A suburban couple says they're out thousands of dollars they paid for their upcoming wedding after an event company with multiple locations in the Chicago area abruptly shut its doors.
NOAH's Event Venue, an event company with roughly two dozen locations across 20 states, closed its doors last week with little notice - sending customers emails informing them that previous agreements were voided because the company was going out of business.
According to multiple reports, the company filed for bankruptcy in May, and the case was converted to liquidation on Thursday, shutting down all of NOAH's venues. NOAH's operated two locations in Illinois: one in Lincolnshire and another in Naperville.
Rubi Nevarez and Chris Pulido, of Schiller Park, said that they paid NOAH's $10,000 to reserve the Naperville venue for their wedding in September.
Nevarez said she received the email on Thursday notifying her that their agreement was voided and immediately began to investigate.
"I started calling, no one is answering. I called the other location in Lincolnshire and then I start calling different states to see what's going on," she said.
The couple said the money they already paid to the event space and their caterer was half of their $20,000 wedding budget, and they have not heard from any representatives of the company. NOAH's social media pages appear to have been deleted, though the company's website remains online with no notice about the closing.
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"It’s extremely frustrating because we go in confidently paying for it, thinking we are ahead of the game, and then without notice, we find out we are not getting the money back," Pulido said.
Nevarez and Pulido said they're scrambling to find a new wedding location, but added that if they don't get their money back, there may not be a wedding at all.
"It's been very emotional, the last few days just trying to wrap my mind around it," Nevarez said. "This is something I’ve dreamed of since I was a little girl, something I looked forward to do and to live and to have memories with him and to accept the fact that that may not happen has been a tough pill to swallow."
Another couple said they paid the Lincolnshire location $8,000 and have also not heard back about their deposit.
A sign on the door of NOAH's Naperville location over the weekend informed attendees that a fundraiser scheduled had changed locations at the last minute.
