Historic Wattle Park Chalet catches fire on day of scheduled wedding

In short:

A couple's wedding plans have been thrown into disarray after a fire devastated a historic venue in Melbourne's east.

Firefighters were called to the Wattle Park Chalet in Surrey Hills about 6:32am to find the building well alight.

The owner of the chalet says he is currently working with the groom to find a replacement venue for the couple.

A historic wedding venue in Melbourne's east that was scheduled to host a reception tonight has erupted in flames, destroying the roof.

Emergency services were called to the Wattle Park Chalet in Surrey Hills about 6:32am this morning, arriving to find the building on fire.

Firefighters brought the blaze under control shortly before 8am, but not before fire, smoke and water damage had devastated much of the main hall.

"The area that's been damaged has been approximately 30 per cent of the building," Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) incident controller Callum Donoghue said.

Wattle Park Chalet owner Matthew Forsythe has only owned the business for five months, and said he was devastated to see the historic building following the fire.

"It's pretty bad, the damage, certainly when you go inside the hall," he said.

He said the venue had operated since 1928 and had hosted thousands of weddings.

"This is a tragedy, not just for myself and the bookings I've got, but [for] such a historic building like this to be impacted like this is just horrible to see," Mr Forsythe said.

"I hope at some point in the future we look back and this is just a little speed bump in that history."

Wedding plans thrown into disarray

Mr Forsythe said he had about 20 events planned over the next few months, including a wedding tonight that will need to be relocated.

Mr Forsythe said he was still working to find a replacement venue tonight's reception, admitting he was keeping one half of the couple in the dark about the fire for now.

"We actually haven't told the bride, but I'm dealing with the groom and we're trying to find an alternative venue at the moment that will give them their special day," he said.

"They'll certainly have a story that they'll have to talk about."

He said two days of work had gone into preparing for the wedding, with flowers already on the tables and food ready to go.

Mr Forsythe said he was in contact with some other venues to find a suitable replacement for the 110-odd wedding guests.

FRV investigators are yet to determine the cause of the blaze, which impacted the kitchen and service areas of the chalet.