A bride-to-be planning her perfect wedding tried to contact a breathtaking winery as her venue, only to learn it was a company specializing in dolphin swims.
Georgia Clay, 28 and from Richmond in Australia, is preparing to wed her fiance James Bate, 32, but finding the perfect venue proved more complicated than she first thought.
Clay reached out to a winery on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne and, when she didn’t hear back, tried them again—only to receive a hugely unexpected email back. “We didn’t have our heart set on this winery, but it was definitely up there,” she told Newsweek, adding the couple “absolutely fell in love with how lush and beautiful it was.”
“When I hadn’t heard back, I just thought they might have been busy or my inquiry didn’t suit what they could do,” Clay said—but the reply she eventually received from what she believed was Polperro Winery turned out to have a twist.
In a TikTok video to her account @lifeof_georgia on December 9, Clay showed off the email she received, which asked: “Are you trying to make contact with Polperro Winery? We are Polperro Dolphin Swims.”
The company said it was also on the Mornington Peninsula and had been operating for decades, joking “the winery stole our name.”
“We can take you for a dolphin swim, but we are not a wedding venue” the staff member said, just for good measure.
James Bate and Georgia Clay pose by the coast, left. When the bride-to-be tried to inquire about a winery venue, she got an unexpected reply back, right.
James Bate and Georgia Clay pose by the coast, left. When the bride-to-be tried to inquire about a winery venue, she got an unexpected reply back, right.
TikTok @lifeof_georgia
Social media manager Clay wrote in the caption she wants to “book a dolphin swim here now—absolutely loved their reply.”
And she told Newsweek: “When I got the reply, I was on the bus on the way to work and I started laughing out loud; it was so embarrassing! But I was like this is amazing!”
After sharing it with her fiance and friends, she realized: “You know who would love this—my TikTok community!”
And she was correct; her video racked up over 34,000 likes as users flocked to the comments, with one joking: “Ask if they have a dolphin available to officiate the wedding”
“Invested in the beef between the dolphin swim place and the winery tbh [to be honest],” another posted, while a third wrote: “Even if I wanted to get married at a winery, I’d be crushed to learn I couldn’t have a dolphin wedding.”
Clay said the dolphin swims company has been having fun since the clip went viral, sharing humorous posts to their own account about the mix-up.
As for the winery, Clay said she contacted the company on Instagram, letting it know the website link on its account “was linking to the dolphin tour company, as that is how all of this happened in the first place.”
“They were super nice and thankful about it,” Clay added.
From left: The couple play in the ocean. They would love to somehow incorporate dolphins in their big day.
From left: The couple play in the ocean. They would love to somehow incorporate dolphins in their big day.
TikTok @lifeof_georgia
Newsweek spoke to Polperro Dolphin Swims staff member Justine, who said it is not the first time a soon-to-be-wed couple has mistakenly inquired about the winery. However, the company has “had many wedding proposals on our boat, a few hen parties, and even a wedding once.”
As for the joke about the winery “stealing” their name, Justine added: “Polperro Dolphin Swims is not salty about the name, but invites you to come and get ‘salty’ with us sometime, haha!”
Clay has loved seeing her video go viral, particularly “seeing people in the comments saying it made their day or tagging their friends,” as she wants to “bring joy and positivity to my community’s life, and I think this achieved that.”
Clay is also hoping to visit Polperro Dolphin Swims in the next couple of months, as “the team seems really nice, and I think it would be hilarious to make a follow-up video showing that we went there.
“I think it would be super funny to include some pictures of us there on our wedding website or invitations,” Clay added.
There was still the question of finding the perfect venue, however. In the United States, the venue is by far the most expensive cost for the day, at an average of $12,800 in 2023, followed by the engagement ring at $5,500, according to Statista.
But, as Clay told Newsweek, the couple have just “locked in” their venue, in the coastal town of Margaret River. “There are plenty of dolphins down that way so I would love to incorporate them in some way or another!”
Newsweek has contacted Polperro Winery for comment on this story.
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Bride-To-Be Tries To Book Wedding Venue, Offered Dolphin Swim Instead
