Northwest Indiana banquet hall destroyed by fire as couples scramble to find new wedding venue

CHESTERSON, Ind. (FOX 32) - A devastating fire has destroyed a northwest Indiana banquet hall, threatening the wedding plans of many local brides to be.

The Allure on the Lake has only been open for about a year after a big renovation, and it was almost booked for the rest of the year until an overnight fire gutted the building. 

“I had to just to come see it for myself, take some pictures for my fiancé,” said Jenelle Klumpe, who is getting married in August. 

The damage is extensive. The Allure on the Lake is now a total loss as wedding season goes into high gear. 

“Now, its crunch time,” Klumpe said. “We got to figure out a bunch of stuff, restarting wedding planning.” 

“It’s heartbreaking, we wanted to get married on the lake because that's where we fell in love, that was the goal and now it won’t happen, but it’s OK,” said Tracy Sinkhorn, who is getting married in July. 

“My team and I are trying to do a little bit of damage control with brides booked in Chesterton, we also have another venue in Laporte that we are trying to move brides from one to the other,” said Tony Clark, owner.

Clark says he got a call Monday morning around 3 a.m. from the fire department. He came to his venue to find flames shooting into the air. 

“It took me a year to build, it’s a pretty devastating loss to my family.”

Clark says the venue was booked for the summer and weddings were scheduled before the end of the year. Now, the race is on to help relocate the events.  

“I feel like we are doing all the tours again now, we did them all about a year ago, and we are starting over now,” said Sinkhorn. 

There was a wedding at the location last night, but everyone was gone when the fire started and no one was injured.