manhattan’s West Village, “we talked and laughed for four hours!” she recalls. Ben, who works in finance, says, “she has this laugh that takes over a room.”

After a year of planning, the couple wed under a century-old oak tree in front of 187 guests at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa on August 19, 2017. The weekend celebration felt like exactly what Ben had asked for: “an adult summer camp with a fantastic party in the middle.” They incorporated many Jewish traditions and updated others—including circling each other, instead of the bride circling the groom. 

How beautiful is that? We think it’s very.

Peep more over on Martha Weddings!

Photography: Amy and Stuart | Beauty: Mar using THM Hair Extensions