Roll up roll up and take a front row seat at the carnival themed party of your extravagant and over- reaching dreams.

This week’s pinch yourself moment at work comes courtesy of the world’s most lavish pre wedding cruise and a docking in the beautiful bay of Portofino.

Yup, a cruise for 800 people from Rome to Portofino featuring private performances from Katy Perry and The Backstreet Boys whilst on board and a very Italian ‘celebutante’ at the “La Dolce Vita”-themed festivities when they reached the Italian Rivera.

The couple and a large group of their guests took over a the central piazza- the food was ‘carnival’ themed with delicate wooden stalls of pink and green arranged  across the bay serving everything from hand rolled gnocchi to dim sum delicacies. And for dessert? Well, hot chocolate and marshmallows of course!

We were lucky enough to be invited out for the weekend to have not one but TWO stands at the celebrations, one serving delicate china tea cups of hot chocolate, adorned with a slick of marshmallow fluff and the other serving up our fresh marshmallows toasted to order. And what’s more…we were a hit! We even ran out of china cups because word spread of our delectable hot chocolate whisked up with 70% Belgian chocolate sheds and our bakery blend of cocoa flakes, brown sugar and rich cream. The teeny china cups were the request of the event planner and they really know their stuff…a small shot of hot chocolate to be sipped, the perfect amount to be satisfying AND comforting.

We had front row seats as Andrea Bocelli performed a string of operatic classics... (and also an Ed Sheeran song but we won't talk about that)  And the wedding was attended by huge Bollywood stars and Hollywood actor Adam Sandler…here you can see the back of Adam Sandler ( sorry- I was busy at this point so couldn’t get a better shot, but it's him. Look at the shorts) 

The whole event was a hazy dream, magical food, beautiful guests, a warm buzz around the town. The weather was sparkling sun with a light sea breeze and I sometimes find it hard to believe that I get to do this as my actual job. An Italian adventure to remember forever.