The Plaza Hotel will close for four years starting in January

The Plaza Hotel, the landmark at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South, will shut for four years starting in January for a restoration project, leaving at least one couple with a May wedding booked there in search of a new venue.

According to Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, which runs the Plaza, the closing is needed so work can be done on the exterior of the 18-story landmark. Staff at the Palm Court and the hotel’s event rooms have said those spaces will also close during construction.

The hotel is known for its red-carpeted entrance and French Renaissance design, and it has appeared in movies including “Home Alone” and “Bride Wars.”

Plaza Hotel weddings: a bride’s plans upended

Christine Carney and her fiancé had been planning a May 1 wedding at the Plaza since April of last year. Carney said she had wanted to be married there since she was a child. She learned of the closure on Wednesday and called the hotel’s concierge, who confirmed it and apologized, she said.

Carney said the couple had wired money to the hotel only about two weeks earlier, and she questioned why the Plaza had kept taking wedding bookings. “It feels like it’s quite unforgivable,” she said.

What couples face when a venue closes

Wedding planner Alyssa Pettinato, owner of Alinato Events, said the couple now has to find another venue and hope their date is still open there. If it is not, they will need a new date, and every vendor already hired, about half of the wedding at this point, would have to be free on that day. She said it amounts to planning the wedding all over again.

Carney said she still expects a dream wedding, wherever it ends up.