Local chapels fly Connecticut couple to Las Vegas to testify against Garden of Love wedding chapel
People come to Las Vegas all the time to get married at quickie chapels. Some of them may be boozed out of their minds before hitting the chapel or others may just be feeling a little whimsical.
Not surprisingly, the experience may sour a time or two, but you never expect the chapel to be the culprit. They are, after all, houses of love.
But for the Connecticut couple Rebecca and Doug Wilson, what should have been happily-ever-after marriage nearly turned the couple off from coming back to Vegas ever again. The Las Vegas Sun published two articles about the couple’s woes with the chapel.
The couple wed on July 7 and paid $4,000 for the ceremony, the bulk of which was to go towards a reception that they claim the chapel never gave them.
According to Doug, the chapel went a step further and took another $4,000 out of his bank account, which nearly left him financially impotent on their honeymoon to Aruba.
After contesting the charge with his bank and winning back the money, the Garden of Love had the decision overturned and took the $4,000 back again. The bank is investigating the situation.
The couple received threatening phone calls after going public with their story.
This isn’t the first time the chapel has faced problems. The metro police and city employees have received 30 complaints in the last five years. In March, an employee was arrested for felony assault and attempted murder for attacking an employee from another chapel with a knife.
At the beginning of September, Cheryl Luell, co-owner, and another employee were arrested and charged with burglary and grand larceny for allegedly stealing a high-tech garment imprinting machine from the Sands Convention Center.
On Sep. 27, Luell was delivered a letter from the manager of the city’s Business Services Division, Jim DiFiore. The letter informed Luell that the city was revoking her business license and regarded the chapel as a public nuisance, noting the excessive number of complaints.
Not willing to take a black eye to the industry lying down, several other chapel owners have banded together to create a code of ethics and to take other steps to regain credibility. Many blame the Garden of Love for the faltering wedding business.
A handful of them are even putting up money to fly the Wilson’s to Las Vegas to testify at the Oct. 17 Las Vegas City Council meeting in which Luell will appeal the revocation of her license.
During phone calls to the Garden of Love, employees said owners were unavailable to comment.
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