20 September 2023 , 13:02
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A joyful wedding turned into a nightmare when half the guest list fell violently ill and began vomiting with a "horrible" illness.
Friends and family were celebrating at The Park in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday night when a flower girl was suddenly stuck with gastro-like symptoms. Once she threw up, there was a domino effect of the illness making its way through the wedding party. The youngest guest was just one-year-old and at least three guests spent Monday night in hospital.
Initial reports claimed that 70 of the 300 attendees were sick by the end of the evening, but one guest said on Wednesday the list of casualties was likely much longer. One person wrote on social media: "It was more than half the guests. At least 100 of us were sick. It was horrible."
The outbreak was the second at the same venue in three days after about 70 medical professionals experienced vomiting and diarrhoea after a conference dinner on Wednesday. The cause of both incidents is still under investigation by the Victorian and Port Philip health departments, but despite the horror illness the venue has been allowed to continue training. The venue does not come cheap, with main meals starting at $180AU (£93) per person, which means the newlyweds would have spent about $55,000AU (£28.8k).
Wedding attendees were given the choice of chicken or pork for their main meal, however, it is not clear whether the food was the cause. The unnamed guest, who ate chicken said: "It wasn't only guests who had the chicken who ended up sick. Even kids who had a different meal than the adults ended up sick too." The couple is now considering legal action against the caterers and spent Tuesday gathering statements from guests to launch a class action, the Age reported.
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According to the venue's website, there are two wedding packages that offer chicken and pork as main courses. The first menu option reads: "Roasted chicken breast with crushed potato, leek, tarragon jus, parsley and shallot." The second option read: "Pork belly, spiced pumpkin, roasted onion, spring onion oil, crackling." Both options included "freshly baked bread, cultured butter, great ocean road sea salt" as a starter.
A spokesperson for the venue told Daily Mail Australia investigations would cover two events - the conference on Wednesday, September 13, and the wedding on September 16. They said: "On Friday, September 15, we received a routine health and safety site inspection from the City of Port Philip, finding no issues with health and safety practices. We have conducted a precautionary deep clean and have received approval from the council to continue trading. We will continue to work closely with the City of Port Philip to determine the cause of this outbreak and will keep customers and impacted parties notified of the investigator's findings."