beachgrl's reviews

It's true. I grew in the shade. At 5'2", I need to have EVERYTHING altered. Joseph Mattucci's my guy. He always does impeccable work at reasonable prices. He also specializes in wedding dresses, and did a fantastic job on my wedding dress alterations and bustle. When this shop was hooked up with Belle Bridal, it was the perfect match.

Owner, Karen McDowell has created the ultimate spa experience - she brings the spa to you! Of course, this isn't a new idea. However, Karen specializes in spa parties. She also does them in a way that you actually get to spend time with your friends rather than spending the entire spa time in separate treatment rooms.

When I call it a party, it really is. She'll bring in the food and drink for a nominal price, if you would like.

But let's get to the nitty gritty. Karen is my favorite massage therapist. That's saying a lot from me. I've also tried out other therapists she uses for Paradiso. They're all fantastic and are personally tested out by Karen herself. However, they're not Karen. If you want a deep tissue massage, Karen is the one you want to see.

She also offers wraps, manicures/pedicures, facials, scrubs and...therapeutic animal massage! That's right - massages for your pet! Talk about a pampered pooch!

All in all, it's a great experience.

Sure, when sounded out, this store may sound swanky. You can fool your friends into thinking you're going to do some serious shopping. And, really, you can!

Card De A carries everything from great greeting cards (some even better than what you can find at the car wash - and let's face it, the car wash has the best cards!), to wedding invitations, chocolate, jewelry, bath bombs and even Kama Sutra items. This is where I go if I need to get a birthday gift and don't have a lot of time to shop. They have something for everyone!

I was in the process of searching for "the perfect chocolate covered strawberry." After all, this is an important thing to know. That's when I came across Godiva. Sitting there in the window were a variety of chocolate covered strawberries the SIZE OF MY FIST! I had to try one!

I've had all sorts of Godiva goodies before, but never their chocolate covered strawberries. Well, needless to say, just like everything else they offer, this strawberry, covered in milk and dark chocolate, was absolutely euphoric. It was sweet, juicy and all around luscious!

Of course, for $9, it should be!

There are certain times I get chocolate cravings (ladies, you know what I mean). If I'm walking past the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, my body automatically turns inside. It simply can't be helped! The sweet odor of chocolate and other decadent goodies wafts right into the street! The drying caramel apples (in a variety of flavors from Oreo cookie to rocky road) call to me from the window.

Lately, I've put this store and my chocolate cravings to use. For my brides and grooms, I've started ordering chocolate covered strawberries for their honeymoon suite decoration. They do an adorable tuxedoed strawberry as well as a white chocolate dipped strawberry that looks like a bride in her gown. Plus these are enormous! I call the day before. They never balk at my ordering only 2 strawberries (most places want a bulk order). The strawberries come beautifully wrapped. Then, if I want to add to the decoration (they have chocolate sea shells and other cute candy designs), I have a large selection to choose from.

Of course, if I'm in the store, I always have to buy myself a sweet...just for a little indulgence. ;)

I don't just like cupcakes, I adore them. So, I was excited when one of my brides decided to have these cupcakes instead of a wedding cake. Cupcakes usually retain their moistness and flavor that wedding cake doesn't. I can't say this was completely the case with the cupcakes she ordered from Yummy Cupcakes.

I only tried two of the flavors offered: chocolate and lemon. The chocolate was delicious, rich and moist. As a chocoholic, I was in heaven! The lemon, however, was dry, overly tart and the icing actually HURT MY TEETH. How does that happen?

The presentation of the cupcakes was interesting. I loved the cupcake tree and the top, large cupcake for the bride and groom to "cut." It was decorated in beautiful, sugar holly designs. The gingerbread cupcakes were also adorable, with their miniature gingerbread men sitting atop of each one. The lemon and chocolate cupcakes, however, were bordering on obscene (funny that I chose those two to sample!). The lemon looked like breasts, and I won't say what the chocolate cupcakes looked like...you can use your imagination.

Despite my feelings on the lemon cupcakes, I will go to this store and try some of their other flavors. Maybe I'll just have to tell people to stay away from the lemon...

I'll admit, I've only tasted the wedding cake here.

That said, I've tasted a lot of wedding cake. I mean, A LOT of wedding cake. Last wedding season, I must have tasted dozens of different flavors of wedding cake from a handful of bakeries. Most wedding cake is dry and either way too sweet or completely flavorless. Or often it's saturated in way too much butter cream that it coats your tongue and makes you want to do that motion with your mouth that dogs do when they've eaten peanut butter.

The wedding cake here is perfect. Well, in my opinion, it's perfect. They have one flavor called "Strawberries and Cream," but it's really a tres leches cake. It's delicious, flavorful, neither too sweet nor not sweet enough. It's also moist! So moist, it barely stands up as a cake!

...Just don't have them decorate the cake with flowers. They do a terrible job at that!

I've dealt with my fair share of Bridezillas, but this was the first time I've handled a Cakezilla. Who knew the cake would be the diva of the wedding?

Sure, the cake is usually a nice focus in the reception room - looking all pretty with its decorated tiers. It's one of the most photographed items of a wedding. But for it to be the Belle of the Ball? Well, this was new to me.

The cake had a schedule of its own. It wasn't primped and ready by the time the guests arrived. No - it came with its driver around the end of the reception. It MADE AN ENTRANCE and DEMANDED ATTENTION! "Look at me," it practically screamed!

And the guests did.

With the main dining section of the evening over, the guests were delighted and entertained by the arrival of the cake. They oohed and ahhed as the delicious looking and dazzling diva was dressed and photographed.

Finally, with the last orchid added, the Cake stood proudly, ready for consumption. It was the moment the Cake had been waiting for - it was Cake Cutting time!

The Bride and Groom sliced neatly into the Cake, revealing its gorgeous, berry jeweled, whipped cream and lemon curd coated insides. There was not a dry mouth in the room. This Cake was moist, fresh and newly baked. It hadn't been sitting around all day like most wedding cakes.

So, why four stars and not five? The cake was good, but not great. Like most Bridezillas, it lacked the substance it thought it deserved and demanded way too much attention. Still, that didn't stop me from eating my entire slice.

A long time ago, in a city not so far away from where I live now, I purchased a birthday cake from Ramona Bakery. It was one of several cakes I had bought from them over the years. This one was for a now ex-boyfriend. It was the second time I got a cake for him from this bakery. This time I chose a strawberries and cream cake - his favorite.

We made our way out of town to enjoy his birthday weekend. Once at the hotel, we checked in and then began to unload. Somehow with the balancing act of trying to cart the luggage and carry the somewhat warmed cake, it toppled from my hands.

I stared at the upside down cake box and began to laugh. Then I began to pout. I was afraid the cake was ruined.

Well, let me tell you, the shape and design of that cake may have been ruined, but the taste was wonderful! Sweet, decadent creamy goodness set off by the grainy and ever so slightly tart berries filled our mouths. We ate every bit of that "ruined" cake...well, except for the few crumbs that lingered on the floor from the fall.

It was a hot, beautiful day in Pasadena. I had just sent the bride and groom down the aisle for a Persian/Armenian ceremony conducted by a Buddhist monk. Fun stuff. I really wanted to watch this ceremony, but other things were pressing: The caterer was no where to be found.

The family had confirmed a 4pm time earlier in the week. I had confirmed the day before the wedding. The wait staff of Castle Green confirmed that day. We all had 4pm as the start time. It was now 5pm and the ceremony would be done soon. We had alcohol (always a good thing), but no food. This was a disaster in the making.

The ceremony finished, and I was on my 5th phone call to the caterer. Half an hour earlier they claimed they were at the 110 and the 5 Freeways. We knew they were lying because they would have arrived in under that time.

The Cocktail Hour started. I attempted to divert the bride and groom and send them to the rooftop location for photos. Unfortunately, it didn't work. The bride found out the caterer hadn't arrived and she began to unravel. The mother of the groom spoke in angry tones on the phone to the owner of the restaurant for the third time. Still, the food did not arrive.

I created options to get other food, but the family wasn't interested. They wanted the food that was ordered, payed for and was supposedly on its way.

The Cocktail "Hour" stretched into a hour and a half. Finally the van carrying the food pulled up. We were jubilant. I've never seen servers get so excited. I grabbed my assistants, and we helped the catering and the servers get the food to where it needed to go.

Then we had a new surprise.

The food that arrived was only the food for the Cocktail Hour. The food for dinner was still at the restaurant...in ANAHEIM!!!

Again the phone calls started. At this point we had a round robin system. I would call, then the mother of the groom, then the head of the servers for Castle Green.

The food did arrive, but we were forced to push everything back by almost 2 hours. The wedding had a curfew of midnight, and the food mishap cut into the celebration and dance time, which was very important to the newlyweds.

As for the food itself, it was good, but was served luke-warm. Terrible. Even if it had been the best food in the world, I would never refer this restaurant to any of my brides.