Pialligo Estate closure leaves Canberra couples' wedding plans in doubt

Casey couple Alli Watson and Andrew Glynn have paid a $5000 non-refundable deposit for their wedding at Pialligo Estate in October.

In the wake of the function centre and restaurant's "temporary" closure on Friday, they are feeling nervous, with no official word on whether their wedding will take place or not.

Ms Watson said she found out on Friday on social media Pialligo Estate had temporarily closed. She had received no confirmation from the business the wedding booking would be honoured.

"I know they are going through a difficult time but we've outlaid all this money and I have no idea if in six months' time I am going to have a wedding or if I can even afford a wedding," she said.

Ms Watson said she was contacted by the Pialligo Estate functions team on Monday saying the wedding would now cost between $20 and $50 per head more, with fewer inclusions. There was no explanation for the change.

The couple had already signed up to a wedding for $180 per head and budgeted accordingly.

"We invited people based on what we were able to afford," she said.

Ms Watson said a generic email was later sent to her from Pialligo Estate on Friday saying it was temporarily closed. She had "a panic attack" when she read the email at her local shopping centre.

"It's not even the money. They talk about valuing people and they're not," she said.

Another couple, Jim Arnold and his soon-to-be wife Ashleigh, received the same generic email. Their wedding is at Pialligo Estate in September. They booked it in February and have paid $10,000 towards it but have no idea if it will go ahead.

Members of Mr Arnold's family who were travelling from the United States for the wedding had already booked accommodation and flights. He didn't know what to tell them.

"We just don't know what is going to happen from here," he said.

"For those of us who are in the midst of planning the best day of our lives and thought we had a venue that cared about making it so, we are waking up to find out that they have no care for us at all.

"If they did, they would have given us a call, or at least sent an email that contained more than the written equivalent of a shrug."

Wendy Nixon, who had a booking on Saturday night for her son's birthday at the Pialligo Estate Glasshouse, was also left in the dark after she received the email.

Ms Nixon works as a nurse in the Snowy Mountains, and was travelling to Pialligo to make the day special for her son.

Despite the initial email informing her of the closure, she received another email a few hours later confirming her booking.

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"I was so confused I tried to call them about it, but the phones rang out. There was still booking options available, with the message telling me to press certain numbers for certain services," she said.

Ms Nixon was disappointed about the way she was treated.

"It's just really poor, I was just trying to do something nice and special for my son for his birthday, and now I have no idea what is going on. They had asked for a deposit, too, and with the way they did it - by sending this email like they did - they must have known this was going to happen."

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