Landmark reception hall closes suddenly

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - The Landmark Centre opened on Ellison Road in Fort Wayne in 2005. This week it closed without warning, leaving brides and conferences left in the lurch.

"All of a sudden I find out I don't have a reception place and I'm out a couple thousand dollars," Cheryl Hoover, 24, said.

Hoover and her fiance, Brandon Herber, 26, had planned to have their wedding reception at the Landmark on May 29th, about a month before Herber leaves for Iraq with the Air National Guard.

"This is our last opportunity to get all our friends and family together and celebrate our new marriage before he goes to war. It's really important to me," Hoover said.

After dating for three years, the couple got engaged in December. They had to plan the wedding quickly because Herber was being deployed and the Landmark's availability helped the couple choose their date.

"It was open and they seemed like good people," Hoover said.

They paid $500 in December to hold the date and then March 1st the Landmark sent them a letter for half of the remaining balance. On March 8th, they sent a check for $2,400 and the Landmark cashed it two days later.

"It really makes me mad. You don't plan to close your business over night. They had to have known," Hoover said. "It was their responsibility to give us a heads up and to let us know and get our money back. We had budgeted so much and now a big chunk is gone."

But, the $3,000 given to the Landmark means more to the couple than meeting a budget.

"My father, who passed away last year, worked so hard to save money up for me so I could have my dream wedding. It's hard enough he's not here and now his money is gone," Hoover said.

Hoover tried calling the Landmark several times, but never got through. An employee who works with brides in event planning did call her, but didn't have any answers.

"She said it was news to her and that one day when she was leaving she was told they were closing. She was able to get a lot of brides' information though, because it was booked for almost the whole year," Hoover said.

She added the employee didn't know if she would get her money back. Now Hoover is trying to quickly re-plan her reception.

"A lot of places are booked, but one place canceled some things they had set up to let us have a couple more dates. Hopefully it will work out," she said.

If they can't get a reception date around the right time, they might have to postpone their honeymoon. And other wedding tasks that had been checked off are back to the top of the to-do list.

"The invitations were already printed. Luckily, we haven't sent them out, but we have to redo them now. It's more money, more time and more frustrations," she said.

Signs on the door told people to call the Holiday Inn Express on Ellison Road if they have an event with fewer than 70 people. The contact there wasn't available for comment and the Landmark didn't return NewsChannel 15's messages.