Ecostudio Fellini: Gold Coast wedding venue’s shock sale leaves couples without booking

The surprise sale of a popular Queensland wedding reception venue has left couples devastated without a reservation for their nuptials next year.

The owners of the award-winning Ecostudio Fellini in Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast announced via email that the venue had been sold and would not be able to host weddings booked for next year.

The email told customers that the sale of the venue, including the restaurant and accommodation, would occur on January 17, 2023.

Couples eager to get married were shocked, as the venue’s email stated that they “could not continue with [the] wedding plans’, the Gold Coast Newsletter informed.

Ecostudio Fellini (pictured) in Mudgeeraba on the Gold Coast won Best Wedding Reception Venue in Queensland in 2014

The property will be sold on January 17 and will undergo a year of renovations under the new owners.

The Gold Coast inland venue is scheduled to be closed for redevelopment for at least 12 months by the new owners, ‘experienced wedding venue operators’ with ‘exciting plans’.

An employee at the venue told Daily Mail Australia that the venue would be sold for personal reasons and that refunds for all canceled bookings would be paid in full after the deal was settled in January.

Customers shared their disappointment online, with one bride-to-be writing that ‘hI just dodged a big bullet.’

The woman was looking to book Ecostudio Fellini for her wedding, but shared that she won’t be using the venue after her friend ran out of a reservation just months before her wedding.

She was “outraged” that there would be “no refund” until the property was sold.

an employee of the The venue confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that the poster’s social media friend had not provided his bank details to the venue, so the refund could not be processed.

Customers shared their disappointment online, criticizing the place for lack of communication.

Another bride-to-be, Steph Reis, told the Gold Coast Bulletin that she was devastated that the surprise was cancelled.

“It was the only place we had looked at because it was the only place that was in our price range and had everything we wanted,” Ms. Reis said.

I just thought it was a little careless not to call us.

“I get that they’re a business and stuff happens, but on a personal scale, it absolutely sucks.”

Ms Reis said she had booked the venue because it was affordable, but now she doesn’t “know if we can afford to get married now.”

Another customer shared on Facebook that she ‘feels[s] for couples who are (booked) earlier in the year than us’ and was ‘disappointed with the lack of communication’ from the place.

Located in the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Ecostudio Fellini occupies five acres of grounds and offers a wedding venue, accommodation, corporate spaces and a restaurant.

Samantha Taylor-Reynolds, manager of another wedding venue in the region, told the Gold Coast Bulletin that she is trying to accommodate couples whose bookings were cancelled.

‘We are sorry for your situation. We are quite busy, but we do have some availability.

“We are talking to couples about the remaining dates we have left and we hope we can help them.”

The wedding venue has been open for almost 18 years and won the Australian Academy of the Bridal Industry award for best wedding reception venue in Queensland in 2014.

Beneath Ecostudio Fellini’s home, the property is also home to two other businesses: a private corporate venue The Summer House, sustainable ‘regional hub’ restaurant The Barn, as well as accommodation.

Carlo Percuoco (pictured) was managing the family property after his restaurant went into liquidation

The venue’s owner, Carlo Percuoco, could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Percuoco Ristorante Fellini & Pastificio Fellini’s Gold Coast restaurant went into liquidation in April 2021, after Covid-19 restrictions wiped out tourism in the area.

The restaurant has been known for its high-end patrons since it opened in 1993, including the Rolling Stones, Hugh Jackman, Kate Hudson, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

It would have been able to survive if not for the pandemic, Percuoco told the Courier Mail at the time, but there was a slowdown in tourist numbers to the Gold Coast after the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The liquidation of the restaurant resulted in the participation of Mr. Pecuoco with the restaurant in his family’s Ecostudio Fellini location.

Ecostudio Fellini was once one of the most requested places in the city.