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Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more
Several brides in Houston say they have lost thousands of dollars after their wedding venue closed without warning.
Bride Cyndi Ou told ABC13 she paid $52,000 for a May 17 wedding at Charleston Lane, which included exclusive venue access, catering, bar service, entertainment and a fireworks display over Lake Conroe. But when she arrived for rehearsal a day before the event, Ou found the venue padlocked and the operator unreachable.
“I cried. I cried so much,” Ou told the outlet. “We spent 20 months planning this day. This kind of thing happens once in your lifetime. I didn’t know what to do. It was heartbreaking.”
With less than 24 hours to regroup, Ou and her fiancé were luckily able to have their wedding at a nearby restaurant.
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At least three brides say they were scammed out of thousands of dollars after booking a wedding at the Charleston Lane in Houston. (Getty Images)
She is now one of at least three brides who have filed a complaint against the Charleston Lane operator with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, the outlet reports. The outlet reported the Harris County Sheriff’s Office has launched a fraud investigation into the Charleston Lane venue and the operator.
“We don’t want him to be roaming free. We want him to be held accountable for what he’s doing,” Ou told ABC13.
Neither news outlet is reporting the operator’s name as he hasn’t been criminally charged. Both outlets say repeated calls to him have gone unanswered.
While Ou and others are devastated, Justin Sayles, an investigative journalist based out of Los Angeles, feared this would happen.
Sayles, host of The Wedding Scammer podcast, told ABC13 that he contacted Montgomery County law enforcement over a year ago with concerns about the Charleston Lane operator.
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Charleston Lane in Texas is now under new management and working on a rebrand, according to reports. (Getty Images)
“I reviewed countless court documents. He has a very long criminal history that dates to the state of New York in the early 2000s,” Sayles said. “Then he came over to California and did some things that he was sued for, but never criminally charged. And then he ended up in Texas.”
Charleston Lane is now under new management, offering the venue free to previously booked couples, if available, and plans to remodel and rename it soon.
