ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Two soon-to-be brides are scrambling to find another venue after the Chez L’Amour restaurant in St. Augustine closed without warning and without telling them.
Heather Randel says she paid $6500 to the owner, Jeanetta Cebollero, in February to reserve the restaurant for her wedding reception in November.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago, she learned that the restaurant was closed from her boss, not Jeanetta.
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“It is really shocking. I mean, you would think if that was happening, you can notify somebody at least and let them know that,” said Randel.
Brittany didn’t want to use her last name, but told me she paid nearly $4,000 to Jeanetta in August to reserve Chez L’Amour for her rehearsal dinner in January. She said she didn’t realize it was closed until she clicked on the restaurant’s website, only to find out it had been taken down.
“I was pretty upset,” said Brittany. “I went through every emotion.”
Heather said she reached out to Cebollero and finally got a letter from her attorneys that reads in part:
“...the building housing Chez L’Amour has recently failed a number of critical building inspections…. Unfortunately, as a result of these findings, the restaurant has been closed indefinitely and, regrettably, it is unlikely to reopen.”
Action News Jax reached out to Jeanetta to find out if these brides would get their money back and if she was notifying her clients.
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She says they will be refunded in the next 60 days.
Brittany has a message for future brides.
“Be careful when you’re selecting a vendor,” she said.
We did some digging into court records and found Cebollero has two lawsuits against her in St. Johns County, both over unpaid money.
She is also the President of Ancient City Entertainment company, which manages the Palatka Blue Crab festival and the ‘As if! 90s Fest’ in St. Johns County, which was pushed back several times.
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