Meet the Team : Peter
Introducing the awesome Allely Estate team that work so hard to ensure your wedding or event is memorable and has timeless moments. Let’s talk to Allely Estate’s Co-Owner and Director, Peter Cooke.
Q. Why did you purchase a hospitality / venue business?
After a long career in corporate customer service leadership roles the time was right to take my customer centric passion into a business that I could manage and operate – in particular a business I would also be passionate about working in.
My wife Catherine and I had been considering a wedding venue as a possibility. Allely Estate presented as that dream opportunity and on first sight we were sold. Together, Catherine and I, along with our experienced team are totally committed to creating amazing and memorable experiences for our clients and guests. More so Catherine and I both wanted to draw from our own personal love story to deliver a day that surpasses expectations and leaves a lasting and impacting memory. Also given our corporate and business background it is our intent to grow the business market and have Alley Estate as the go to venue for product launches, leadership training, employee engagement and so much more.
Q. What do you love about your job?
Seeing the smiles and happiness from our clients and their families and guests. Whether it’s a bride and groom, someone celebrating a birthday or someone organising a corporate occasion, I really enjoy that I get to see so many people enjoy our amazing venue and experience our hospitality. Along with Catherine, we are extremely proud of the Allely Estate team – from our talented kitchen team to our amazing front of house staff – who together contribute to a memorable moment in someone’s life, including understanding and accommodating some intricate and intimate emotional and/or physical aspects of that occasion. There is nothing more rewarding than happy and delighted customers and we measure this by the smiles and positive feedback from our customers and their guests.
Q. Your most memorable wedding and why?
Well that would be my own to Catherine! Together we are a formidable team and doing life together means it doesn’t feel like work.
Whilst Catherine and I have only been in the business a short time, every wedding we have experienced has its own charm and standout memories. I love the way we get to travel the world without leaving Auckland – every event is completely different and unique – from the colour and sounds of Indian weddings, the heart felt performances of the Pacific Island /Maori weddings, the intimacy of smaller weddings, the creativity of younger couples’ weddings, to weddings brought forward for family reasons – indeed every event produced is just as our clients have dreamed.
Q. What do you bring to Alley Estate?
Primarily I bring a wealth of experience in understanding the customer journey and identifying the processes and frameworks required to deliver outstanding service consistently. I also bring strong leadership experience to support and guide my amazing team to help them be the best at what they do.
Oh, and sometimes you will even find me on the bar or clearing tables – just one of the team really!
Q. What's something about you that might surprise most people?
I am a mad loyal West Ham United football supporter. I am sure I have the largest and oldest collection of football magazines. Acquired from an older guy who just wanted another passionate footballer to love them as much as he did.
Q. Why do you think people should choose Allely for their wedding day?
Simple- two key things: Our People and the blank canvas, character and manicured grounds of our venue – Allely Estate.
Our team from the kitchen to front of house are totally committed to delivering mouth-watering cuisine and a stellar experience our clients wish for. It is here I’d like to also acknowledge the vendors we work with at Allely Estate. They do pull off some requests that seem almost impossible and work tirelessly to deliver opulence, creativity and an amazing transformation of our venue for our clients.
They along with our dedicated Client Manager are heavily personally invested to ensure your event goes to plan and with the look and feel you’ll remember for years to come.
Allely Estate is the perfect blank canvas venue to decorate. Nothing is ever too much trouble!
It is our dream to leave a lasting legacy of great memories we helped create and deliver for your special occasion.