Nellcote closes abruptly, leaving couples scrambling for new wedding venues

AURORA, Ill. (WLS) -- Nellcote, a popular wedding venue and restaurant in the West Loop, shut down suddenly several days ago, sending brides- and grooms-to-be in Chicago scrambling for a backup plan.

Jennifer Kerr and her fiance Kevin Ongtengco live in Aurora. They were three weeks and a few days from walking down the aisle when Nellcote closed, and are now kind of frantic.

"We didn't hear anything from the owners of the restaurant, the manager who was helping us," Kerr said.

The couple had a binder full of paperwork, complete with credit card payments, tasting menus, communications with their planner and a deposit receipt for their June 29 wedding. They booked Nellcote in October 2018 and put down 50%.

"I didn't think about it," Ongtengco said. "Like, 'Oh my god, we did put money down. How are we going to get that money back?'"

But they never got an email or phone call.

"They could have at least said we will be in contact with anybody that has booked a wedding or event with us," said Kerr.

With three weeks to go they're scrambling to reclaim money and rebook during peak wedding season.

"We're going to tie the knot, we just got to figure out where," she said.

One of Nellcote's co-owners told ABC7 Eyewitness News over the phone that he feels incredibly bad for the brides who have been impacted, but the couple said they still haven't heard from restaurant management.

They are now working with their credit card company to dispute the deposit charge in hopes of getting it back.