A bride had planned her Plaza wedding since April 2025, then learned the hotel would close for at least four years

The Plaza Hotel is one of New York City’s best-known wedding venues, famous for its red-carpeted entrance and its appearances in films like Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and Bride Wars. Now one bride-to-be says the Plaza’s plan to close for at least four years has left her May 2027 wedding without a home, according to ABC News.

Christine Carney and her fiancé had booked the Plaza for May 1, 2027, and the couple had been planning the celebration there since April of last year. Carney said she had dreamed of getting married at the hotel since she was a little girl. On Wednesday, she learned the landmark at Central Park South and Fifth Avenue would shut its doors for four years beginning in January.

Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, which operates the Plaza, says the closure will allow crews to restore the 18-story building’s landmark facade. Staff at the Palm Court and the hotel’s event rooms told The New York Times that those spaces will also close during the construction. As a result, couples who had planned receptions in those rooms are expected to need new venues as well.

Christine Carney says she wired money to the Plaza just two weeks before learning it would close

Carney said she called the hotel’s concierge as soon as she heard the news, hoping it was a mistake. “She came back on the line and was like I’m so sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but this is true,” Christine Carney said. The bride-to-be described her reaction as pure disbelief, followed by the immediate question of what the couple was supposed to do next.

Carney also questioned why the Plaza was still accepting wedding bookings. She said the couple had wired a payment for the venue’s sound system only two weeks before the announcement, and she suggested that nobody she dealt with appeared to know the closure was coming. However, the bride did not say whether the hotel had offered a refund for that payment or for any of the couple’s earlier deposits.

Wedding planner Alyssa Pettinato, who owns Alinato Events, said the couple now faces a chain of problems that all depend on one another. The first step is finding a new venue and hoping their date is still open there. If it isn’t, every vendor the couple has already locked in, which Pettinato estimated covers roughly half the wedding, would need to be free on a new date too.

“So, it’s pretty much planning all over again,” Alyssa Pettinato said. That burden could weigh heaviest on couples with spring dates, as they have the least time to rebook. Carney’s situation adds to a run of venue headaches for brides this year, as a California bride discovered after finding her all-white wedding venue covered in a mural despite paying extra.

The emotional side of the loss has been just as hard on Carney, as the Plaza was never just a location for her. “It feels like it’s quite unforgivable,” Christine Carney said of how the closure was handled. However, she still expects the day to be the dream wedding she pictured, wherever it ends up taking place.

It remains unclear whether the Plaza will help couples with existing bookings relocate, and Carney and her fiancé are likely to spend the coming weeks hunting for a venue that can still host them on their chosen date in May.