Claudia Gelonese, 26, was sentenced to four months behind bars when she appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.

She had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, and also admitted to breaching a good behaviour order.

According to agreed facts tendered to the court, Gelonese was initially employed by a Gungahlin childcare centre as an assistant director, before being promoted to director in May 2018.

The centre owner confronted Gelonese on several occasions in the months that followed about her unauthorised use of a company debit card.

In July 2018, he asked Gelonese to provide receipts for transactions she said were for childcare expenses, but she did not provide them.

The following month, the owner asked Gelonese to explain 38 transactions totalling $3397.44. A number of these, including a $670 bill for invitations, related to her wedding expenses.

Gelonese agreed she had been using the card for personal expenses, and told the owner she would pay the money back.

Ten days later, another payment of $2970, relating to wedding expenses, appeared on the company card.

During August 2018, the centre owner also discovered that Gelonese had been emailing clients requesting payments, and providing her personal bank account details instead of the centre's.

Gelonese agreed during a police interview that she had emailed six parents with her personal bank account details, and that five of them had made payments totalling $2401.14.

At Gelonese's sentencing hearing on Monday, prosecutor Bridget Atkinson read a victim impact statement from the childcare centre owner.

The statement said the centre had suffered as a result of Gelonese's offending, with parents who felt they could not trust the centre pulling their children out.

The owner said Gelonese's offending had caused him to worry that the business would not survive and that he would lose his home.

His relationship had suffered to the point that he and his wife spoke about separation, and he had needed to find an external investor to buy half of the business in order to keep it afloat.

Ms Atkinson said Gelonese was a repeat offender, and had committed these crimes while already before the courts in relation to similar offences, which ultimately resulted in her being handed a suspended sentence.

She said Gelonese had shown a disregard for this leniency by breaching her community service requirements, proving that only time behind bars would suffice this time.

Gelonese's latest crimes represented "an escalation" in offending, Ms Atkinson said, and her prospects for rehabilitation were low.

"This is a woman who has dishonestly obtained financial advantage from her employer in order to fund a luxury wedding," the prosecutor said.

Defence lawyer Erin Priestly urged Acting Chief Magistrate Glenn Theakston to fully suspend any jail sentence, saying Gelonese was about seven weeks pregnant.

Ms Priestly said Gelonese had already suffered as a result of her offending after being forced to relocate to Sydney because she had been unable to find work in Canberra.

Gelonese had acknowledged the impact of her offending, Ms Priestly said, and had engaged with a psychologist to try and address her issues.

But Mr Theakston said Gelonese's explanation for her offending - that she wanted to pay for her wedding - "could simply not be justified".

Mr Theakston said Gelonese had been in a position of trust, which she had breached on several occasions.

"What I see before me is someone who cannot be trusted, someone who is not reliable and someone who is very quick to impose upon an employer," he said.

Mr Theakston sentenced Gelonese to seven months' jail, with four months to be served behind bars before the balance of the sentence is suspended.

He also imposed a 12-month good behaviour order, to take effect when Gelonese is released from jail, and ordered her to pay the childcare centre owner $7771.58 in reparation.

Gelonese held back tears as she was sentenced, telling Mr Theakston she was going to lose her job.

The court heard there were also civil proceedings under way, relating to $10,000 the childcare centre owner had lent Gelonese. She had repaid about $1000.