White Chapel Kalbar is the Best Wedding Venue in Queensland – it’s official.

On Tuesday night, November 9, at the Australian Bridal Industry Academy (ABIA) Awards, the White Chapel team won the Best Wedding Ceremony Venue in Queensland, their associated Herrmann House accommodation was named Runner Up in the Best First Night Honeymoon and then they were named as one of the top three finalists in the best of the best award, the Best Wedding Reception Venue in Queensland.

“I couldn’t believe it,” recalls venue owner and operator, April Cornwell, “to be named in the top three was fantastic.”

April had barely had a chance to absorb the accolade when White Chapel Kalbar was named as the winner.

“It’s the ultimate gong, and we’d won it. Amazing! Fantastic!”

April was accompanied to the gala award event by staff members Vicki Hopkins, Kassie Ritchie, Aimee Shackell and Angela Pfeffer.

“I told them at the beginning of the night it was incredible that White Chapel was among the finalists, along with some of the biggest names in the industry.

“And then to win three awards, including the ultimate award was beyond words.”

However, April did find the words when they went up to accept the award.

“All night, people had been talking about the impact of Covid, of how it had destroyed businesses.

“It hit everyone hard but we survived and I was determined through that time to keep my wonderful staff because it’s not the venue, it’s the people.

“White Chapel is a beautiful wedding venue but it is the staff who make the wedding experience wonderful.

“Our staff go above and beyond, they are so patient, so accommodating. A venue is only as good as its last wedding and that wedding has to be fantastic.”

When April walked on stage with her team to accept the ‘best of the best’ award, she felt she had already said everything when she accepted the earlier awards.

“I didn’t know what to say and then it came to me and I told the audience that we were that little wedding venue that could, and we did!”

To achieve the status of the Best Wedding Venue in the State gives further credibility to the venue and confidence to couples that the team at White Chapel can deliver all that is promised.

“It gives proof that we can provide the service that couples and their families are looking for,” says April.

Winners of the ABIA Awards are chosen by the couples who use the venues.

First you have to have an ABIA accredited venue.

“We won accreditation in 2018, less than a year after we opened,” April said.

The ABIA Awards judging system is based on bridal feedback. Brides, grooms or couples are asked to rate their wedding suppliers on a set of criteria such as quality of product and service, value for money and attitude of staff. An algorithm is then applied to the answers.

“We got more than a 97 percent overall customer satisfaction rating from every single wedding,” April said.

April recalls going to the ABIA Awards three years ago with her mentor, Marlene Murray, who was instrumental in setting up Maleny Manor and putting Maleny on the map as a wedding destination.

“She gave me wonderful advice and told me that night that we’d get there – meaning we would one day win awards.

“I said to her give me three years – the first one to tell everyone where we are, the second to prove ourselves and the third to gain ongoing recognition.

“But I didn’t mean we would be picking up the ultimate award in three years, just that we would have built a reputation as an excellent wedding venue.”

Marlene Murray was at the ceremony last Tuesday night.

“She came running across the stage to congratulate us … she said ‘you told me to give you three years’ and you’ve done it!”

The win for White Chapel will further embellish the reputation of the venue and the team but it is far from the end of the story.

“For us, now the hard work begins. We will continue to review and improve our service, that’s an absolute,” April said.

And her determination to push for greater heights doesn’t stop at the venue boundaries.

“I want to make the Scenic Rim the best wedding destination.

“We all need to work together and present ourselves as ‘the wedding destination’.

“The Scenic Rim is now in the top 10 regions in the world to visit and we need to capitalise on that.

“We could become the Scenic Rim Wedding Ring.”