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Oct. 23, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Chapel gets no love from City Council

'I didn't do anything wrong!' owner protests

By ALAN CHOATE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Garden of Love owner Cheryl Luell gestures while her attorney, Stephen Stein, looks on during a hearing on the wedding chapel's business license. The license was revoked Monday by the Las Vegas City Council.
Photo by John Gurzinski.

A wedding chapel accused of bullying its competitors to the point of assault had its license yanked Monday by the Las Vegas City Council.

In a unanimous vote, council members declared the Las Vegas Garden of Love chapel a public nuisance and upheld a decision by city staff not to renew the chapel's business license.

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    • The council could hear more about the wedding industry, however, because people on both sides of the case renewed calls for tighter regulation.

    Chapel owner Cheryl Luell sobbed as she left the city council chambers with her husband, Craig, her attorney, Stephen Stein, and others.

    "I didn't do anything wrong!" she protested.

    Stein said he didn't know whether his client would appeal the council's decision to district court.

    "Ask me tomorrow," he said as he escorted the Luells out of the building. "Now is not the time."

    The vote wrapped up two days of sprawling testimony accusing the Luells and their employees of harassing, intimidating and attacking employees of competing chapels in an effort to control the local wedding industry.

    "This is not a garden of love. This is a garden of shame," city attorney Brad Jerbic said.

    In the chapel's defense, Stein argued that those making the allegations weren't credible, and that the entire case had been cooked up by other chapels because they couldn't compete with the Garden of Love.

    In the end, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese picked a few incidents that rose above the level of "he said, she said" and used those to support removing the chapel's license.

    "I think that Mrs. Luell created a nuisance in the operation of her business by instructing her handbillers ... to engage in aggressive tactics against her competitors," he said.

    Lt. George Glasper, who works at the Regional Justice Center, told the council that about 90 percent of the complaints he receives about handbillers at the wedding bureau concern Garden of Love employees.

    The Luells were also cited by the Nevada Transportation Services Commission for violating the rules governing limousine service.

    Reese also noted two fights that were documented in court files -- one in which a Garden of Love employee was convicted of battery for kicking a rival chapel worker in the head, and another in which Craig Luell and two others allegedly tussled at the courthouse with a competitor.

    "This is all Garden of Love," Jerbic said. "Beating people, threatening people, using tactics no other chapel uses. You don't hear chapel vs. chapel. It's chapel vs. Garden of Love."

    Stein said the structure of the industry, not his clients, are to blame, and said the complaints were "led by two or three major competitors who wish to put them out of business."

    "These problems began in this industry way before the Luells were present," he said. "The problems are with the handbillers.

    "What need be done is that you do away with the handbilling, and then you won't have a problem."

    Many chapels employ people who wait outside the marriage bureau for couples who've just received their licenses, hoping to win the business of as many brides and grooms as possible.

    Since the council upheld the denial of the Luells' license, they cannot legally conduct business at their chapel, said Jim DiFiore, manager of the city's business services division.

    If they appeal, a judge could allow them to reopen while the case proceeds.

    "We've been fighting this battle for five years," said Cliff Evarts, owner of the Vegas Wedding Chapel and one of the Luells' most dedicated critics.

    Evarts was the subject of possibly the most bizarre accusation in the hearing -- that he gave Tory Manvilla, Cheryl Luell's uncle, a hotel room, $500 and crack cocaine so that Manvilla would seek a restraining order against Luell.

    Manvilla did file a report with Las Vegas police alleging that his niece threatened him, but the case was closed because of insufficient evidence.

    Evarts said he once met with Manvilla, gave him a ride to Child Protective Services and arranged a hotel room for him because he was moved by Manvilla's hard-luck story.

    But he dismissed the other two claims, especially the one involving drugs, which drew laughter from the audience when Manvilla said it.

    While Evarts agreed with Stein that handbilling needs to be reformed, he said it wasn't the root of the problem.

    "There was handbilling long before the Garden of Love arrived," he said. "But there were never any serious issues like there are now."

    Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.



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    J&S E. wrote on June 14, 2008 12:23 PM: I am proud of the council, Garden of shame is right! My husband and I got married there on 07/07/07. The limo never made it to pick us up as promised, we ended up taking a cab at the last minute. Our wedding was scheduled for 2:00, we were about 2 hours behind, only because my husband was arguing with Cheryl otherwise it would have been later. They told us we would have a reception off site, that never happened, they put us in a tiny room with no air conditioning. Our 30 guests were over heating, I would say it was over 100 degrees in there. Our cake melted. We did a quick dance and did some pictures and left. My husband through another fit to Cheryl about the broken promises and she said we could have the evening with a limo at their cost. Of course that didn't happen. They did put us in a limo to go back to the hotel after the wedding. It had no air conditioning either, and the limo driver demanded $100 for the 5 mile run. We didn't give it to him and stated he needed to get that from Cheryl. He said since we didn't pat, he would make sure our paperwork was lost. The next day we went back down to the chapel and talked to Cheryl again, we said we paid a lot of money for this. They promised they had the paperwork, but just couldn't find it at that time. We did get the license from the court, but we thought it was strange we never signed the license when we got married. Who knows if we are legal. I bet we could have a full reunion with similiar stories of the chaos from that day.


    60м wrote on April 07, 2008 01:04 PM: See the interviews at http://loadingvault.com


    mylisa pearce wrote on February 13, 2008 02:10 PM: I had booked with garden of love in sep. to get married in dec.and they said every thing was going to be fine and the my wedding day would be perfect and they charged my card. two weeks befor my weeding date craig called me and said that they were under new mang. and that ther still honoring all prior agrements. but he was lying right to my face. they had been shut down and i did not find out any thing untell the day befor my wedding was going to happen. thank good for the las vegas wedding chapel. they helped us out big time. so now im still trying to get my money back from those people if any one knows how to get a hold of them please write my by e-mail. (jam73069@yahoo.com)


    mimi wrote on December 10, 2007 06:58 AM: Nasty, cheap, BS, a shame to LV weddings.

    It was a freaking joke.
    Married 10/13/07

    AVOID THIS PLACE OF BUSINESS


    Tammy Vincena wrote on December 08, 2007 04:19 AM: Im trying to find out when exactly the Garden of Loves license was taken because my husband and I were married there on October 22nd at 6pm and we are worried now that we may not actually be married because of this.We were inside getting married when the camera crews for ch. 13 showed up to film the story.Any information you can give me is greatly appreciated, especially if you know exactly who we would need to contact to find out for sure. Thank You ~Tammy Vincena


    Britton Reeves wrote on December 03, 2007 05:27 PM: I booked a wedding from Dallas online and on the phone with the Garden of Love. They never mentioned they may not have their license back by the time of my wedding; however, they gladly charged my card!! The day before the wedding we waited on the car that was scheduled to arrive to take us to get our license. It never showed! We called, and they did not return our call until 9:00pm. By then we had scheduled with another chapel. We have since called our credit card company and desputed the charges. This definitely put about 12 hours of stress/regret into our Vegas trip. Thankfully the Excalibur chapel was able to handle our 15 guests and wedding. We love the Excalibur! As for the Garden of Love wedding chapel, and the handbillers outside of the marriage license office, if I had it to do over again I would not go to Vegas because of those experiences!


    Taken for a Ride wrote on December 02, 2007 06:22 PM: If only we had searched on Garden of Love scam, before we went and got married in Las Vegas, we might have avoided the bad memory of using this bunch of crooks. My only advice to anyone reading this is stay away well away. Ripped off and feeling foolish dont use them.


    Maricel wrote on October 30, 2007 01:35 AM: My husband and I got married at this place. Unaware of their business practices. They ARE definitely HOUNDS at the RJC and they do harrasss you if you dont go with them. Im glad they are out of business.


    Rev. Ignored wrote on October 27, 2007 08:15 AM: I am still curious as to why people who are ordained ministers who wish to perform just a few weddings for friends/family a year are constantly barred by the City to do so. Did you know we basically get fined for, "Practicing religion without a license?" I find it appauling that Chapels like this push us little upstanding individuals out.


    Jeff Vaughn wrote on October 26, 2007 04:52 PM: Oct. 22nd we we're ripped off by this chapel they delivered nothing they promised, including no pictures, no video, and no service worth remembering. I could go into much more detail, but since this is a 300 word count limit I would run out of space. After reading about all of the other cases of this business, I pray the city takes action to persecute this couple for false advertising and ripping people off on such a special day.


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