Their love story bloomed in the buzzy L.A. restaurant scene. So what was their wedding food?

It wasn’t emotion astatine archetypal thing for Anna Sonenshein erstwhile she met Niki Vahle portion moving astatine Son of a Gun successful 2018. Rather, it started with a feud.

Sonenshein worked arsenic a host, Vahle arsenic a sous chef. She mostly ignored him.

“I was fed up with the room reasoning they were amended than front-of-house,” she told me, connected speakerphone, from the location they present share. “It’s specified a communal happening successful restaurants, and I hatred it.”

But, similar each bully star-crossed stories, the brace fell successful love.

“And I bushed each that retired of Niki,” Sonenshein said.

“She did,” helium called from a distance, arsenic helium wrangled 1 of their 2 dogs, Chicken. “We don’t tolerate immoderate of that present successful our restaurant.”

The edifice successful question is the Michelin Guide-inducted Little Fish, which the mates started arsenic a pop-up retired of their room model successful 2020 and has expanded to 2 locations: Echo Park and Melrose Hill.

With Little Fish, Sonenshein and Vahle unapologetically premix business, pleasure, family, relationship and food.

Friend of the couple, Hannah Ziskin of Quarter Sheets, made aggregate cakes, including a “chef-y” operation of rhubarb with pistachio chiffon and mascarpone custard infused with orangish peel, and her classical olive lipid chiffon with caller passionfruit and bay leaf-infused custard. The canine figurine, right, is modeled aft the couple’s pets, Chicken and Hank.

(Madelyn Deutch)

It makes sense, then, that their biggest concern to day — an April 18 wedding — would beryllium a food-first, ceremony-second affair. About 120 guests sardined into the humble backyard of Sonenshein’s Santa Monica puerility home, with a veritable who’s who of the L.A. edifice country doing treble work arsenic attendees and vendors.

As the teams down Mariscos Jaliscos and El Ruso acceptable up trucks retired front, Aaron Lindell and Hannah Ziskin of Quarter Sheets conversation-hopped, and Kae Whalen, the L.A. darling vino Substacker (who besides runs Little Fish’s vino program), snaked done the assemblage with her pint-sized pomeranian nether 1 arm.

In this acheronian epoch for L.A. restaurants, wherever economical fears, fires and ICE person led to countless closures, Sonenshein and Vahle person made a constituent of gathering assemblage among edifice workers and collaborators.

Niki Vahle and Anna Sonenshein, owners of Little Fish, clasp during their backyard wedding.

(Madelyn Deutch)

“When we were starting our businesses, nary of america had immoderate cognition of the back-end stuff,” Ziskin told me. “We figured it retired together.”

She and Lindell turned their Quarter Sheets pop-up into a brick-and-mortar successful 2022. Little Fish followed the aforesaid trajectory a fewer months later.

“Niki and Anna volition reply immoderate question I have,” Ziskin said. “We speech business, money. It’s truthful uncommon to person that: friends successful the aforesaid presumption who profoundly recognize what you do.”

Vahle and Sonenshein notation to their friends who besides started nutrient businesses during the pandemic arsenic “our class.”

“We’re peers, not competition,” Vahle said. “We stock notes; we stock everything.”

In January 2025, erstwhile the Palisades and Eaton fires ripped done the city, these friends were the ones Sonenshein and Vahle called archetypal arsenic they created a web of astir 200 restaurants to source, navigator and present meals to displaced families and archetypal responders.

Wedding guests bask the grazing array and cake. (Madelyn Deutch)

Catalina Flores, of Panhead LA, curated the abundant grazing table.

(Madelyn Deutch)

As the enactment waited for Sonenshein and Vahle to appear, guests sipped his and hers vino selections by Whalen: a Domaine Derain “Landre” 2023 for Vahle (“A Niki vino reminds america that beauty, precision and transcendence are possible”), and a Le Mazel “Couvée Paulou” 2024 for Sonenshein (“An Anna vino is often fruity, vibrant, casual to adore and adores easily”).

Meanwhile, similar immoderate bully begetter of the bride, Raphe Sonenshein held tribunal astatine the grazing table, encouraging anyone successful earshot to heap plates with charcuterie, taralli and gildas curated by Catalina Flores (Panhead LA) and Ryan Vesper (Gourmet Imports).

The parent of the bride, Phyllis Amaral, shepherded household members to a fistful of front-row folding chairs. Everyone other would walk the nighttime standing, balancing plates and, inevitably, spilling immoderate wine.

“Very originative wedding,” said 1 person of the family.

The low-key backyard wedding took spot astatine the bride’s puerility home. Her sister, Julia Sonenshein, left, and mother, Phyllis Amaral, wore red.

(Madelyn Deutch)

The mates made their entranceway — limb successful limb — with Sonenshein successful a tea-length, corseted gown and Vahle successful a bespoke suit the shadiness of a Liguria olive.

During their vows, Sonenshein joked that matrimony isn’t truthful scary erstwhile you already stock six LLCs.

Then, they sealed their newest declaration with a kiss.

The applause had hardly subsided earlier a corporate hunger took over.

Mariscos Jalisco served shrimp tacos, a motion to the couple’s ain restaurant, Little Fish.

(Madelyn Deutch)

Mariscos Jalisco sent retired trays of shrimp tacos — a motion to the couple’s seafood root communicative — but guests inactive beelined for the truck, forming a enactment down the block.

Next doorway astatine El Ruso, proprietor Walter Soto chopped carne asada portion his wife, Julia, took orders: 2 chile colorado; 3 birria; nary onions, please. Their preteen daughter, Suri, played successful the beforehand spot of the truck.

“For us, it was thing precise peculiar to cognize that we were going to service nutrient connected specified a peculiar time to idiosyncratic truthful peculiar to us,” Soto said. “I retrieve seeing Niki respective times eating astatine our nutrient motortruck during the hard times of ICE raids. [Then] we had to adjacent our motortruck for 3 oregon 4 months. Anna and Niki came to my location with a cheque to assistance america endure that truly atrocious time. That’s however we met them.”

El Ruso tacos rounded retired the menu. Owner Walter Soto said helium was honored to service nutrient astatine the wedding aft the bride and groom supported his concern during the ICE raids that dampened his sales.

(Madelyn Deutch)

As for the cake, effort two. Both by Ziskin.

“I would person been offended if they hadn’t asked me,” she said.

The archetypal was a Quarter Sheets paper classic: olive lipid chiffon with caller passionfruit and bay leaf-infused custard. Ziskin besides created what she calls a “chef-y” combination: rhubarb with pistachio chiffon and mascarpone custard infused with orangish peel.

Bride Anna Sonenshein mingles with guests adjacent the El Ruso taco truck.

(Madelyn Deutch)

Before moving the afterparty to Santa Monica’s Not No Bar (co-owner Conner Mitchell is besides 1 of Little Fish’s fishermen), the euphony chopped concisely for speeches.

Julia Sonenshein, the bride’s sister and a sometimes nutrient writer, admitted that she couldn’t abstracted their emotion communicative from a shared emotion of cooking.

“For these two, the thought that anyone would spell without food, whether it’s friends who’ve stopped by for a java array repast oregon families who mislaid their kitchens successful wildfires, is an unconscionable anticipation they won’t accept,” she said. “And truthful they find a mode to marque definite each of america are fed.”

And what astir Sonenshein and Vahle — did idiosyncratic punctual them to eat?

Vahle didn’t hesitate. “How could we forget?”