Pennsylvania-Central

The Peter Allen House

I was just curious if anyone was looking into or plan on getting married at The Peter Allen House in Dauphin, Pa.

Thank you!

Re: The Peter Allen House

  • edited December 2011
    we're getting married there this june. what are you considering?
  • edited December 2011

    I recently got married there this past June, I am not bashing the venue, it is a very beautiful place to get married at, but if I had to do it all over I would not spend a single cent on the Peter Allen House..

  • edited December 2011
    I am getting married their September 2012....lpace1155 can you elaborate on your experience?
  • edited December 2011
    Yes, please share any concerns or things that we should be addressing or looking into. Thanks!
  • edited December 2011
    I got married there on June 13, 2010. and like I said the venue is beautiful, but I would not recommend it to anyone. The first issue that I had is when i first got there. I had informed the owners of what time i would be arriving, and when I did.. one of the owners was like... you are here way too early, that was the first thing. the second thing is that I had worked very hard on our seating chart for the reception, and when my bridesmaids went to set everything up, they could not find it where they had put it, they asked the same owner that told me i was there way to early if he may know where it was or had seen it, and he told them :"it was not his problem", low and behold, some of his workers that were moving things around moved it into a completely different tent. The female owner had told me when i was getting ready to make sure everything is tidy up before we go out the door for the ceremony, which i totally understood and made sure my bridesmaids folded everything and put everything in neat piles, and it was done. ( i will come back to this later in the story). Where the groomsmen were supposed to get ready at, had no air condition whatsoever. so we had to move all of our stuff from two rooms, into one room. which was crowded with 5 bridesmaids, 2 flower girls, my mom, and the hair dresser. Which is whatever I guess things happen ( and it wasl ike 97 degrees this day). So I am the last one to get ready and I literally walk out the door 2 minutes before the ceremony is supposed to start (we had an outside wedding)  the male owner had an old roles royce (sp?) and when i told him to go when it was my qeue he did not listen to me, as i had everything all cordinated out for my walk down the aisle, and because he did not listen to me when i told him to go, i did not have any music when i walked down the aisle. After the ceremony was over and we got all of our pictures taken with family and friends, our photographer took us to take pictures by ourselves, when we were walking the male owner had potential clients there showing them around.... ON OUR WEDDING DAY WHILE OUR WEDDING WAS GOING ON!! how much ruder can you  get,..... but obviously it gets even better! While the ceremony was going on the female owner decided that how we picked up and folded everything nicely was not good enough, she took all of my stuff and my bridesmaids stuff and threw..... i literally mean threw it behind the bed. everything was messed up and people had to search for their stuff. my husbands dad had married us and she took his breifcase and put it somewhere where he did not leave it, and she took the groomsmens hangers and threw them away ( and they were rental tuxes, so they were not our hangers) and threw their stuff in a closet, not nicely at all... i COULD NOT BELIEVE IT and still can not until this day. The female owner then had the nerve to go up to a lady that is like my second mother to me, and tell her that she has never seen the place such a mess and she was very dissappointed, but she was not nice about it at all, and she was telling this to my second mom because she thought  she was the wedding planner!!! my second mom is one of the nicest women you will ever meet and she said she has never been spoken to in her life like that, and said if she ever got invited to a wedding and it was held at the Peter Allen House, she would not attend. The last thing that I can remember is the owners have this couple that are their "friends" and the older lady of their friends was walking around during my reception!!!! for no reason....and she went up to my dad and asked him if he was done with his plate and he said no i am going to get more to eat (we had a buffet dinner) and SHE TOOK HIS PLATE AND THREW IT AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    this is why i would never recommend this venue to anyone. It was a complete waste of money it such a shame that some of the most ignorant people i have ever met own this beautiful place.
  • edited December 2011
    Wow! I hate to say it but that sounds like a nightmare and now I am very worried. How many people did you have at your wedding and which tent did you use? I really wish there were more comments on the Central PA board about the Peter Allen House. How was your experience with the owners before your wedding day. Were they accomidating or difficult from the beginning. I am going to have to lay down some ground rules witht the owners about giving tours.  I know they told me I could come on a day of a wedding so I can get a feel of how the tables are set up under the tent but I would never do that once the wedding already started or when guests were there!! Thank you for posing your experience.

    Babolinger how has your experience been with the Peter Allen House so far? 


  • edited December 2011
    Hi, Wow, I am shocked to hear your comments.   We were married there in June of 2007 and had an INCREDIBLE experience!!!!   I LOVE the owners and would recommend to anyone to have their wedding there.   I am sorry to hear that you had a bad experience but I have since been to several weddings there and have always had a fantastic time.   Please let me know if you have any questions, I also have several friends that came to my wedding and then decided to get married there themselves!   Elisa
  • edited December 2011
    Hey,
    I toured the venue last June and I thought it was strange how much they emphasized the 'no leaving stuff in the rooms' guidelines, but just kind of ignored it. (I didn't tour during a wedding, but can't remember if they offered that as an option. I know she said I could come up when the caterers were setting up to see, but said I would have to leave by 2)

    It's too late for me to consider changing venues so I am just going to go with it and hopefully it'll turn out fine. I think I will talk to them about not havng tours during my wedding. We pay way too much to have it used for other things during our time.

    My caterer and my DJ have both already worked there and I'm really using them for my guidance. My caterer specifically suggested a floor plan different from the one the owners suggested and it makes more sense to me.
     
    I had been doing fine with everything else so far with them, but I didn't realize the 5 hour time limit started 30 minutes before our ceremony. I want our ceremony at 4:30 so that means included in the price is 4 -9. I emailed her last week to ask how much it would cost for an extra hour and she hasn't replied yet. I need to order my invites ASAP and need to know. I will call tomorrow.

    I will share if anything else comes up. Feel free to PM me over the summer for more advice. We get married in June.
  • Thank you for all of your honest comments before I start booking venues!
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