The Secret Garden at Ripples Winery

As with all things there are two sides. The tribunal court hearing that was initiated by you, ruled in our favor because you refused all the very reasonable options that were presented to you. We offered you the option of proceeding with your event in August under the then current government restrictions of 50 people but at 50% reduced price of our rate. Something many other couples chose to take advantage of. You were also given the option of postponing to 2021 at no extra cost. There were still weekend dates available or weekdays at a significantly reduced rate. As of today we still have openings for Saturdays but yes, not in August, our most popular month. Given the unprecedented circumstances, we also did offer to cost share the financial burden of a full cancelation as both parties loose in that situation, and yes, we did indeed retract that when you initiated court proceedings. The fact that the court ruled in our favor does not feel like a win for us. We tried very hard to find solutions for all our clients including yourself. Fortunately we were able to do this for others but nobody wins in a situation like this. I empathize with all the couples that have had wedding plans for 2020 and felt that they could not proceed, but have also had the pleasure of witnessing many lovely 50 person weddings here this summer. We have a large open air venue that has allowed for safe, beautiful events and we have developed many policies to keep people feeling reassured. Lastly, my apologies for not visiting you at the social 2 years ago. We had over 100 couples turn up for the event and I definitely did not get to visit with all.

Thank you, it was a delight to host your wedding! A beautiful day, you were such a lovely couple. I particularly loved how when you came off the ceremony grounds you had a little teary eyed moment together. We wish you a very happy life together.

Thankyou Amanda, for your sweet words.
It was our pleasure being apart of Donovans and your special day.

We are honored to have hosted your big day and happy to hear that it was everything you dreamed of.
Thankyou

Thankyou Merissa & Scott for sharing your beautiful day with us! We appreciate your wonderful review!
We look forward to seeing more pictures

-Caroline & Paul

I understand your frustration but it is not entirely true that everything was flatly denied. We have tried to be as accommodating as possible and have been in continual email contact with your daughter Eden. We did our due diligence and have documented correspondence with her was to make sure she completely understood that it was unlikely that they would have more than 50 guests at their wedding prior to making her second deposit. She understood this, acknowledge it, was fine with it and paid the second installment! We are currently at that 50 person maximum, as was anticipated, but likely by the time you were scheduled to have your event, restrictions will be lifted even more. You are correct, there are other customers that are unhappy with the less than 140 people weddings, however this really isn't a beach of contact on our part. We are trying our best to accommodate clients within the existing restrictions and find solutions that work for both parties. A compromise is a solution that gives both parties a satisfactory solution. Something we have achieved with most of our clients over the past year. Expecting your venue and vendors to bare the full financial responsibility of your decision to postpone or cancel because you don't like the current restriction, is not a compromise. I understand that, as we suggested, a transfer of you deposit to a micro wedding was also not favorably met because Jayden and Eden were married in March. I also understand that now the only thing you want from this contract is a celebration party for 140 people rather than a wedding. By reserving a date in our calendar you have prevented others from boòking that date and postponing means ultimately no income for us on that date. For this reason there is a contract. Breach of contact is when we cannot provide you with services agreed upon. We can absolutely provide you with your event, albeit possibly only 50 people, but possibly more.
'Be kind' is something we all should live with, all the time, not just during covid, and it is not exclusively applicable to us. I also fail to see how we have exploited the current situation by offering a compromise rather than giving in to your demands.

Firstly, let me congratulate you on the upcoming expansion of your family. Something positive out of this sad year we have had. We have all struggled during this pandemic and we have tried to accommodate everybody with their different requirements. We did not cancel any of our 2020 weddings as you indicated. However we did accommodate all our clients as best we could to suit their needs, which included postponements, transfers to Micro weddings and reduced-price events. As you indicated in your review we had no issues accommodating your postponement request from 2020 to the following year and we happily honored your existing contracts prices. Yes we did host weddings in 2020 at a reduced price to accommodate many couples that did not want to postpone. Couples were informed about the reduced pricing arrangements for 2020 in our newsletter. I'm sorry you did not read that but the information did go out to all our booked clients to the email listed on their signed contract. I realize that you did not sign up for a 50 person wedding, however those restrictions are beyond our control. Yes, you did not anticipate similar restrictions when you first postponed, you probably did not anticipate a new family member either. We have all had to adjust our lives and plans. What is sad is that we vendors and venues are expected to take the full financial responsibility for couples that continue to want to postpone because they cannot have their big wedding or get other curve balls that get throw their way. We have held your first date for more than a year and subsequently your second postponement date for more than a year, we also honored your existing pricing. That is now two dates that we have not been able to book for other clients that are happy with the current restrictions. Two dates that we cannot recoup any income. For this reason we are not refunding but have given, as to yourself, multiple different other options. Contrary to your review, we have been exceptionally understanding and have postponed, transferred and adapted at all times, and no, it has not been many other that have been frustrated. Fortunately we have been able to satisfy most of our clients. It is those that we have not satisfied, like yourselves that have taken to multiple reviews. Your right of course, but it would be nice if all the facts were given.