'I cried so much': Wedding venue operator under investigation after closing before bride's big day

WILLIS, Texas (KTRK) -- Several Houston-area brides are out of thousands of dollars after a wedding venue they booked for their big day abruptly shut down.

Among the devastated brides is Cyndi Ou, who was supposed to get married on Saturday, May 17, at Charleston Lane, a wedding venue in Willis perched on the edge of Lake Conroe.

But a day before her wedding, Ou and her family drove up to Willis for rehearsal and found a padlocked building with no venue operator.

"I cried. I cried so much," Ou remembers. "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."

As Cyndi and her then fiancé scrambled to find a backup with less than 24 hours to go, they would soon learn they were not alone.

Ou says she has since spoken to at least three other brides with dashed wedding dreams. All, like her, had paid thousands of dollars with no wedding to show for it.

ABC13 reviewed documents that showed Ou paid $52,000 in several installments for a complete wedding package. The fees were supposed to include exclusive use of the venue, catering, bar, entertainment, and even fireworks over Lake Conroe. None of that happened.

"At this moment, after the wedding day is over, I'm just ready to fight. To do whatever it takes to bring justice and do what we can to bring our money back," she said.

Ou has filed a complaint against the operator of Charleston Lane with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Investigators confirm several other brides have done the same.

For Justin Sayles, an investigative journalist based out of Los Angeles, the stories sound all too familiar.

"This was always my worst fear that this would happen," said Sayles, who first met the operator a decade ago when he began another business in Los Angeles.

"I reviewed countless court documents. He has a very long criminal history that dates to the state of New York in the early 2000s," said Sayles, who forwarded ABC13 some of the court records that show the history in New York. "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."

Sayles says he contacted Montgomery County law enforcement a year ago with concerns about the operator. His exhaustive investigation is documented in a podcast hosted by Spotify called "The Wedding Scammer."

"It is shocking to me that it took 20 months after the podcast came out for this to begin happening for investigations to start in earnest," Sayles said.

Although there are no current criminal charges, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office confirms it has opened an investigation involving at least three brides who filed complaints. Ou is one of them.

"We don't want him to be roaming free. We want him to be held accountable for what he's doing," said Ou, who ended up getting married at Ocean Palace restaurant in Houston's Chinatown.

ABC13 is not identifying the Charleston Lane operator because he has not been charged criminally. Eyewitness News has attempted to contact him multiple times using several phone numbers but has yet to receive a response.

The venue is now under new management. The new operators told ABC13 they are trying to help as many brides as possible. They are letting brides who booked weddings with Charleston Lane use the space for free, if available. However, the new operators plan to remodel and rename the facility as soon as possible.

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