APPALLING
We had our wedding at Philip Shaw earlier this year. To say we were let down and disappointed is an understatement.
I had spent over twelve months liaising with the then events coordinator to ensure our day was everything we had hoped for. Two days out from our wedding, without warning, this specific events coordinator resigned. Extremely unprofessional on behalf of this individual and Philip Shaw as a whole.
But unfortunately the issues didn’t cease there. After being promised the world by these so called vendors, our wedding day proceeded to be a longitudinal list of failings. My husband and his groomsmen arrived at the venue prior to our ceremony to set up a back drop, and much to their disgrace found that the area of our ceremony had not been cleaned, as promised. This included dirty chairs, dead leaves and sticks all over the steps where we were getting married and random garden tiles scattered throughout. My husband and his groomsmen had no other choice but to clean these themselves. Not an ideal task to be doing on your wedding day.
Next we were confronted with guests coming up to us with complaints of hot beer, cider and soft drinks shortly after our ceremony. When we approached staff about this we were told that the fridge wasn’t working very well and no solution was put forward. We could see guests pouring out beers that we were paying for because they were hot. There was also little to no water provided, it was a 34 degree day. We had both elderly and pregnant women in attendance. We should not have had to specify that COLD water and drinks in general needed to be provided.
After the ceremony we went down to the butter factory where I had previously clarified that chairs would needed to be set up for everyone. There were no chairs. Guests were forced to go up to the ceremony location and move chairs themselves or sit on the grass. To further the unprofessionalism the cellar door manger was forced to climb through a window to get into the butter factory bar because she forgot her keys. Not long after this mid strength beer was “sold out” shortly after the ceremony.
We had hired outdoor furniture from the White Place which was to be used outside for guests only. Unfortunately throughout the afternoon we saw customers of the cellar door utilising this whilst drinking red wine. We were promised that any customers of the cellar door sitting outside whilst our ceremony was on would be ushered inside and that the cellar door would be closed at 4pm. Neither of these promises were fulfilled. It was clear that $15 wine tastings were being prioritised over our high-cost wedding.
When it was time to head up to the reception we were faced yet again with a list of inconveniences. My two friends that I had prearranged to check on everything in the cellar door ended up setting all of the tables along with place settings. This was not their job but yet again, we’re left with no choice. I had corresponded with both events coordinators as well as provided documentation of how I wanted the reception set. It didn’t end there.
After compiling a list of these failings, my husband and I went into Philip Shaw to speak with management. We were firstly greeted with apologies and embarrassment of how the day was run. We were then told to put all of this information into an email as a “formal complaint” which we did. Following on from this I received an unpleasant phone call from the cellar door manager denying all of this and further projecting incorrect accusations on to myself, my husband and our wedding guests. Little to no communication was received from the CEO, despite sending him a copy of this complaint and asking for a response. We are disgusted by the way Philip Shaw handled our complaint and took no ownership of the mistakes that were made. We would not recommend Philip Shaw for a wedding venue or a venue for any...
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