Ask the Expert | Behind the Scenes at the Emirates Palace

If you’re after a super stylish wedding venue in the UAE, then it doesn’t get more iconic than the grand and sumptuous Emirates Palace. What could be more memorable than having your wedding in one of their stunning event spaces. Today we’re delighted to catch up Jovanka Tomasevic from the Emirates Palace to give us a behind the scenes look at this venue……..

Having your wedding at the Emirates Palace must be a dream come true for many brides – do you have event spaces to suit all couples? The Emirates Palace has so many gorgeous spaces for brides to choose from so there will definitely be a perfect spot for each couple. The sheer range of our spaces, combined with our first class service and delicious cuisine is what makes the Emirates Palace so amazingly special! From the small and intimate, like our West Wing Gazebo, to the grandeur of the Emirates Ballroom we have it all. For brides looking for a larger outdoor setting we have lots of terraces, 85 hectares of manicured gardens and a stunning 1.3 km beach, the options are endless!

Tell our brides-to-be a bit more about your wedding planning team? We have a number of wedding planners at the Emirates Palace who are all hugely experienced and well trained. They are headed up by our super talented events team who have done extravagant weddings over multiple days of celebrations for over 10 years at Emirates Palace! We also have Indian Wedding Specialists who are experts in the celebrations and traditions of these lavish events.

What is the most unusual request you have had from a bride? Every wedding we help plan at the Emirates Palace has its own unique elements from the décor and flowers to the food. But one of the most fun and unusual requests we’ve had was when the bride wanted to arrive on an elephant – so unique!

What was the most romantic gesture that a groom has created for his bride? Depending on your culture, wedding planning and the decision making tends to be led by the ladies! Whether that’s the bride, her mother or the finance’s female relatives they will help with the planning. However sometimes the groom gets involved and adds a romantic element to the festivities to surprise his new bride. The most romantic we’ve organised was a spectacular late-night firework display lighting up the sky with the impressive Emirates Palace as the backdrop – it was a total surprise for the bride and she loved it!!!!

What type of questions would you recommend that the bride should ask your team when they come for a venue tour? Planning a wedding can be very stressful so our team is here to help! But I think it’s always useful to come with a list of questions so that you don’t miss anything. So before you come for your venue tour have an idea of the number of guests, how many different elements of the celebration there may be, whether you would like an indoor or outdoor reception, budget, type of food etc etc. The main questions to ask would be about capacities of the individual venues, flow of the event and what additional services can the venue provide.

The Emirates Palace is well known for its large and lavish weddings – tell us a bit more about your favourite? We’ve had some absolutely amazing weddings at the Emirates Palace and I love them all! However the one that sticks in my mind was a VIP Indian extravaganza which had 20 different ceremonies over 5 days. It was one of the grandest celebrations we’ve ever hosted. Every element was out-of-this-world with live music and entertainment, dancers, acrobats, magicians and the decorations at each of the events was sublime!

We’ve seen a number of VVIP weddings held in the Emirates Palace reported in the press – are these fun to host? Absolutely! We love hosting these weddings as they tend to be quite large and there’s great scope for set ups, flowers and decorations. The team really enjoy taking the brides ideas and creating a truly memorable event.

You’re also well known for having Indian weddings which last for a number of days. What’s your favourite element of these weddings? There are so many elements to these weddings so I’m not sure if I can narrow it down to one element. I love the smaller more intimate rituals like the Mehendi (we’ve hosted some beautiful ones in our suites) but I also absolutely love the large and lavish evening celebrations.

There is a real trend for experiential weddings where the couple plan many actives for their friends and family both in and outside the hotel. Is this something that you can help the bride plan? Yes our dedicated concierge and event planners will be able to set this up to meet the bride’s requirements. There’s so much to do in the hotel; 12 restaurants and bars, great recreational and sporting facilities including swimming pools, fitness centre, spa, tennis courts, cycling track, cricket pitch and a FIFA standard football pitch! Our concierge team are also experts in the local area and can recommend and co-ordinate a wide range of activities for the guests to do.

What’s your chef’s speciality for wedding catering? We have many chefs who work at the Emirates Palace and they can cater for all different types of cuisines but their specialities are: International, Arabic, Chinese and Indian menus.