LAKE MARY, Fla. – Wedding couples in Central Florida are now scrambling to make their big day happen after an event venue closed its doors.
- Noah's Event Venue abruptly closed its doors
- Couples now scrambling to find another venue for their wedding
- Many hope another venue will be able to accommodate them
Noah’s in Lake Mary shut down, leaving couples searching for new venues and refunds.
Since Tajah Foster was a child, she’s looked forward to her dream wedding.
“The little girl inside of me has always wanted that dream wedding,” Foster said.
And with her fiancé’s proposal, she had her dream guy.
“On his knee with the ring, and I froze and just started crying,” Foster said. “I cried for like five minutes straight.”
But now, it’s not tears of joy Foster is crying.
“I’ve cried every day since figuring out – I have hardly eaten, I’ve been sick,” Foster said.
She found out Noah’s in Lake Mary, where her dream wedding was supposed to happen, closed.
“And I bawled my eyes out, and I have cried since 9:30pm on Sunday,” Foster said.
Foster says Noah’s sent her an email that said the bankruptcy court managing its case directed Noah’s to cease operations at all of its locations across the country. It’s the same message that’s now posted on the main page of company's website, www.noahseventvenue.com.
The company directs clients wanting to still host their event at their reserved location to email an administrative claim.
Foster says she’s no longer willing to leave her dream day in the company’s hands.
She’s now scrambling to find another venue – and more money. Her family already paid Noah’s thousands of dollars.
Gary Preisser with Oxford Advisory Group says couples should always make sure a contract with a venue includes protections – ways they can get their money back if they need to. And Preisser says it’s best to use a credit card in event payments so that a credit card company can file their own claim on your behalf to help you get that money back if an issue comes up.
“They have an obligation to these couples, especially considering they knew they were filing for bankruptcy, they knew things were going well, and to bring on new couples and promise things they couldn’t deliver is shameful,” Preisser said.
Now dozens of Central Florida couples are posting their dream-day dilemma online, with hopes other venues and vendors can accommodate them on their original dates – or on different days.
Foster says she won’t budge on her original wedding date. She chose the date – May 3rd - to honor her sister, Talyah, who died from cancer two years ago. It’s Talyah’s birthday.
“I know somehow someway on May 3rd this year I’m going to get married, I can’t budge from that – I have to have my baby sister included in that – it’s the only way, it’s the only way,” Foster said.
Spectrum News 13 couldn’t reach anyone at Noah’s Lake Mary location phone, and is still waiting to hear back from Noah’s after sending questions to a nationally-listed email address.