Malta’s Biggest Wedding Needed 45kgs Of Almonds Just For The Cake
With many referring to any wedding with more than 400 guests as a ‘big wedding’ this Maltese couple’s nuptials will blow your mind.
The event celebrated Gordon Polidano and Stephanie Wright’s marriage at the Montekristo Estates, using the renovated palazzo inaugurated specifically for this occasion. In fact, the groom’s father, popular businessman Charles Polidano “iċ-Ċaqnu”, has had this dream of finally restoring the palazzo for a decade now, making this night a doubly-special one. So of course, there were fireworks throughout the night.
In case you were wondering just what makes a wedding classify as one of the biggest on the island, here are some mind-whopping statistics from this behemoth of a celebration.
1. There were 3,000 guests attending
No, we didn’t accidentally add an extra zero in there, that’s three thousand guests. To put that into perspective, that adds up to 75% of the amount of people who attended the massive two-day Glitch Festival earlier this month.
2. The staff totalled 400
Aka the amount of guests normally found at a ‘large’ wedding in Malta.
3. 2,000 oysters were served
How many oysters? All the oysters (courtesy of La Favorita Restaurant).
4. But in case you preferred lobsters, there were 1,000 of them
And you were contemplating whether to buy one for dinner.
5. There were 450 bottles of wine
A wine lover’s dream come true.
6. Want cheese with that wine? How about 300 kilos’ worth?
You heard us right.
7. Wine wasn’t the only drink available of course
Other options included:
300 bottles of single malt whisky
140 bottles of 30-litre champagne
…oh, and 350 litres of exclusive cocktails
Drinks. For. Days.
8. And the food? Oh, just 300 kilos of suckling pig and beef ribeye
And here we were getting excited about 300 grams of meat on our plates.
9. There were 8,500 pieces of desserts, requiring:
36 kilos of candy
30 kilos of 4 types of chocolate
That sounds like the ingredient list to a dessert plate fit for an actual giant.
And if you think that sounds like it needed a lot preparation time, that’s because it did. We’re talking over 300 hours of preparation for the desserts station and pass arounds alone.
10. The 8-tiered cake needed 45 kilos of almonds to make, and had 10 people cutting it for four hours
Of course, one of the biggest highlights of the wedding needed a whole lot of TLC. And a whole lot of almonds.
It also had steelworkers from Polidano Group working tirelessly for three whole days just to construct the cake stand.
The entire thing was beautifully orchestrated by The Westin Dragonara Resort, with invaluable help from a number of collaborators.
“It just started with a meeting, but soon, a lot of organisations were getting involved and collaborating,” Jason Degiorgio, the Food and Beverage Director, and James Mifsud, Executive Chef from Westin, told Lovin Malta. “It was a massive undertaking and the end result really was flawless.”
The attention to lavish detail was felt all throughout. The stunning chandeliers in the palazzo took two weeks to set up.
Other essential collaborators included Le Méridien, who took care of the cocktail bar and the desserts on the night. “It’s not something you experience every day,” Rodney Pisani, the Food and Beverage Manager from Le Méridien told Lovin Malta. “In every sense of the word, it really was a fairytale wedding.”
“We’re now specialising in quality outside catering, and this event turned out to be a great opportunity for us to showcase our talent,” Rodney said. “I’m so grateful for being given the opportunity, together with my team and Executive Chef Adrian Buttigieg, to be part of it”.
Ruben Caruana from Sign It was also instrumental in the design of the venue, setting up the lighting, props and stage (which had popular Maltese musicians and DJs, including Versatile Brass, entertaining the guests all night long, of course). KG Events greatly helped with organising the mass, assisting the bride with whatever she needed; and Fenbros Productions took care of the wedding video. Alistair Floral Design, on the other hand, was responsible for the absolutely stunning floral installation which acted as the central piece of the already gorgeous setting.
All photos by the very talented Ian Abdilla Photography
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