Full of elegant touches and loads of sugar, Erica and Adi had the "sweetest" wedding celebration... literally. They had a huge dessert table filled with every treat imaginable including cake pop favors and a "Love is Sweet" theme. Desserts were naturally an integral part of the day since Erica owns Sweet E's Bake Shop, and her passions, along with help from the expert team at Mindy Weiss Party Consultants, made this sophisticated by fun-loving wedding a sweet tooth's delight! Enjoy these amazing photographs by Duke Images, and the wedding planning story from bride Erica herself.
The Couple: Erica and Adi
The Wedding: 11.12.11 - St. Regis, Monarch Beach Dana Point, CA
What three adjectives best describe your wedding? Magical, fun and unforgettable
What was your wedding color palette? We used a classic black and white palate with touches of pink and silver.
What inspired your personal wedding style, and how did you incorporate your style and personalities into your big day? When we saw the St. Regis hotel we immediately fell in love. The elegance, glamour and sophistication of the hotel was exactly the style of wedding we wanted. From there we added our own personal touches to make the decor unique to us. I love sparkle and girly, pretty things, so there were touches of pink, shimmer and rhinestones on everything. We also did a few fun things like our own drink specials that were passed out at the reception. Adi’s drink was a Rum Punch and mine was a Kiwi-Tini.
Looking back, what are the moments, decisions or memories that you love the most about your wedding? We really focused on making the wedding weekend personal to us. The wedding was about our love for one another and we made sure to focus on that. The planning was over and everything was set, so we made sure to relax and enjoy our wedding weekend. The first time we saw each other dressed and ready was such a magical moment. From then on we felt like we were in a dream. Walking down the isle I felt so many loving eyes on me; the love in the room was incredible. Our ceremony was beautiful and felt so intimate, even though there were 250 other people there. Adi's dad married us, which really made the ceremony so personal and special. We also wrote our own vows which was so romantic; a keepsake we will have forever. Throughout the entire night we just kept reminding each other that we were at our own wedding. It was such a surreal experience and we tried to take in every moment.
What piece of advice would you give to a bride planning her wedding today? Video and photography are so important! Everyone says that after the big day, all you are left with are the memories. It is so true!!! All your hard work of planning goes by in an instant. So loving your photographer and videographer is SO important. Our photographer, Duke, was the first vendor we booked and his photos inspired us throughout our wedding planning process. Now that the wedding is over we are so happy that we have such incredible photos and video to look back on for the rest of our lives.
Looking back, do you have a favoriteproject or successful decor idea from your wedding? Tell us wha tyou loved about it! I own a bake shop in Los Angeles called Sweet E’s Bake Shop. We do weddings for other couples all year long ,so now that it was my turn I really wanted to go all out. Sweet E’s is so much a part of our lives it just seemed fitting to make the sweets an integral part of our wedding. We set the tone for the entire event with the theme “Love is Sweet.” Printed on the save-the-dates, stamps, welcome bags, favors, itineraries, and more, “Love is Sweet” was a theme throughout our entire wedding weekend. The sweets started with the welcome bags where we had chocolate covered oreos with our monogram. Then at the rehearsal dinner the sweets continued with heart photo cookies on every plate, a dessert table, and a surprise groom's cake. The groom's cake was a life size cake in the shape of our two dogs, Luna and Cody. It was truly the most amazing cake we have done! Plus, it was a very sweet surprise for Adi.
At the wedding, guests were served a trio of wedding cake flavors. We couldn’t choose our favorite flavors, so we chose three of our favorite flavors and each guest got to taste a bite of each - blue velvet, molten chocolate chip, and white chocolate raspberry champagne. Then, for the big finale we did a huge dessert table full of all our favorite sweets: cupcakes, cake pops, chocolate pretzels, chocolate marshmallows, peanut butter bliss, cheesecake bites....the list goes on. We also matched the decorations of all the sweets to our color scheme and added shimmer and rhinestones wherever I could. For our wedding favors each guest left with a gift box of two bride and groom decorated cake pops with a heart shaped note that read “Thank you for sharing the sweetest moment of our lives.”
The Wedding Team:
Photographer: Duke Images
Event Planner: Mindy Weiss
Ceremony/Reception Venue: St. Regis, Monarch Beach
Videographer/Film Maker: Vidicam Productions
Officiant: Rabbi Norbert Weinberg
Invitation Designer: 2HeartsB1
Catering: Someone's in the Kitchen
Florist: Tic Tock
Wedding Cake and Dessert Table: Sweet E's Bake Shop
Wedding Dress: Monique Lhuillier
Bridal Accessories: Stuart Weitzman
Bridemsaids' Apparel: Monique Lhuillier
Groom and Groomsment Apparel: Groom - Theory, Groomsmen - Friar Tux
Make-up: Jeanine Canter
Live Music: West Coast Music
Favors: Sweet E's Bake Shop
Rentals: Classic Party Rentals
Rings: Zadok Jewelers
Thank you so much for sharing your extra sweet wedding with us! Best wishes!
Craving something sugary? Check out the Cakes and Food section of our Inspiration Gallery!