The Ranch House

My fiancé and I chose the Ranch House for our May 23, 2020 wedding. We signed a contract for rental of the facility in January of 2019. Unfortunately the pandemic hit and we were forced to cancel our wedding. We reached out to Graham Mitchell, the Ranch House Manager, in March to discuss that our wedding would not be permitted due to restrictions on large gatherings put in place by the government. He informed us that we could rebook but he considered our deposit to be non-refundable. I reviewed our contract and discovered that our contract does not state our deposit to be non-refundable. My dad reached out to Graham and had a conversation with him via phone. Graham had suggested that we choose another date in 2020 as he had many available dates towards the end of the year. My dad explained that the majority of our guests were from out of town and planning for another wedding with short notice at the end of the year in a very unpredictable time is not something we would be able to manage. My dad suggested we compensate Graham for his time in meeting us at the venue to the amount of $250, as indicated in the contract, and requested the remainder of the deposit to be returned. My dad asked Graham to take some time to review our contract and call him back the following day. Graham never did return his call. My dad sent a follow up email 3 weeks later reminding him of their conversation and requesting follow up on his request to return our deposit. Graham never responded to his email. I sent a follow up email on May 4 requesting the return of our despot based on the terms in our written, signed contract. Graham replied with the same request for us to rebook our wedding - despite our repeated explanations that this is not something we are willing to do without resolution to the current pandemic situation. He again provided his opinion that he believes our deposit is non-refundable, despite what is stated in our contract. I have reiterated my concerns in a follow up email to which Graham has yet to respond.

Graham has made a point to state that we can rebook "without charge" for another date and made mention several times about the financial impact of the pandemic on him - as if we are somehow responsible. He has also stated that the "vast majority" of his clients have accepted his gracious offer to rebook. From the CTV news story about another couple in our same situation with the Ranch House that was broadcast on May 13, 2020 - I would beg to differ.

We are incredibly heartbroken that we had to cancel our wedding. My fiancé and I had one main intention for our wedding - to bring everyone we love the most together. Our guest list had 180 people - which was way more than we had planned for at the start of our wedding planning process but we thought - "when will all these people ever be together again". The answer is: probably never - so we sent out the invites and were so excited to have this one day with them all. We had every intention to celebrate on that day with all our friends and family.

The way Graham has handled our situation is simply unethical. Graham has been difficult to communicate with and appears to intend to keep the money we hope to use at a future date to celebrate our wedding day. I am saddened and disappointed in his lack of empathy and responsiveness. This is never what I would have expected from someone whose business is supposed to be rooted in celebration, joy, and happiness.

All of our guests praised the venue, the feeling and beauty behind it is like no other. The bar service was very well done and amazing prices. We covered 1 drink for each guest and were happy with the amazing turnout.the areas for photos are endless, such a beautiful place.