When Elizabeth Nan Rasmussen met David Maynard Amini at a party hosted by the magazine Eadible DC, she immediately knew that he wasn't necessarily as a boyfriend, but that he needed him in life. Their mutual friend AJ Dronkers, who was the magazine's associate publisher at the time, was featured, but Rasmussen, who Libby goes to, was not looking for a set up that night in the spring of 2017.
“In the beginning, 'I'm really interested in being your friend. You're really cool. I have to get you on my tracks,” she said.
Meanwhile, Amini was more interested. “Just being close to her and her excitement makes me feel satisfied,” he said.
At the time, Rasmussen, now 34, worked in event planning and was building an online presence as a content creator about the town. Amini, 34, worked as an Elle baker in Washington's Pleasant area. Their shared love for food brought them closer and they began hanging out at food events and sharing recipes.
When Rasmussen learns that his 27th birthday is approaching, she tells Amini that she is taking him. They shared snacks at Seylou Bakery and had him write down 28 things he wanted to achieve before he turned 28. They then took a walk through Washington's National Arboretum. They later considered the day as their first date.
The time they spent cooking and eating together formed in the early days of a budding romance. Rasmussen knew things were serious when Mr. Amini, who normally baked himself, invited him to make croissants. Croissants are complicated to make and can take hours. The two made them on a snowy winter morning, and Rasmussen said she realized she had to really like her to be committed to such a business.
“I'm not only enjoying the patience and perfectionism when I see someone make a croissant, but I also enjoy all the confusion of it,” she said. Soon, at a cheese party with a friend, Amini pulled Rasmussen aside and said, “I have to say I love you.”
They met in DC, but two came from different worlds. Rasmussen grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he rode horses and visited the antique mall with his parents, visiting psychotherapist Kathleen Rasmussen and plumber Jeffrey Rasmussen, and attending the night of his brother Harley-Davidson bike.
For Amini, the mall was a building with paxun and more sharp images. He and his sister, Elizabeth, grew up on Mount Pleasant. There, his father (David Amini) also worked at the State Department, coached youth soccer, and his mother, Jocelyn Amini, was a nurse.
Rasmussen planned to leave the Midwest and earn a bachelor's degree in political science from the American University in Washington, and become a lawyer. However, just before law school, she began supporting events that included design and creative evoke's planned wedding several years later, and eventually decided she didn't want to pursue the law.
“I realized I had more options and didn't want to stay in a career where I had to be the rest of my life,” Rasmussen said. Among her efforts was the disco ball business, and during the pandemic she led vintage love into the resale business with porch pickups. Currently she owns Vintage Vintage, a store in DC's Union Market district with 20 vendors.
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Amini received his Bachelor of Arts in Social Entrepreneurship Minors and Anthropology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and when he returned home after graduation, he wasn't sure what to do. So he tried baking at Elle. Coincidentally, her mother worked at Heller's Bakery, a former tenant in the building at a young age.
Leaving the bakery, he follows in his father's footsteps, becoming a program analyst for the Department of State, and currently works with embassies in the Middle East.
When they first started dating, the weekend meant something different for them. Rasmussen filled her with an antique hunt, and Amini birdwatched with the elderly.
Over time, their interests matched, and even Amini appreciated the vintage shopping he had with his family, especially at the antique malls in the Midwest. “She opened my eyes to the joy of finding the old things and those treasures,” he said.
After living with her roommate, throughout her adult life, Rasmussen was ready for her space. In 2019, she heads up from Amini that a one-bedroom apartment on Mount Pleasant is available. It checked all her boxes and she looked invisibly as it was close to him.
Two years later, the couple moved together and suddenly the apartment felt a little more comfortable. “Having a limited amount of space was a challenge, especially given the restrictions imposed by COVID regulations at the time,” Amini said.
But they worked throughout the adjustment period and found ways to make it work, such as planting gardens for fire escapes. “For me, it was a really great place to spend a lot of time getting fresh air and giving Libby space,” he said. It taught them how to be agile. It's “what we get married,” he added.
In October 2023, Amini recreated his first date. We took a bite at Seiro Bakery and took a walk around the National Arboretum. This time only, he proposed to Rasmussen in the bonsai section a 100-year-old Toi et Moi Ring that they had chosen together.
Rasmussen and Amini wanted to marry in the forests of Selembe, a luxury planning community outside Atlanta in Chattahoochee Hills, Georgia, where their parents live. The date was set for Saturday, May 3rd, but the storm has decided to hold the ceremony on Friday, May 2nd in the middle.
The event was officiated by Rasmussen's uncle Kurt Drexler, a non-denominational pastor who has retired from Christ the Rock Community Church in Menasha, Wisconsin. At the reception the following day, friends talked about how the ceremony sparkled at sunset.
If the ceremony was for crying, the reception was for my favorite. Guests graze the horses in the distance, preparing feasts over the open flames by Tom Ellis, a Hudson Valley-based swell party, and sipping on the old fashioned brandy during cocktail hour (nod to Wisconsin roots). For dinner held under the pavilion, 85 guests sat at two communal tables decorated with green hydrangeas and Irish bells.
As soon as the roasted beet salad hit the table, a storm ran over me. The crowd cheered as the brightest lightning broke outside the pavilion. Cedar Hill, an Atlanta bluegrass band, played a cover of Twangie Rock, but was famously sung in the film “I'm a Man of Continuous Sadness” and was sung famously in the film “Brothers O, Art Brothers?”
Amini looked back at the weekend with an improvisation at the end of the evening. “Japanese people have the phrase “strawberry tche.” This means that basically every moment is unique and never happens again,” he said. “It's very unlikely that all these people will be together again, so we should all enjoy ourselves.”
This day
May 2nd and 3rd, 2025
Selenbe, Chattahoochee Hill, Georgia
A customary event for reception, Rasmussen wore a custom veil by Emily Adams Board's Board Auzilla. “She's never done it before, and this is very cool,” Rasmussen said. For the afterparty, Amini wore a shirt made from a tablecloth made by Fay Mancho, a vendor at Rasmussen's store.
A vintage touch leads to a wedding. Rasmussen sourced vintage shrimp cocktail folk and other vintage silver pieces for the wedding. “Mom and I have polished a lot of silver to the end of our wedding,” she said.
Personal Details Rasmussen's father created a riser for the couple to stand up to the ceremony, which they surrounded with White Gladiolus, a tribute to their late grandparents. The couple also participated in the Soflev AGHD ceremony in Persia. There, they shared honey to celebrate Amini's legacy.
After baking a Ukrainian Medvik cake made from burning honey, the couple wanted to serve it at their wedding. They found Cake House, a Ukrainian-owned bakery, in Newnan, near Newnan, Georgia. Rasmussen's best friend decorated the cake with edible flowers.
