Orlando couple says wedding planner took $17K but planned nothing

ORLANDO, Fla. — At least four couples said an Orlando-based wedding planner took their money and ran just before they walked down the aisle.

Angel Jones works under the company name Angel's Dream Events.

Santonio Wilson said Jones took more than $17,000 from her and her then-finance, Mark Wilson, and never paid for the venue or any services.

"I cried every night because it was just, like, this has to be a dream. There's no way this is really happening,” said Santonio Wilson.

The Wilsons spent a year planning their walk down the aisle with Jones, who they met at a bridal show.

"She was really bubbly. She made us feel comfortable,” said Santonio Wilson.

They signed a contract and each month, handed over a few thousand dollars for a DJ, a photographer, the cake and venue.

But a week before the wedding the bride found out the vendors hadn't been paid.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, please don't tell me she just took our money and just left,'" she said.

They paid Jones a total of $17,000 and three days before the event, Jones was nowhere to be found.

"We saved up for a whole entire year. We budgeted. We worked with each other. Our hard-earned money...that went to her,” said Mark Wilson.

The Wilsons found a bad review for her online and called a bride who said Jones did the same thing to her.

That bride referred them to Connie Tome, a wedding planner with the company A Day to Remember.

Tome scrambled to pull it off.

"I can fix the wedding, but I can't fix the bad memories," said Tome.

The couple canceled their honeymoon to pay for their last-minute nuptials.

They spent the Monday after their wedding day at the Orange County sheriff's office, which is now investigating Jones.

The Wilsons hope something will stop her from ruining the memories of another couple's matrimony.

"She took away the joy of a woman planning her wedding, and that's something I can't get back," said Santonio Wilson.

Cox Media Group