Eschol Park House renovations force wedding cancellations
It’s every bride’s worst nightmare. Dozens of couples are now without a wedding venue after the Eschol Park House announced it was closing between April and December for renovations.
It’s every bride’s worst nightmare.
Eschol Park House has left dozens of couples scrambling to rearrange their wedding plans after it announced it was closing close between April and December for renovations.
The move is follows Navarra Venues buying the exclusive Sydney wedding venue earlier this year.
Bride-to-be Sharlene (surname withheld) and fiance Bradley had booked their October 12 wedding at Eschol Park House in May last year, only to receive an e-mail yesterday telling them the venue would be undergoing renovations.
Eschol Park House, which has featured on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette was recently sold by long-time operators John and Paul Masina to Navarra Venues, owners of popular venues such as Conca D’Oro and Le Montage.
The final settlement will be at the end of April, when renovations are set to begin.
The couple became concerned when they saw the venue listed for sale late last year but Sharlene was told her wedding date was safe when she inquired with venue management.
Navarra has offered parties affected by the sale and renovations its other venues as an alternative location, however the offer is subject to changes in cost.
Sharlene said she had looked at Navarra’s other venues but was concerned about wedding costs blowing out.
“They’ve given the option to go to other venues … but I just wanted a small, intimate wedding and John had worked with our budget,” she said.
“I had a $1000 bar tab and they’ve told me they don’t do bar tabs.
“I’ve organised a photographer, makeup artists and cars for the day but all of that might have to change, and there’s going to be a cost with that.”
Sharlene said Eschol Park House had been her “dream” location.
“That was my dream wedding venue,” she said. “Hopefully this is a sign that I’ll find something better.”
Eileen Neave and Peter Hamilton booked Eschol Park House last April as the reception for their September 14 wedding and were dismayed to find they would have to change their plans.
“We have guests coming from Ireland and America; we’ve already sent the wedding invitations out,” Miss Neave said.
“We are having the wedding in Narellan so it was close by for us; if we changed to one of their other venues we’d be paying extra for the photographer, cars and other services to travel.”
Mr Hamilton said he would like compensation for his wedding invitations as well as a refund on the deposit.
“They’re the ones who cancelled, not us; we sent the invitations out saying Eschol Park House in good faith because we’d made the booking,” he said.
“They (Navarra) need to be accountable. I hope other people are aware of how they operate now.
“It would have been really simple to honour the bookings that had been made and make the renovations after.”
Both couples said they had spoken to other venues in the area and were holding out hope of finding somewhere available on their original dates.
Sharlene posted her wedding dilemma on Facebook and several people expressed anger at the situation, including others with bookings, while other local venues offered their services.
The Macarthur Chronicle contacted Navarra Venues this afternoon with a list of questions but did not receive a response.
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