The Bellevue Conference & Event Center — Attraction in South Riding

AVOID The Bellevue AT ALL COSTS!

I usually don't usually do this - in fact, this is the first time I have ever had to write a negative review such as this but I felt the need for others to be aware of my situation so that they don't make the same mistake I made. The Bellevue Conference and Events Center in Chantilly, VA has decided to keep over $20,000 of my money that was paid in deposits even when it became clear that due to COVID-19, they wouldn't be able to host my wedding. My original wedding date was on August 8, 2020 and then due to the pandemic, I had to postpone it to April 3, 2021. We had made the decision to postpone the wedding because everyone's safety was our top priority and even the Bellevue itself was closed at that time and not hosting food tastings for their client events. The Bellevue has a minimum capacity of 300 people that must be met and paid for in order to operate their main ballroom. For months, we would ask The Bellevue for some flexibility to allow for a "pay per person" accommodation given the current climate because it didn't make any sense to have to pay for 300 people when the Governor capacity limits by end of March 2021 only allowed for 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors, but they wouldn't budge. The Bellevue, and specifically Mashal, have done nothing to show that they empathize with the situation and try to come up with reasonable solutions to resolve this issue besides unfairly and unjustly continuing to ask their clients to continue delaying their weddings and essentially their lives because of it in order to hold on to your money. In addition, we made the unfortunate mistake of putting a deposit with Vivian and her company Bright Consultation LLC, whom works very closely with Bellevue, for their AV services and upon asking for a refund, she stated that she couldn’t help me. The Bellevue and Bright Consultation LLC have not provided us with any services that would justify them keeping our money, in fact their lack of flexibility during these unprecedented times makes them seem entitled to all their clients money regardless of what's happening in the world. Many other venues have offered their clients full refunds - whereas I have been fighting this issue with Bellevue for months in the hopes that they would do the right thing and refund me my money given that no services were tendered until this very day, and will continue to fight this in the hopes that they would return to me what's rightfully mine. Upon mentioning that to The Bellevue, Mashal responded with, "In regards to other venues/hotels and their policies regarding rebooking fees and cancellations, whether or not they refunded clients or charged rebooking fees is irrelevant to the matter at hand and to The Bellevue." Truly a devastating and money hungry type of response. In addition, even within their very own contract, it clearly stated if The Bellevue was unable to maintain its obligation of hosting an event for any reason, The Bellevue would issue a full refund. Since their own contract stated for ANY reason, then this encompasses any and all reasons, and does not leave options to pick and choose what doesn't fall under "any reason" to refund a client if an event couldn't be hosted. Lastly, just like most contracts, they list nonrefundable reasons where a client wouldn't receive their money back which is fine except for the fact that they didn't include "pandemic" as one of those reasons. Even through all of this, they remain unreasonable, they lack empathy and communication skills, and still refuse to refund their clients. I hated having to associate such a sour taste in my mouth with my wedding day, and I wish I knew beforehand or that someone had informed me of the type of unprofessional people I would be dealing with. Therefore, this is my warning to everyone reading this: If you have other alternatives, which you do, you should definitely choose somewhere else to host your special day, you will be glad...

Last night I attended a Lebanese concert at the Bellevue Event Center with my family. We were a party of 10, seated in the VIP section, where each ticket was priced at $175. I had heard so much about the Bellevue and seen beautiful photos, so I was very excited knowing that I'd get to see the place for myself. Unfortunate for them, our experience there was far from beautiful. All guests paid $10 for parking. A VERY tacky move on whoever decided to do that. This wasn't a hotel or a venue in the city where parking was limited. This place had a large open parking lot specifically for it... Why would you collect money from all of the guests who've already paid to attend an event at your venue? The hall was totally overcrowded making it extremely difficult to get to the bathroom, walk outside, dance or simply stand behind your own chair. Our table was supposed to accommodate 10 people, however it was so tight that we had to move chairs to the side just to make enough to room to eat off our plates. The food that was catered was nothing more than ordinary. They only brought out salad and hummus and our main course. This isn't a full mezza and is definitely not a VIP dinner, not to mention the $4 charge for soft drinks that wasn't included in our ticket. There was no dessert and no tea or coffee. The knives at the table were awful. Their design was not practical at all and would not lay properly on the plates. Almost half the tables' knives fell over because of their stupid design. The servers who brought out the food were not properly directed on how to serve the guests. It was a MAJOR clusterf**k. The VIP booths were occupied by employees and affiliates/vendors of the venue (which I KNOW did not pay for their tickets) who the DJ/host kept raving about at the beginning of the party. He basically spent a few minutes on stage standing there promoting the venue to everyone for their future events. I had never been to a tasteful concert where the hotel or venue was being promoted during the actual event. Tacky! The entertainment however, was amazing. The singer was on point, which I had no doubt about coming into this. Fares Karam is a phenomenal singer and every one of his performances are amazing! The venue does not get credit for that though. Long story short, this was not what I expected from this place. It's beautiful, yes, but after our experience, I would never recommend this place to anyone. The owner should've known better than to have things handled the way that they were. You cannot totally blame the promoters of the party, because this wasn't their venue. There should've been order and major organization in place, which this whole event lacked. Not to mention the RIDICULOUS fees we had to pay in addition to our pricey tickets, which should've included it all! After this, I could never trust that the Bellevue or any of its affiliates would give me an honest deal for an event I wanted to plan with them. For some, these points may not be major, but these simple things say so much about the people who manage and own this place. By the end of the night I could not help but feel like they did whatever they could to make the most money, discounting the comfort of the guests and the opportunity to leave a somewhat good impression. The feeling was mutual among the whole group. Shame on...

We had the most amazing experience at the Bellevue for our wedding week. We kicked off our celebration by having our religious ceremony and Henna party in the Bolour room. Fara, the in house decorator did a great job getting our stage, tables, and draperies set up. We did our table decorations and henna decorations ourselves, and everything looked beautiful (especially with the tall ceilings, great lighting, and the gorgeous giant olive tree decorations in this venue).

Two days later, we had our wedding reception in the Grand Marquesa ballroom and it was phenomenal. Our guests couldn’t stop raving about the beautiful ballroom and how fun the wedding was. We had the most amazing fairytale entrance down the double staircase and our guests were so impressed with how elegant the ballroom was. We were able to find all of our vendors in-house looking through the Bellevue Instagram, and they did a great job communicating with us and planning our vision for the event. They’re truly an exceptional team.

Our coordinator, Viviane with Viva La Fiesta Planning, was amazing and ensured that everything ran very smoothly and stress free. She met with us in the months leading up to the wedding, helped us create our timeline, manage our vendors, and was the go-to person for any and all requests or last minute hiccups. She was so friendly and caring and I really felt that she was dedicated to making my wedding dreams come true. We couldn’t have done it without her and if you are on the fence about having a coordinator, definitely book her. You won’t be disappointed and I promise your event will run so smoothly with her help.

Fara, the in house decorator also did the decor for our wedding and it was absolutely stunning. The florals were great, the stage looked beautiful, and she truly understood our vision.

We chose the in-house plated steak dinner for our dinner service, which came with 3 appetizers, a salad, an open beverage bar, and of course our wedding cake. The food was great and was served fast with very generous portions.

DJ Hussam did all of the music for our event and did a phenomenal job. Our guests never left the dance floor and everyone had a blast. Faris al Layla dabke team did a great job and everyone enjoyed their performance. DJ Hussam worked great with them and the Bright Consultation lighting/AV team.

We used Arazo Media for our photographer/videographer team for both events and they were incredible. It was hard to find an all-female team for the henna, but they made it happen. And for the wedding, we had a great experience shooting with their standard team. They were super friendly, fast, efficient, great at directing us, and they captured some amazing pictures that we are so excited to see.

All in all, this event was a 10/10 fairytale experience and there is nothing I would’ve changed about our night. The team is knowledgeable, friendly, efficient, and they truly know how to execute a magnificent event. Thank you again to everyone at...