My husband and I travelled to Queenstown to attend a wedding reception at Stoneridge recently and were very disappointed at the service of the hosts. The property is beautiful and the surrounding mountains are breathtaking. However, we were surprised at the attitude and service of the hosts. To give a couple of examples: (i) the reception dinner was intended to be a 4 course meal ending with cheese and coffee. The dinner ran a little late, as wedding dinners often do, so the caterers and hosts decided not to serve the cheese course or coffee without checking or apologising to the guests or the wedding couple. When our table asked for the cheese course, we were eventually served but when we then asked for coffee, they said they were not serving any more because it was too late. We were one of the few tables with the cheese course, some tables did not even get any (ii) One of the guests had prepared a slide show to be shown during the dinner. When he enquired with the male host whether they had a CD player for the music, the answer was "no". But what shocked us was that we then saw him put in a CD for a dance into a CD player later. No doubt, we could not believe the unhelpfulness. (iii) we were dancing near the band later and at around 11.30pm, the band announced the last song. At this point, the male host approached the band and said very rudely "that's it, no more". We were near the band and saw the way the male host had talked to the band. These are just a few examples. The general sense we got as guests was inflexibilty and unhelpfulness of the hosts. We suspect they may not be used to holding a big function and were clearly stressed out. We received fantastic service at the other places we visited in Queenstown and Central Otago but Stoneridge needs to pull their socks up and not rest their laurels on the beautiful scenery around the property to sell themselves. Particularly for weddings, guests will remember the slightest thing that marred their experience.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
29 November 2008
The hosts of Stoneridge Estate are Wayne and Suzanne Gore and were not at this particular wedding. Instead, there were 8 high trained service staff whom looked after this wedding party of 77.
I'm sorry that this particular reviewer did not enjoy their experience at Stoneridge as other guests at that particular wedding seemed to, considering the gracious comments placed in our visitors book that evening. The reception dinner did run nearly 1 hour late due to the bridal photography running extremely behind schedule and with speeches also running well overtime. The Stoneridge Chef was ready with the meal at the predetermined time (set out in the function runsheet previously approved by the bride and followed by the Duty Manager) and given the circumstances of the scheduling had no choice but to delay the courses in order to accommodate the Bride and Groom’s timing. Buffet tea and coffee were served to guests until the venue closing time of 11:30pm. It is not accepted that the cheese course was not provided. It is admitted however that the cheese course went out late but the reviewer is mistaken if they thought that the cheese platter was not offered to each guest.
Music with Slideshow- The reviewer does not understand that the guest who wanted the slideshow wanted his pre-recorded slideshow to play thru Stoneridge’s sound system. With the correct leads he would have been most welcome to have done this. If we had been made aware of his wishes prior to the commencement of the reception we could have worked to obtain any necessary audio equipment he needed. Ironically, the bride and groom did book audio visual gear (which we had organized to hire) but had cancelled it prior to the wedding. It is unrealistic that we would offer our sound system (as we always do for mp3, Ipod, and cd music) to play the music for the first dance but then not offer it to someone else to provide background music for a visual display.
Dancing- It is apt the that the reviewer should say ‘at around 11:30pm’, it was in fact 11:40pm that the band were told “that’s it- no more” as Stoneridge’s license requires all bands and amplified music shall stop at the venue at 11:30pm. This requirement is detailed in the venue contract that all couples must sign when booking the venue and the venue must be vacated by 12:00am.
Stoneridge Estate holds many functions each month and our staff are extremely competent and experienced in dealing with functions of up to 120 guests.
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of TripAdvisor LLC
