The Allan House Review...

Our first review is of the wonderfully eloquent Allan House in downtown Austin...literally blocks away from the Capital!!! 

This quaint Victorian-style home is situated on what seems like a city block...it's outside courtyard is donned with a canopy of trees, each decorated with string of tiny white lights and hanging, lit, paper lanterns.  There is a large wrap-around porch where guests sat and visited and enjoyed the ceiling fans.  The inside is truly gorgeous...hardwood floors, staircases, antique furniture...AMAZING!!!

Since this was a destination wedding of sorts (we don't live anywhere near Austin), everything had to be done via telephone or e-mail.  The girls there were nothing but helpful and WONDERFUL!!!!  They answered our questions promptly and made me feel like everything was under control.  They even referred us to a couple of vendors since we didn't know any in the area.

If our wedding would've been "smaller", we could've enjoyed the inside more (which was air conditioned) but it only seats 75-80 comfortably and we were kinda even wondering about that number...lol. 

Pros:

• GORGEOUS house
• AMAZING staff
• Very SPACIOUS
• ROMANTIC outside courtyard
• WONDERFULLY landscaped yard
• TONS of photo ops
• GREAT downtown Austin location (corner of 11th and San Antonio)

Cons:

• The initial time frame is only 6 hours and that INCLUDES set up and tear down...you can purchase additional hours (or even 1/2 hours) but they're pretty expensive.
• Parking is limited to the street (FREE on Saturdays and Sundays so that's good) but there's not a whole lot of street since they're skinny and one side of the street is NO PARKING.  Additional parking can be purchased from a church and a business close by but, again, it's very pricey.
• This is more of an "Austin" con but I'll put it here...Austin city ordinance says that music must be off by certain times...since our wedding was on a Sunday, that time was 10p...it's different for Friday/Saturday nights as well as the week nights.
• HOT if your wedding guest total is greater than 75 and it's in the Summer months...we purchased large fans that our guests could go stand in front of for a little reprieve.  Misters would've been wonderful but with all the rock around, I'm sure that would be a liability no one wants to take on.
• A/C was on but it still was so hot inside...I didn't hear this from any of our guests so I'm guessing it was just us and our wedding party, photographer and DOC since we were running around.

All in all, despite the "cons", we would do it again...especially since we know what to look out for :0)

THANK YOU, Whitney...you were the BEST!!!!