Ask The Experts! | Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre

The chic 5* Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre is a unique urban hotel located in the heart of Dubai. At a mere 5 minutes from Dubai International Airport it’s super convenient for couples with guests coming in from abroad. It’s also ideally placed for some post-wedding exploring too. The hotel has a huge range of elegant events spaces and combined with its first class service it’s one to beat! Today we’re lucky enough to catch up with not only the Events Team, headed by Linda Mwaffak, the Director of Sales but also the Executive Chef of Le Meridien Dubai, Dominic Petzold to give us an insight in to this stunning venue. Over to you……….

Describe the different venues you have within the hotel for our brides-to-be?

The hotel has so many venues for brides to choose from for her big day. The events space covers a huge 5,500 sqm, and we have not one but three ballrooms!!! Each ballroom has its own individual character so there will be a perfect match for any size or style of wedding. The modern and tastefully designed Wasl ballroom can accommodate 200 guests and the more traditional and totally sumptuous Falcon ballroom can accommodate 550. Our third and largest is the Great Ballroom, which will leave your guests completely in awe of its gorgeous orb chandeliers and high ceilings. We literally have something for everyone!

Which venue is the most popular for weddings at the moment?

Our Great Ballroom is really popular at the moment; it’s a truly sensational space! Not only can it accommodate up to 2000 guests but the attached foyer offers a grand arrival experience. Many of our brides absolutely love the bridal suite and majlis area, which are perfect for getting ready or taking a sneak peak at your wedding guests below. The high ceilings create an even more grand feeling and give the bride scope for any décor or design she wishes for!

Planning a wedding can be very stressful and brides love to escape to a Spa. What type of treatments does your spa offer? Our Natural Elements Spa is a relaxing space and brides can come and immerse themselves in its sanctuary of calm. We offer a wide range of treatments and our highlights include couples massages, Ayurvedic treatments and facials using high-end Pevonia-Botanica products. As our highly trained practitioners say “Inhale relaxation and exhale tension!”

From our experience weddings aren’t just about the big day itself but also about pre and post wedding events. What facilities do you have in the hotel for these? We are seeing an increasing number of these pre and post wedding events and our staff are here to help. We have 18 restaurants and bars so any type of event the bride wishes for we can create for her. The food in our restaurants is diverse so we can satisfy most culinary tastes from Dim Sum to Italian to authentic Arabic. For guests staying in the hotel we have 5 swimming pools, a gym, a male and female salon and let’s not forget our fantastic spa!

Do you have an in house wedding team to help our brides plan their wedding? Yes – all brides will have a dedicated wedding planner who’s there to help with her needs and advise on all elements of the wedding. Basically our planners are here to take away the stress and to ensure that your wedding goes to plan and is all you have imaged and more!

Can you sum up Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre in 5 words? Where dream weddings become true!

Now over the Executive Chef, Dominic Petzold…….

Tell us a bit about wedding catering at Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre? With our ideal location, wide range of ballrooms, the hotel has quite a variety to offer; from the classic and chic to modern and trendy. The same counts for our food! We have over 200 chefs working in the hotel, from all around the world – so we are capable of creating and fashioning any type of request or menu. We have no one specific speciality but we love to be creative and wow our clients. We also suggest menus according to the season to make the most of all nature has to offer, for example, in the truffle season we add truffle to our menus.

What makes your food so special? We have highly trained, specialty chefs from around the world so we can cater for any guest requests. We also use the freshest and best ingredients possible and everything is cooked fresh.

Do you recommend a tasting? If so is it just the bride and groom who attend? Yes I would definitely recommended a tasting to ensure that you are happy with the food selection and everything goes well on the most important day of your lives. We want to ensure that the bride and groom don’t need to worry about anything food and beverage related! We are very flexible when it comes to tastings and are able to do food tastings for different numbers of people, whether it’s only the bride and groom or an entire family of up to 20 people.

What are wedding food trends for 2019 so far? Many of our brides ask for authentic flavours that are really back to basics and back to the roots of the cuisine. However the trend I have noticed is that, for many brides, it is more than just the food and they are looking for a truly cohesive wedding. They like to tie in the decoration, musicians, art, performers and food into the same theme. It’s about the entire experience which makes it such a huge success.

A lot of brides are looking for a fusion of different types of cuisines – can you cater for this? Yes we do 100%! As I mentioned earlier we have over 200 specialty chefs from around the world and we are more than happy to accommodate the client’s request. We definitely enjoy being creative and fashion menus to ensure our couples are satisfied.

What is the most exciting or unusual menu you have created for a bride? It’s hard to choose as we’ve had so many exciting and unusual requests. We’ve had a buffet and wedding cake lowered from the ceiling and we were asked to create over 200 different types of canape for a reception for 1,000. However my favourite has to be an entire wedding themed on Versailles! This included set-up, costumes, décor and creating authentic food, including its lavish presentation; it was truly memorable.

If you want to find out more about having your wedding at Le Meridien Dubai Hotel & Conference Centre have a look at their profile page or call their team on +971 4 217 2618.